Guitar Nerds Anonymous

That's cool. It's a very rock n roll looking thing.

Have just mailed the Bloodstoneguitarworks guy about my faulty 335 harness. I'm not massively confident because i'm very much an ignoramus when it comes to this stuff. But facts is facts and the thing didn't work when it arrived and still doesn't work after i've corrected a clear error that the pics show. We shall see....

You're a braver man than I, I wouldn't dream of messing about with the wiring... I was getting panicky when I changed the scratchplate and pickup cover on my b-bender...

Humbug, just received correspondence from builder of my custom bass that the neck blank we had chosen has continually warped in all sorts of directions so we're going to have to scrap it and get another blank which is a shame because it was really pretty...

I do have a photo of the cut body with some bits laid on for a look though which I was planning on not sharing until it was all done (who knows when that will be at the moment!) but why not, might as well have a new topic of conversation :)

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I suggested filling it with very thin Loctite and he gave me a 'why not?' look

If you have a go at this yourself, I'd practice on something with thin CA (superglue) first. I've used it a few times, and it wicks everywhere, really really quickly :)

I'm in a bit of a pickle.
I've watched way to many guitarbuilding videos in the last few days and I really want to build something. Problem is, I don't have access to my usual workshop, as it's in my parent's basement, and that's not happening anytime soon.

So my tools would be extremely limited. Basically what I can carry, no power probably. So I thought kit guitar? I'd be happy to build a Tele or a LP Junior, but I'd like a light-colored Fretboard and ideally without inlays. Especially not dot inlays.

So effectively: Does anyone know decent guitar kits that come without inlays that are not warmoth?

Try GuitarBuild. He does great stuff and may or may not have what you're after in stock! There's also Axecaster who seem to have a really good range and WDMusic

Finding any pre-built neck with no inlays isn't going to be that easy though I would imagine... Pulling the dots on a maple fingerboard and plugging them with maple plugs would be a nicely time consuming project for current times though and you'd be left with a virtually inlay free fingerboard!

you might be better buying loads of bits of old guitars on ebay/reverb and making a partscaster style thing. Well, it would be easier anyway. Then wig out on the electrics and finish combination?

I've just made a mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard and black dot inlays. Subtle but I like it. So maple plugs on maple, or white on maple could be fun.

I would love to build something, I'm gonna put a little workshop in our soon-to-be-built garage so I think I'll have a go at a very simple project... i.e. buy a neck and throw it on a rectangular slab of wood with a pickup and a volume knob on it...

Very impressed by you lot and the things you're making...

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Crimson make kits - I imagine they're pretty decent.

https://www.crimsonguitars.com/product-category/kit-guitars/unfinished-kit-guitars/

They don't have one with the fretboard you like, but you can get them on the phone so might be worth a call to see if they can do something different.

I've heard Precision kits are really good - but not cheap.

Thanks! Guitarbuild seems sensible. Tele Build with filtertron PUs? Don't mind if I do...

That reminds me... suggestions for finished tele bodies? Single colour, no relic stuff, EU/UK. Crimson guitars above seem to have a few, might be around my upper price limit. My baritone tele project stalled some years ago after getting neck and pickups.

Neck heel is 55.5mm / 2 3/16".

I really don't know how good quality this is. I've bought templates and tools from these guys and they've always been really good:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/guitars-1724274564/unfinished-project-guitar-3.html

SC Relics

Thanks, their pricing sounds quite reasonable. Nitro would actually be nice, to match the thin nitro finish on the neck.

The web page states that they mostly use guitarbuild bodies, which I believe have 56mm neck pockets. Not sure if I should care, but of course I could ask them about other options.

Nevermind, 0.25mm clearance per side is probably just fine.

Had a bunch of 2"x4"s delivered to build a workbench, I've cleared an area in the garage, bought a router... I might actually have to start building this thing soon.

Here's the concept for my 12-string, as it stands. I know there are lots of design professionals here, and people with useful experience of building guitars - so constructive criticism of any design elements would be genuinely welcome, before I immortalise it in swamp ash.

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IMVHO that's crying out for a hockey stick homage of some sort... Maybe you could somehow echo the top horn/bout on the headstock? What pickups you going with? How about skinny humbuckers? Might suit your Fenderesque aesthetic more... I like it...

Funny you should post that today, Trogly had one of these on his show yesterday...

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Firebird pickups would be ace on this and +1 for a hockey head

Hockey stick isn't on the cards, I'm afraid - I've already ordered the neck with a plain headstock. I would like to carve the small bit of real estate at the tip, however, maybe something to echo the wave motif from the pickguard/upper horn, as you suggest.

The pickups will (hopefully, when they start taking orders again) be Creamery humbucker-sized Ric Toaster things:

Although I also love mini-humbuckers, and agree they would look ace. Not sure a humbucker would translate the 12-string jangle that well, though? That's why I was leaning toward single-coils, but I'm open to being educated on this.

Shame about the headstock, at least it's vaguely snakehead-y... If it was a longer blank you could have a bit more fun but you haven't got much space to play with looking at that... Fully custom neck or OTP? Could you specify the peg hole positions and leave more space at the end of the headstock so you can really go to town?

What kind of neck? Blocks or dots? Bound or unbound? Maple or rosewood/ebony/etc? Fender or Gibson scale? Neck radius?

Fully custom neck or OTP?

Custom Warmoth

Could you specify the peg hole positions and leave more space at the end of the headstock so you can really go to town?

Sadly not. At least this way it might fit in a standard case, though

What kind of neck?

Maple with RW fretboard

Blocks or dots?

White pearloid sharkfin

Bound or unbound?

Unbound

Fender or Gibson scale?

Fender 25.5"

Neck radius?

Modern C profile, straight 10" fretboard.

Sounds flashy!! Can't wait to see how you get on!

Fwiw, I think the simple pointed headstock looks the part with the slightly modernized offset body shape.

That looks great - look forward to seeing it underway. Body shape looks spot on to me.

When you come to building, I don't know how experienced you are with routing / carpentry so apologies if this sounds patronising.

As well as the body templates I really recommend building router jigs or supports for every rout you do - never 'freehand' anything and try to avoid any steps where you're running the router on the body and it's only supported by you.
It's really easy for the router to drift slightly off vertical, especially around the horns where there's not much support for the router base.

If you've got space / interest, you can get a cheapo pillar drill (£50ish) and robosander (£20ish) to use instead of the router for the body - it's slow and dusty but safer and quieter, I much prefer doing it that way!

Edit: for arm / belly cuts, grab yourself a Shinto saw rasp - they're amazing, you'll start using them for all sorts of tasks.