How it Started

When I was 16 I build my first electric guitar for a school project. The project scope was just to attach 6 strings to a plank and attach the frets at the right distance. So basically I had finished it in about one afternoon. But I really liked to build a 'real'  guitar. This was before the Internet en before I had sufficient funds to do it right. So I started with just a table with the fret distances and ambition.

I wanted to build a Fender Telecaster style guitar. I had no "how to build guide", all I had was a library book about guitars, nice colorful pictures and all, but no info on how to build one... I calculated the dimensions of the guitar body by measuring the guitar on a picture of Bruce Springsteen holding a Fender Telecaster. Knowing the length of the neck, I could work out the dimensions of the body.

I made the body out of multi-layered plywood (ouch, I know this is a big No-No, but remember I did not have the money to buy better wood). The neck was made out of a piece of tropical-wood (I still don't know what kind) that I got from my uncle. The scratch plate was made out of transparent Perspex, which I painted black on the backside.

The nut and bridge I made out of aluminum. Even the pick-ups (2) I made myself. I build a magnet of the right proportions out of small square magnets. Then I wound copper-wire around it using an old record player to spin the pick-up around.

I bought the machine-heads (this I could not make myself), I used machine-heads for a classical guitar as they where the cheapest.

All and all I had a lot of fun making it, great thing was... I did it all myself and it worked!

Now 20 years later I want to build a 'real' guitar, the right way.... Santa got me "Make your own electric guitar" from Melvin Hiscock for Christmas last year. I started reading right away. While it is not a step by step building-guide it is full of very useful information, and it is very well written.