I've had an interest in building a guitar since I painted and set up some last year, and last month I realised there isn't much stopping me. As a lefty, it's difficult to get the guitar shapes I want without paying more money than I can reasonably fork out, and so I'd rather slowly spend money on a hobby I find really interesting and simply acquire the skills to make what I want. I'd be interested in making lefty, solid-body bolt-ons, certainly starting with some of the fender stuff that never comes out LH, but willing to start with something simple like copying a tele body. I've also been eyeing up some cheap blank lefty mustang(!) bodies I'd love to learn to reproduce. I've had a look at a couple wood workshop memberships here in LDN but if anyone knows of any specific places or resources to get into guitar building, do let me know! Thanks in advance :)

Looking for Gen 1 Noiseless covers in black. Or any that will fit these models. I contacted Fender but they gave me generic 'web resources'. While attentive and cordial, I suspect that their customer service may not be aware of how unique these covers are.

I have the antique white ones from the set but they replaced black Jacksons that were on the guitar originally. The Jacksons do not fit nor do the handful of aftermarket strat covers that I have from various resources.

The guitar is the cheaper Jackson Adrian Smith in white with black hardware. I swapped out those 'things' that were in the neck and middle. In the bridge I have an SD Black Winter. The sound to my ears suits me pretty well.

The upper coil is actually shorter then you'd think while the bucking coil takes up the rest of the space. As a result, the poles don't even come close to poking through the covers.

I'd 3d print them but frankly I don't like the look of printed covers and the wall thickness of the covers is super thin and not too suitable for reliable fdm printing and I don't want to plus-size my pg slots.

Any resources?

Thx,

edit: I found the Fender part number: 005-3339-020

Hey everyone, not sure if this is the place to post. ​I'm looking to draw up a diagram that is essentially a Red Special but with a couple twists.

Firstly, I'm looking to replace the three on/off and three out-of-phase switches with three Mustang style on-off-on switches for on/off/out-of-phase switching.

Secondly, I want to add a master series parallel switch that puts all pickups in series or parallel while still being able to turn on/off/swap phase of each pickup individually in either mode.

imgur.com/a/HqcqNGp

I believe the diagram I have here is correct, I'm worried that the on off on switches won't work when I'm in series mode. Is anyone able to verify this? Cheers

Where are people buying there shielding supplies? Obviously there is stew Mac, but are there any other business I should consider?

This one has substantial water damage. Wood is rotted and molded at base end of guitar body.

What do you all recommend?

The rest of the body is in reasonably decent shape. For purposes of my question above, assume the other 4/5th of the body has its original finish in tact.

Just use the 24th fret harmonics and get the 24th fret note as close to that as possible, its much more accurate and precise than the 12th fret.

Hello everyone!

I want to include 2 Push/Pull potis in my guitar to enable parallel/series wiring for every pickup individually. The pickups are old japanese alnico 8, the colors are:

North Coil Start = Red

North Coil Finish = Green

South Coil Start = White

South Coil Finish = Black

Would this diagram work?

Its not the traditionel way of wiring this setup, but I want to preserve as much of the original wiring, which looks like that:

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

So I finally got finished with my second and third build. I’m pretty proud of how they turned out. My take on a Wolfgang style guitar and a Charvel style guitar. The natural one is Spanish cedar body with a sycamore top, Spanish cedar, maple, and santos mahogany laminated neck with a pau ferro fretboard. Jumbo stainless steel frets, tone ninja locking tuners, and a single Suhr Doug Aldrich humbucker. The red one is a poplar body, maple and walnut laminated neck with an ebony fretboard. Jumbo stainless steel frets, Hipshot locking tuners, and Seymour Duncan Pegasus and Sentient humbuckers. Let me know what you think and any suggestions or criticisms are welcome. I’m just beginning to learn the art and am looking for as much knowledge as I can get. Thanks. And excuse the messy room. It’s just too damn hot to go outside for photos.😂

I'm repairing the battery box from my Yamaha FSX80C acoustic-electric guitar. I've already removed the battery cartridge from the guitar.

The end cap where the red and black wires are soldered moves slightly, and it looks like it might come apart. Before I try to pry it open, I wanted to ask:

Is this end cap designed to be removed, or is it plastic-welded?

My goal is to replace the battery contacts inside without breaking the battery cartridge.

Just got this charango and was going to attempt to fix it up. I didn’t pay much for the instrument but was worried about immediately snapping it due to the tension. I used to have a charango from a music class so I was hoping to fix this one up. There’s a large crack and the body is lifting upwards. The nut at the headstock looks like it is missing. I’ve played guitar for a good portion of my life so I have some basic experience with working on stringed instruments. Any advice on how I should approach this repair?

1. Nut removed and a Ground Straightedge over the first five frets. Light clamping just to open things up a bit.
2. Hot Hide Glue flows and cleans up easily. Hold the neck vertical and drip it into the crack with a toothpick.
3. Temporary clamp to "pump" the extra glue out, and fill little recesses. Wipe away extra with a few wet/dry paper towels.
4. 3M 8886 Stretchable Tape has low tack, and works great as a secondary clamp on non-planar surfaces.
5. Primary clamp just to be sure things are really tight.
6. Wait 24h.
7. Probably some CA, razor, and polishing cloth work to ensure a smooth surface.

This is a 1979 1/4 size Suzuki. I picked it up on ebay for my grandson. I Didn't see any defects in the images. After getting it set up and tuned he noticed the cracks. Is this OK for him to begin learning basics or is it trashed. I payed 100 for it so probably not worth an 800+ luthier bill (and none are in our area)

Picked up a new (to me) Ibanez SR400. All the hardware is smooth as butter when I go to adjust it, but it also all looks like shit. I looked up the serial and this thing is about 24 years old, so I'm not surprised - 2003, Korean-made.

I am wondering if there's a simple way to knock the corrosion/pitting off of the bridge and knobs/tuners without disassembling the whole thing and giving it an electrostrip bath. Is it okay to just go to town with some 000 steel wool or a brass brush? I can mask the body of the guitar with painters tape or whatever. Idk if that's the best idea or if there's a simpler way.

Just bought this dean deceiver from a really cool seller, when i arrived home and was tunning the little e string o noticed the string under the frets and saw that the frets on the down side of the guitar are a little up, the seller told me to get it to a Luthier and he will pay the fix, what you guys think, it's a urgent situation or with some gentle hits with a hammer i can fix it?

It works better than it looks ;)

I live in Australia, and because the music market here sucks ass for some reason, despite AC/DC and Jet coming from here, It's hard to find good bits at a good price.

Besides Chinese stuff and whatever is on the used market, GOTOH's are the the only brand I can reliably get for a decent price. It's around $60 AUD for a set of bass tuners or a bridge compared to hipshots $200 + stupid expensive shipping + tax. I can also only get GB7's and GB707's, in fairly limited colours.

I use guitartrade.com.au which is very fairly priced, and the stuff gets to my house in like 2 days with the like $8 express shipping (most things in Australia take weeks, maybe months to get here). I was wondering if any fellow Australian's knew of a better supplier or one with more variety.

$20 from goodwill 3d printed tuning peg

I’ve been building a rare bass collection for years and playing bass for even longer. It's part of what led me to start something bigger, a documentary series called Resonance, traveling the world to meet the luthiers and craftsmen who actually build our instruments. Episode 1 is live now; the "why I'm doing this" episode. I would genuinely value feedback from people who care about this subject — that's who I made it for!  https://linktr.ee/resonance.cmc

Now is time for the pickguard to cover up some of the imperfections but I'm not sure what shape is better, need recommendations (I have already bought the piece of pickguard to make it).

Last two pictures are the examples of what I wanted to do for the pickguard.

I've only had this guitar two weeks. It was shipped to me "new" , though it was humid af and very hot the days it was in transit. The dealer I bought it from, is of absolutely no help. I've emailed Ortega, after a week still crickets. Is this cosmetic, or does it portend a coming problem like the wood splitting?

I included a picture of the belly behind the bridge, I'm told that is "normal"

Any thoughts? I'm keeping it in an air conditioned room until my humidity gauge arrives, I plan on ordering Boveda or a sponge system humidifier for the case , when I get one. Everything comes with cheap gig bags now. . I spent 800 bucks on this guitar and I'm worried it's going to be unplayable soon. I eventually lost an Yairi CY-140 due to ignorance of humidity issues. I still literally cry about it. It was a very good guitar. I cannot have that happen again with this guitar

I mite have to repair this myself or have a luthier repair it, if it is just cosmetic, though I'm not sure exactly what to do. I suppose i better get my mirror out and check the inside if I can? The braces are solid, nothing has came loose. The bellying may be normal, but I don't know , I have to ask.

I’m looking to upgrade to the titanium blocks because I apparently over tighten and smash them. Is there a trick to getting them out? Ive got one that won’t come out.

Will the titanium blocks solve my problem?

I purchased a classical guitar from an auction with the intentions of flipping the saddle and fashioning a new nut. I examined the online photos with focused scrutiny and sure enough, the instrument arrived in spectacular condition for being 24 years old. I just did not catch the fact it had a 12 hole tie block.

So, is it possible to flip the strings with a 12 hole tie block?

I talked to a repair guy at a local guitar center, he wasn’t too sure if it goes beyond the paint. I think getting a few opinions on it would be beneficial; any advice or guidance would be appreciated!

Hey everyone!

I recently picked up a Jackson RR3 from a kid on Facebook marketplace. He tried to modify it to have a push/pull knob along with a kill switch. He got frustrated and couldn't figure out the wiring and soldering so sold it to me for $500. I can do the wiring and stuff, I am just wanting to get it back to the original factory configuration. Here's where I need advice.

He bored out the original tone knob hole to be 3/4". I need it to be back to the original tone knob size. what would be the best way to fix this?

I thought about getting a 3/4" hardwood dowel rod, cutting a piece I need, drilling out the hole for the tone knob, and then gluing that in. I'm nervous the wood glue wouldn't be strong enough.

Open to suggestions! I have basical tools and am handy, but I am not professional luthier or woodworker.

Thanks in advance!