" If "My wife has never touched a woodworking tool in her life, yet turned out a guitar I would have been proud to own and play"

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Can I Do It??...

Yes. Anyone can.

Mark's youngest BYO’er was  Mike (12), who came with his father Sandy (bit more than 12) and made a walnut bodied guitar that was just beautiful. He has run courses in schools,with 12-16 year olds who built guitars in pairs or threes for the music dept. Most BYOers have never used power tools, and haven’t made anything since they were at school. Friends & family have built together…. guitarists’ wives have come and made guitars that their husbands lust for......my Annie made a bass guitar (the violin one you'll see in the gallery as part of a matching pair) and I would use nothing else for recording.

The system he uses involves following patterns that have been carefully prepared to make the job easy for you. If you want something different, then he can make a new pattern. A number of people have gone on to make their own guitars at home, and Mark has helped and encouraged them. Have a look at the gallery and see what is made - by ordinary people with no special skills at all.

You'll use a band saw, a router, drill and sander, all under supervision and with each task explained in detail. If anything feels too difficult, he'll give as much help as you want. He hase the skill to put right even major problems - such as one builder letting his guitar slip to the floor and snapping the neck. By next morning it had been reglued and was ready for the next stage with only a tiny scar to show that anything happened ! But this is rare - short of accidents the method we use gets you there without much risk of making a big mistake.

He has have a video which follows two builders through the making of two guitars, and which guides you through the process. If you would like to purchase a copy, click here.

Remember these blocks of wood from the previous page? Below I have set out the main tasks and what is involved.

The NECK

First job is to draw the neck pattern onto the piece of wood. Then the rough shape can be cut on the band saw. All you have to do is follow the lines !  After this the channel in the neck for the truss rod is cut with a router, using another template - with this you guide the router around the template which is fixed on with double sided tape. The truss rod may be under the fingerboard if you're using an extra piece (as the picture above) or be accessed via the back and covered by a fillet of wood - just like the skunk stripe on the back of guitars like the Stratocaster.

Here you can see the template fixed on top of the body - a chunky bit of iroko. After roughly sawing to shape, the router follows the template and cuts the body exactly to shape - easy-peasy.

The headstock is then cut to the right thickness using the bandsaw, after drawing on the pattern. The basic shapes are finished off by routing around a pattern, to get the exact shape, then sanding. The next job is to shape the fingerboard to the right radius or curve. You may have glued on the fingerboard if using ebony or a different wood to get a particular look. The radius involves sanding, using sandpaper attached to a specially shaped block which is set to the required curve. You'll then mark the fretslots.

This neck now has the frets in, but not yet cut to size. The marker holes have been drilled, the mother of pearl dots inserted and then the neck sanded. This is a piece of ebony, with the truss rod underneath - you can see the end of it on the right.

The neck is then shaped using a rasp - you'll be amazed how easily a square piece turns into a beautifully smooth and round neck. For most people this is when their guitar starts to come alive. Next step is to install the neck markers - dots are easiest, and when these are done it's another special moment. Now you cut the fret slots in with a fret-saw, again using a template which is pre-set to the neck length that you have specified. 

At all stages you'll be sanding and tidying up after each task - |Mark has long given up sweeping up !. Having cleaned up the neck, the frets go in. These are bent to shape using his own tool - a bit like a home made nutcracker. Cut off the ends, a little more tidying up, and now you have something that feels like it could be played.

Make some drill holes for the machine heads, and a bit more sanding - and you have finished the neck preparation

THE BODY

Beginning to look real now....maple cap glued on, body shaped, pick up slots made and being tidied up.

Having band sawn the rough shape, the router then cuts against the template to give you the exact shape. You then have to cut quite a few holes - for the pickups, the neck joint, and the rear cavity which houses the controls, though this could be on the front in some cases. Going round the edge with the router using a different cutter will give that nice curved edge to the body.

You'll set the neck angle next, to make sure that the action works well. Mark will give you help with this important stage,and indeed with anything you are not sure of.. Whether glued in or bolt on, he'll make sure you get a good action at this crucial point.

Then it's a case of drilling the holes for the bridge, tailpiece, controls, strap studs etc.

If you want to carve the body - that's done now. The it's sanding, working through the grades of paper to get to a good finish.

SETTING UP

The strings are on - just the intonation and action to check..

Now comes some attention to detail on the neck - getting the fret ends right, frets shaped correctly, checking the truss rod, and the overall shape of the neck. 

Then you get really excited about fixing the neck to the body - either glued or bolt-on. Your dream now feels like a real guitar. 

The on goes the hardware, it all gets wired up, you fit the top nut, and at last put the strings on. Check the intonation, final adjustment to the truss rod, set the action.........

And plug it in and play that first chord. Everyone says that this is THE moment - the smile lasts a fortnight afterwards

Dream it, design it -then build it with