Building a guitar, where to start

fastonebaz

I want a guitar that sounds like an Ibanez Jem, feels like a charvel San dimas 1 neck and body, has a gorgeous flamed finish like an R9 LP, is a hard tail with intonation adjustment, medium jumbo frets, single volume and tone pot,  has easy access truss rod adjustment.

Not sure where to start. 

Make a Franken-guitar from spares

Buy components and build my own guitar from scratch

Order a custom from someone

Buy a charvel San Dumas and retro fit a hard tail and pair of evos 

Any advice? 

Never built a guitar before. 

Danielsguitars

Building a guitar and asking someone to make one are entirely different things, one thing you might think about is having some of it possibly made and you fit it all together

Everything depends on time, skills and tools plus how much your budget is etc

fastonebaz

I've got time and some skills and some tools but not enough to make a guitar from scratch but I could assemble one and do the wiring/ setup etc. 

Danielsguitars

I'm sure you can buy jem bodys and  get a neck then

fastonebaz

Is it really as simple as buying a body and neck and screwing them together etc? 

paulnb57

fastonebaz said:

Is it really as simple as buying a body and neck and screwing them together etc? 

If the body and neck are from the same maufacturer and intended to be together then, yes it's really that simple, however mixing and matching parts can be a disaster....
If I wanted a particular style of guitar, that isn't available off the shelf, I would ask someone like GSPBASSES on here to make me a neck and body, or a body to suit my neck, so that I know for sure they will work together. If you havent painted a guitar before there are folk on here who do and are bloody good too....I do my own with rattle cans, but its easy to cock it up and time consuming to put right..
The problem with outsourcing is that it gets expensive, for what is essentially a partscaster that will never resell for what you paid for it...so you really need to nail down your spec for the best chance of being happy with it when finished.

So,
Make a Franken guitar from spares?

Yes if you can get compatible parts, although a figured top on the body is unlikely

Buy components and build from scratch?

A lot of work for a first timer, fraught with pifalls

Order a custom from someone?

Best chance of success and closest to porposed spec, very costly, but you could commission a body and neck or a body to suit an off the shelf neck, then do the rest yourself, or go the whole hog and commission a finished instrument

Buy a Charvel San Dimas and fit a hard tail bridge?

Problem here is there is a bloody great Floyd route in the body where the hardtail needs to go

Good Luck!

GoldenEraGuitars

fastonebaz said:

Is it really as simple as buying a body and neck and screwing them together etc? 

No. Not all the time. And this is where people get confused and annoyed. Some minor tweaking might be needed. I’ve had necks and bodies from the same brands in the same delivery that don’t fit as they should. It’s not a big deal but to assume that everything will be 100% all of the time is incorrect.

You are best to speak to someone who can make both the neck and body as individual pieces who can then do a dry fit. This means that there should be a little bit of give at the heel of the neck for your paint finish. 

paulnb57 said: 

 ...that will never resell for what you paid for it...

This applies, in general, to spending your hard earned cash in the guitar world

Roland

The two really skilled bits are making a neck which feels the way you want, and finishing the body to R9 standards. Assembling it all is just a matter of taking your time, being careful, and having access to the right tools.

Something else to bear in mind is that, whether bought or made, this is a journey which usually involves more than one guitar. It might be that this is your idea of the ultimate guitar. It might not turn out the way you expect. A few years later that idea might have changed. Either way you’ll be hankering after something else.

To me that says two things. Don’t spend too much money because you will certainly spend the same or more on version two. Take on as much of the assembly as you’re confident with so that you can change things if it doesn’t meet expectations, or if/when your ideas change. I’m thinking particularly of pickups and the other electrical components.

In your position I would do what @paulnb57 suggests. First find someone who can make a neck and body to your specification. It has to be the same person for both so that you know they’ll fit together, and the bridge will be in the right place. Secondly, find someone who can do the finish. A lot of home builders are happy with oiled finishes, but if you want that R9 shine then you need someone with the right equipment, and the skills to use it. Then learn how to assemble it all yourself. 

Danielsguitars

No you don't have to have the same person make both body and neck, it does depend on if you can find a neck you like first, that's where the money and time is if you're having one made 

My recent example is someone gave me an allparts neck to make a custom made body to his spec, the neck didn't fit the basic guitar build body, so had to enlarge neck pocket before it could be bolted together then the rest of it still had to be machined, even this still needs lots of skilled work, make a new nut, assemble and set up and fit a staytrem bridge, you get one go at fitting that bridge too

olafgarten

So basically you want this:


https://i.imgur.com/OrcbRR0_d.jpg?maxwidth=100000&fidelity=high

It's sort of similar to an Ibanez AZ if you block the trem..

fastonebaz

@olafgarten That website is amazing.   Thanks.  I've custom designed what could be my ultimate guitar

https://imgur.com/gallery/3glc3uG.jpg