Design · Calculate · Cut · Wire · Finish
Build the
whole thing.
A guitar is a stick with wire on it, held under about a hundred and eighty pounds of tension, and every decision you make either fights that tension or works with it. This section is the long way round — the reasoning, the numbers, and the mistakes worth avoiding.
Calculators
Get the numbers right firstFret position calculator
Every slot position from the nut, for any scale length, in inches or millimetres — plus fanned-fret layouts for multiscale builds. This is the one number you cannot get wrong.
02 · FeelString tension calculator
How hard a given set actually pulls at your scale length and tuning. Essential before you commit to a baritone, a down-tuned seven, or anything unusual.
03 · ElectronicsWiring & electronics guide
Pot values, tone caps, switching, shielding and grounding — what each part actually does to the signal, so you can choose rather than copy.
The build, in order
GuidesPlanning and scale length
Why 25.5 and 24.75 inches exist, what changes when you move away from them, and how to decide before you buy a single piece of wood.
02Choosing wood
What body and neck timber genuinely affect on a solidbody, what is folklore, and how to buy stock that is dry, stable and won't twist on you in a year.
03The neck
Truss rods, the neck joint argument, carving a profile that fits your hand, and why the fretboard radius matters more than almost anyone tells you.
04Body and routing
Templates, bearing-guided bits, cavity depths, and the sequence that stops you tearing out a corner on the last cut of the day.
05Fretting and levelling
Slotting, radiusing, pressing versus hammering, then levelling, crowning and polishing — the stage that decides whether it plays like an instrument or a plank.
06Hardware and geometry
Bridge placement, neck angle, break angle and string spacing. Get these wrong and no amount of setup will rescue it.
07Finishing
Oil, nitro, poly and shellac compared honestly, plus grain filling, and how to get a decent finish in a garage without a spray booth.
08Final setup
Relief, action, intonation, nut slot height and pickup height, in the order that stops you chasing your own tail.
Build logs
Watch one get made
Full photo logs of complete builds, including the parts that went wrong and what they cost to fix. More instructive than any tutorial, because tutorials never show the router slip.