Building Electric Guitars - 3rd Edition
By Martin Koch
Completely updated throughout with new color photos, this comprehensive guide covers the design and construction of solid, semi-hollow (chambered), and semi-acoustic guitars and basses.
From wood selection to final finishing
Everything from design, finishing, electronics, and final setup is covered step-by-step. The optional companion full-scale plan details a solidbody guitar with tremolo, two humbuckers and a bolt-on neck. Koch even includes steps to help first time builders fix common mistakes.
Featuring over 1800 photos and 600 illustrations, Koch focuses on the smallest details in an easy to understand way. He also goes into great detail on making jigs, using tools, and fine-tuning every aspect of the build. You'll find valuable information on wood selection, pickups, electronics, and setup too.
Book contents: 388 pages, hardback.
Introduction: Parts of an electric guitar, tonal range, popular body styles
Wood: Sound characteristics, drying, selection and purchasing tips
Hardware: Tuners, nuts, pickguards, fretwire, bridges, tremolos, strings and more
Electronics: Making your own pickups, passive and active circuits, shielding
Tools and jigs: Hand tools, routers, planes, scrapers, saws, sanding, jigs for fretting, radiusing, routing, and finishing techniques
Designing the guitar: Scale length, calculating fret positions, truss rod choices, guitar layout, making templates
Making the neck: Making the fretboard, bolt-on, neck-through, and set neck designs, preparing the blank, making and installing a truss rod, fretting, neck shaping and fitting
Making the body: Solidbody, neck-through, semi-solidbody (chambered), and semi-acoustic construction, binding, positioning the bridge, installing a tremolo, routing body cavities
Finishing: Sanding, staining, grain-filling, finish application, polishing
Assembly: Mounting the hardware, installing and shielding the electronics
Setup: Making the nut, tuning, setting neck relief, setting the string action, intonation, setting pickup height
Fixing mistakes: Patching holes, adjusting neck pockets, fixing finishing errors
Solidbody Guitar Plan: The optional 34" x 24" full-scale plan includes a helpful fret placement chart, materials list and wiring diagram. Dimensions are displayed in inches and millimeters for convenience.