How to Build Electric Guitars: The Complete Guide to Building and Setting Up Your Own Custom Guitar

by Will Kelly

In the past few years the market for electric guitar kits and parts has exploded. For every two enthusiasts, there are four opinions on how properly to fill woodgrain. In this book, Will Kelly cuts through all that noise and shows how, with a little patience and some inexpensive tools, the average person can turn a modest investment into a gig-worthy instrument and perhaps even a lifelong hobby. Kelly presents guitar-building in a progressive fashion, beginning with a simple Stratocaster-style kit with a bolt-on neck and continuing on to a "relic'd" Telecaster-style build, two Gibson-style set-neck models, and a custom double-neck mash-up. Because each build is more involved than the previous, the reader builds on his or her skill set and acquires only the tools necessary for the reader's level of interest. Kelly shows how to apply finishes, choose and install hardware, wire electronics, execute the final assembly, and set up the finished guitar for proper action and intonation.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, this is a great book. It is packed with tons of excellent information on how to take a kit guitar from raw wood, sand it, paint it, assemble it, wire it, and set it up.
I bought 2 electric guitar kits; an Offset Flying V for myself, and a Mockingbird styled version for my daughter to give us a project each that we could do together. This has given her another medium to express her creativity. First in painting the guitar, next when she gets to play it.
I like how the author laid out this book. Each of the sections build upon the knowledge gained in the prior one giving you more in-depth knowledge as the projects get more complicated. The first chapter is probably teaches you everything you need to know to complete your first bolt neck kit. Or it comes very close anyway. The second chapter covers a more complicated build and how to relic the guitar. I personally never have understood why anyone would want to buy something that doesn't look new since none of the marks mean anything unlike an actual antique with marks that arrived through decades of use.
Chapter three hours over the differences to complete a set neck guitar and chapter for goes into taking two kitsand combining them into one two neck guitar. In his build he combined a 6 string Axis styled electric guitar with a 4 string electric bass. In this chapter he even covers the required woodworking to mate the kits together so that they are aesthetically pleasing to look at while also maintaining playability.

A side note about the book format:
I bought the kindle version which is a little difficult to flip back and forth in since I didn't use the bookmark feature the first time through the book. If, like me, you are building your first kit guitar, I highly recommend bookmarks since you will be referring back to the various sections add your build progresses.

[Mike Augustine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book assumes you will be starting with a commercial guitar kit. This seems as if it would be a solid reference for the process (I may never build one) as it attempts to guide the reader in relation to increasingly challenging projects.