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Posted by: Artemus Mar 16 2009, 12:49 AM

Just wondering whether any one here takes their love of guitars to the point of making their own?
A few years ago a got a bit fed up with my lack of progress on playing the guitar so I thought I'd take a break and try making my own guitars.
Below is the first guitar I ever made:

Posted by: g-forcelover Mar 16 2009, 12:52 AM

Sweet man I'm building my own guitar just like that right now, just ran into some money issuses so it had to be postponed, but looks much better than mine haha.

Posted by: Praetorian Mar 16 2009, 12:55 AM

Nice work!!! Did you buy the neck or did you actually carve that inlay?

Posted by: Guitarman700 Mar 16 2009, 12:57 AM

Dear God Artemus, That is sexy.

Posted by: Artemus Mar 16 2009, 01:03 AM

Cheers
Nope I did the inlay - it took 3 months !!!
All my projects starts out as a few lumps of wood

Posted by: TreyDeschamp Mar 16 2009, 01:21 AM

Love the color and guitar purple is my favorite!

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Mar 16 2009, 01:53 PM

Guitar looks very interesting !! Inlay is very well done! Got any soundclips of it ?

Posted by: Emir Hot Mar 16 2009, 01:55 PM

The shape looks a bit strange but I like it That pattern on the neck is cool. Post some clips I'd like to hear the sound

Posted by: David Wallimann Mar 16 2009, 02:20 PM

Wow!
Your guitar looks beautiful man!!!

Posted by: Bondy Mar 16 2009, 03:33 PM

I did the EVH one last year who hasnt!! lol, yours is a much better effort I should have took my time with it

Posted by: Canis Mar 16 2009, 03:38 PM

Wow, inspires me to make my own as well
I will as soon as I have time/money ^^

Posted by: Sensible Jones Mar 16 2009, 03:39 PM

I have built a few Guitars, but not for a while now! I built a few whilst at College. My first was an Explorer with a Holographic front followed by an Iceman. I have to admit that I bought the necks though!!! These days I'm more of a 'Guitar Assembler', I buy in all the parts and just do the Finish and put them together!

Posted by: Canis Mar 16 2009, 03:43 PM

I'm curious, is that cheaper then buying a whole guitar?

Posted by: Artemus Mar 16 2009, 04:38 PM

Short answer: No

If you already have all the equipment and setup then in theory you could build something a bit cheaper than what they have on shelf but in honesty the main reasons for building your own custom are to have exactly what you want in a guitar - something more personal than anything you can buy. Big brand guitars are built on a production line which will reduce costs down to the point where you can't compete. If you do start a project and you're anything like me you'll be more interested in getting the best quality woods etc. so it ends up becoming quite an expensive adventure. And I made mistakes, which also cost additional money

Is it worth it? Hell yeah!

Posted by: berko Mar 16 2009, 05:20 PM

Sweet looking axe! Wonder how it sounds

Another question though: if I only want to assemble a guitar from parts (assume that I can get all pickups, bridge, tuning machines and that stuff at a moderate price at where I'm living) would it be cheaper? Or would the prices of the parts add up to the price of a ready made guitar? I'm thinking about original floyd rose tremolo, seymour duncan humbuckers... and a natural body (i would do the finish)

Posted by: tonymiro Mar 16 2009, 06:04 PM

Afraid the answer most probably depends on the actual ready made guitar that you compared it to Berko and the premium placed on the brand over and above cost of labour and parts.

One thing to note though is that the big volume manufacturers like Fender, Gibson, Ibanez etc will get a hefty discount on any parts they buy in. Small luthiers may buy wholesale/from source but wouldn't get anything like the same volume discount. A private individual would almost certainly buy parts from a parts seller so would pay pretty much the full list price.

The upside of putting your own guitar together is perhaps not the price but the enjoyment of doing it and also being able to specify everything about it.

Posted by: Trond Vold Mar 16 2009, 11:20 PM

Artemus, that guitar looks AWESOME! Love the inlay-work

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Mar 17 2009, 01:02 AM

Wow man, you did all that by yourself?

That must be a looot of work.

Congrats, that guitar is beautiful!

When you can please post some audio samples

Posted by: Artemus Mar 17 2009, 12:45 PM

Nice man! Looks lovely

Sensible Jones: any chance of some pics? I'd like to see the holographic one as I started a similar project a while ago.

To all: thanks for the compliments. Unfortunately I had to move house twice last year and in the process the guitar in the picture sustained some hefty trem damage so until I fix it I can't get any samples up, but I will do as soon as I nurse it back to health. I remember having a lovely sustain thanks to the padauk body - it's darn heavy though..

Posted by: Sensible Jones Mar 17 2009, 11:31 PM

There will be some Pics!!! I'm just waiting until my new PC is up and running and then I have a pic I can Scan and Post!!!

Posted by: audiopaal Mar 18 2009, 12:33 AM

Nice guitar

Posted by: Artemus Apr 5 2009, 04:58 PM

Word of caution/advice to any potential luthiers out there:
ALWAYS make detailed plans before hand but much more importantly..

..NEVER EVER EVER lose those plans!

Posted by: Paiva Apr 6 2009, 07:17 PM

I would love to do one but I have not very handy with tools

And when I say "not very" I mean that I would probably chop my arm instead of the wood that's how handy I'm with tools... Don't even talk about drawing! That's the worst LOL

Posted by: fkalich Apr 6 2009, 07:25 PM

Looks a bit like an SG body style, except that you put the concave bottom at the right place. I think the Gibson SG would be a great guitar (I have one), except for some reason the spot for your right leg when sitting is near the bridge , so it is very unbalanced.

edit: on further review, It looks like that sport on your guitar is further back, however, you have more mass at the back of the guitar, so I bet is balances well on the knew.

That is real important to me, can't understand why it would not be for anyone, unless they stood up all the time.

Posted by: fretburn May 10 2009, 12:08 AM

Very nice work artemus, reminds me of an esp viper series. excellent job. I know ive posted my pics before but as requested here they are. sorry it took me so long![attachment=15
530:0916072201.jpg]