When deciding to build an electric guitar, there are a few questions that a person must first ask his or herself before buying materials and tools. Questions such as, "What kind of music do I plan on playing?", "What appearance am I going for?", and "How much time and effort am I willing to put into an instrument?". Questions like this will determine whether the guitar should be a simple design or an elaborate design, and what type of guitar it will be. Guitarists who prefer to play heavier-sounding music generally prefer guitars with humbucker pickups rather than single-coil pickups. Thinner guitar necks generally allow for faster playability. These are common factors that luthiers always have to consider.
The first step in building a guitar is choosing tone woods for the guitar's construction. Common tone woods include maple, mahogany, rosewood, ebony, basswood, and alder. It's important to consider the properties of each tone wood before making a decision. Maple is a very hard, dense wood, and thus it produces a brighter, sharper tone. Mahogany, however, is a softer wood that produces a warmer tone. For reference, a Gibson Les Paul has a mahogany body while a Fender Stratocaster generally has an alder or a maple body. Because of this, Les Pauls have a warmer, thicker tone, while Fender Stratocasters have a brighter, snappier tone.
Speaking of Les Pauls and Stratocasters, it's important to decide early on which type of body style you want your guitar to have. The most popular body styles are, of course, the Les Paul and the Stratocaster shapes, and variations of them, such as the "Super-Strat" body design. However, there are many different body styles other than these two. If you are a creative person, it's never a bad idea to design your own body style. If it's good enough, you may even be able to make money off of your innovation.
Neck joints are a very vital part of a guitar's construction. There are a three major methods to joining a guitar's neck to the body: the bolt-on method, the set-neck method, and the neck-thru method. The bolt-on method is generally the easiest way, and it's also the most common. It involves basically bolting the neck to the body using three to six bolts. Most bolt-on guitars use a four-bolt pattern. Set-neck means that the neck is glued to the body, via a pocket that has been pre-routed into the body. Neck-thru is when the guitar neck extends all the way through the guitar body, and the neck and the center chunk of the guitar body are all one piece of wood, with side "wings" completing the guitar body's shape on either side. This is generally the most expensive approach, but it guarantees a longer amount of sustain. The bolt-on process offers the least amount of sustain, because the woods are generally not as tightly pressed together. For another point of reference, Les Pauls are almost always set-neck designs, while Stratocasters are generally, but not always, bolt-ons. One benefit to the bolt-on design is that it's much easier to replace a neck if damage occurs.
There are many, many more details that could and should be considered when building a guitar, but these few are some of the most common decisions that people encounter during the early stages of the building process. When I started building my first guitar, I decided to go with a Stratocaster shape with a bolt-on neck joint. This was because it was a cheap and simple design, which was good for a first guitar build. If you are unsure what approach you want to take when building a guitar, it would be wise to go into a local Guitar Center and observe and play various guitars. Whatever style you enjoy most may be what you want to pursue when building your own. Like anything worth doing, it will take time and effort. But if you stick with it,you will definitely feel accomplished at the end.
