One of our guitars ended up on the cover of a Premiere Guitar ebook

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Let me ask my partner Chris. He’s the one who orders all the parts and does the build.

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for kits, he suggested BexGears.

But he also said you would build a better guitar with individual parts and he can recommend sources for all of the bits and pieces, so let me know if you want that and i can ask him for the list.

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You know we want it!

Thank you :smiley:

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I suppose building any guitar first works, a better guitar can come later. Hmmm…kits not too expensive…well, why not then?

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keep in mind those are all unfinished bodies. you can paint first if you want to or keep it natural and just stain if you want (or leave it raw), and then finish with oil or a poly finish of some sort. my buddy chris often thins out paint and “washes” with it to see the grain through the paint. or we’ll order a body that already has a finish on it. the paisley body above was a whitewash on natural. you can also do a color stain.

some of the other bodies we’ve bought prefinished. a bit messier of an engrave and the smell is a bit harsher, but it hasn’t hurt the machine at all. but then you can get a true shiny lacquer finish without needing to have the skill and take the time to do all the coats/sand/coats you need to make that happen.

some woods don’t char much (like alder and ash) so the engrave really isn’t any darker than the unengraved wood. so we leave the masking on and “blot” with watered down black paint to darken the engrave and peel off the masking when it dries. but that’s with the prefinished lacquer finish, i would assume w/unfinished that the paint would leech out under the masking.

i will also spray a few coats of clearcoat acrylic enamel on the engrave before i peel off the masking if you’re using a prefinished guitar to seal in the engrave a bit. if you’re staying natural and are going to oil/poly the whole thing, you won’t need to do that.

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took a bit, but here’s Chris’ advice on places to purchase all the parts separately. he’s avoided amazon on his list cuz, well, he hates bezos. :wink:

  • Body: For pre-finished bodies, usually GuitarFetish.com. Etsy and eBay are also good options. Shipping from China is problematic right now, so check where shipping originates.

  • Binding: If you need to get binding, use StewMac.com

  • Pickups: Depends. Sometimes the manufacturer (Fender.com, https://bootstrappickups.com/, https://www.tonehatch.com/). Sometimes Google / Reverb / EBay).

  • Bridge: Chicago Music Exchange has Fender string-thru 6-saddle bridges. I use them a lot.

  • Control Plate: Google / Amazon. Nothing special about Control Plates

  • Wiring: I do my own wiring, but prewired harnesses are out there.

  • Pots: Google / Amazon. Don’t go cheap. Good pots matter. CTS is the standard for pots.

  • Capacitor: I like “Tropical Fish” caps and “Orange Drop” caps. Google

  • Switch: Google to find the switch you like. Teles are usually 3 way blade switches. Oak Grigsby style.

  • Neck: I like Havok Guitars (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HavokGuitars). From Hamilton Canada. You can always rely on Mighty Mite.

  • Neck Plate: For generic, Google / Amazon. I get custom plates from CalFabric (https://www.ebay.com/str/calfabric)

  • Pick Guard: For generic: google or Amazon. For unusual options, Greasy Groove (https://greasygroove.com/)

  • Pickup Rings: Google / Amazon / Etsy / Ebay

  • Tuning Pegs: I’ve settled on Grover Rotomatics 205C6. Sweetwater, AllParts, Reverb

  • Strap Buttons: CB Gitty. They’re good for all the nitty gritty pieces - strap buttons, string trees, volume / tone knobs, etc. (cbgitty.om/)

  • Jack / Plate: Google / Amazon

  • Strings: Google / Amazon

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Thank you to both you and Chris.

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looking forward to seeing what others try to do with a guitar.

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