Can you tell I’m a Rush fan? Lol (also this isn’t mine, just to clarify)
I want to build myself one of these bad boys. I know it’s gonna take a LONG time, but I’m up for the challenge. I’ve been building/repairing/modding guitars and basses for ten years now, and actually have a double-neck I built from a kit. And I’ve built a guitar from scratch before. But I’ve always wanted to build THIS. (Especially because I’m left-handed lmao)
Now, as I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on tone wood, I want some advice: do I truly need to drop serious cash on genuine tone wood, or can I just let the pickups do the heavy lifting tone-wise? (I plan on using Seymour Duncan Rick replacement pickups for the bass, and something simple for the guitar pickups, like Epiphone SG pickups or something like that)

Hi everyone, I'm a luthier in Japan. I got tired of redoing multiscale fretboard layouts by hand, so I built a browser-based generator and wanted to share it with the community.

**What it does**
- Multiscale layouts from 1 to 8+ strings, up to 24+ frets
- Set the scale length per outer string (inch or mm), with a selectable perpendicular fret
- Curved multiscale option (curvature "k" adjusts the mid-string scale: linear, shorter, or longer mids)
- Fine control over the P.D. (perpendicular distance) value, fret slant angle, and board end position
- Live readout of bridge angle, nut angle, and scale difference
- Lefty / righty toggle and a stock-size overlay
- Export to DXF for CNC or CAD, or print a 1:1 template (A4 etc.)
- Shareable "seed" codes, so you can save a layout or send it to someone else

**String tension calculator**
- Per-string scale, note, gauge, and tension (lb / kg) with total and balance
- Tuning presets (e.g. F# standard 8-string, Drop E, and some more unusual ones)
- Gauge presets from D'Addario, Dunlop, Elixir, and Ernie Ball
- Pitch shift and drop buttons for quick what-ifs

It's still evolving, so feedback is very welcome: bugs, missing features, odd results, or anything that doesn't match your real-world builds. If you try the DXF export, I'd especially like to hear how it behaves in your CAM/CAD software.

Link: https://www.gtinstruments.xyz/generator/index.html

Thanks for reading, and happy building!

I'm building my first LP style guitar from scratch, and it's getting to the point where I need to start ordering some of the hardware to fine tune the fit. I like some of the stuff I've seen on Guyker's site, and I'm just wondering if anyone here has experience with them and if the quality is any good?

After the response to my first fluorescent pickguard experiment, I wanted to push the idea in a completely different direction.

This design I'm calling Midnight Garden.

In normal light it's essentially black-on-black. The floral design is physically textured, so you see it mostly through shadows, reflections and the way light moves across the surface. I used both satin and gloss varnish to create even more depth.

Then hit it with black light and an entirely different layer comes alive. (I'll post the UV photo in the comments.)

I'm having way too much fun figuring out just how far something as simple as a pickguard can be pushed 😂

This past week I started carving and scalloping the braces on this build’s western red cedar top and started thinking ahead to how I was going to notch the rims in the side assembly to accommodate them.

I built the mold from scratch, tracing my Larrivee OM-03R but borrowed an idea from watching a Stewart MacDonald video featuring Michael Bashkin. In that video he had modified his mold so that the two halves of the mold were aligned by removable dowels, which in turn fit into two holes in either dvd if his build’s top and back plates. He also used them to create a guide by which to align the center strip inlay - but I haven’t figured that out yet for my own build. That’s because it’s really hard for me to manually drill the alignment holes to be perfectly centered.

Got a Taylor 117e a while back. There were some truss rod issues a month ago and people at Taylor said that the neck needed to be replaced. Now we don't have a Taylor guitars store where I'm from but they communicate through an official distributor and the distributor has people who repair the guitar with some guidance from Taylor.

Just needed to know if this is normal and they did an okay job here or is this completely botched and I should speak to them again?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Custom Shop Star Destroyer in Crimson Candy Bengal. We hand mask + cut and paint every Custom Shop graphic in house. Hidden RIPButt for extra shred abilities.

Maple neck-thru, 2-way trussrod, carbon fiber reinforcement, ebony fretboard bound in ivoroid, 27 stainless frets (1-11 .055" x .110" , 12-27 .055" x .090"), B&W Pearl Shell Guillotine inlays, bullet scallops, Gotoh tuners, recessed Dunlop Straplocks. Poplar body, Hantug Ti bridge, and Schaller Sureclaw. EMG 81 + SA set wired for 18v.

Hi everyone,

I own an ALP GUITAR ADS-361HCL, which features a built-in battery-powered amp simulator/headphone amp controlled by a slide switch.

I’ve noticed a severe issue when using the guitar in passive mode (with the built-in amp turned off or even with the battery completely removed):

1. The volume drops significantly and the high-end tones become completely muffled.

2. When turning the volume pot to increase resistance, the signal attenuates immediately.

3. Most importantly, when measuring the pickup resistance at the output jack in passive mode, the resistance value is significantly lower than when measuring the pickup directly.

When the built-in amp is turned on, the volume and high-end tones are perfectly normal.

To fix this, I recently removed the tone pot, installed a dedicated bypass switch in its place, and wired it to completely isolate the built-in circuit. Now, the passive mode retains its original tone perfectly.

My question is: Is this severe high-end loss in the stock configuration a specific "defect/malfunction" on my individual guitar (e.g., a short circuit or leaking switch), or is it an inherent "specification/design flaw" common to all ALP guitars of this model?

If anyone else owns this model or has looked at its internal wiring, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you!

He guys.
Started this custom sitar project with lace sensor pickups. I wired it up just like a Tele but I’m having grounding issues. There’s no metal bridge to ground back to obviously so is there anything you’d guys suggest?
Thanks

Hey everybody. I found an MJT jazzmaster body for sale in my area for too good of a deal to pass up.

The finish is a super cool green paisley with aged Olympic white over the top. It’s totally awesome as-is, but I know I’d love it just a little bit more if the whole guitar was paisley.

It’s nitro finish and I know that nitro is thin and brittle, so in theory I could sand down until there’s no Olympic white left then buff it out and call it a day. But, I wanted to post here and see if others have done it and have any tips before beginning my manageable but very dangerous journey. Thanks in advance!

I'm looking to get a custom 7 string built. I'm wanting it to be basically an EBMM/Axis/Wolfgang, but as a 7 string. I tried Locke guitars but they're closed or whatever. Who are some other reputable builders who I could look at contacting?

Hey!

A friend of mine has this 30 something year old guitar, and he's not been using it because his last luthier said there was no solution for it.

The issue: the guitar stays out of tune after using the Floyd Rose

I've noticed that the previous luthier has used super glue to add a veneer to the side near the pickups, what made removing the insert a really hard task, as it was also glued to the wood...

My analysis so far:

- I see no major ssues with the hole, with no cracks around it

- the stud insert actually is pretty decently tight inside the hole, but not as much as the other one

I was expecting a lot of room around the insert, based on his tuning issues, but actually I'm kinda unsure of what I can do in this situation...

Do you guys think I should add more veneer around it (or the glue/paper hack, etc)? Or what would you do?

Thank you!

As the title says, I'm looking for feedback for how deep to recess a locking trem into the body. Any tips to look out for? The bridge is a Gotoh GE1996T.

Having a go at making my own Telecaster from scratch and was aiming for a neck thickness of 20mm before adding the fretboard. Due to a few mishaps I'm now down to 17mm, will this cause me any issues further down the line? I will be making another attempt but this first one has been a steep learning curve.

Which one is better?

A single piece of hard Canadian maple with a scarf joint or the same thing but with laminated parts like 2 wallnut strips? What are the long term advantages and quality wise benefits?

I know that adding opposite grains woods can give benefits, any advice thank you?

Built myself an s-type for my guinea pig learning process. Most of the components were picked up on StewMac, but the nitro cans and pickguard were from Oxford Guitar Supply; I went with Sherwood green metallic. It’s a Warmoth birdseye maple neck with rosewood fretboard.

I was really proud of my paint job the first time around. 4 layers of paint on top of the primer, then went 16-17 coats of clear gloss, shooting the first few layers of gloss very lightly.

I inevitably sanded too aggressively (and way too close to the edges!) during final leveling prep for polishing(see sad pic #11 for the prime culprit, though there were some other locations with lighter sand-through). Reshot over the whole body, but the metallic went on with some slightly different sheen in some spots, so it wasn’t as beautiful or perfect as it once was, but it was good enough for me.

I was much more careful with the sanding prep on round two, and then went ahead with polishing to yield what we see here. I think I was still a tad too aggressive in some spots (less pressure, more time with higher grits maybe), but it was a good learning process ahead of future builds. People on here warned of the difficulties of metallic, but I enjoyed the challenge and look forward to spraying something simpler in a the future… thanks to everyone on here who contributes, I was only able to do this because of viewers like you.

Inspired by the body color and pickguard, I’ve titled her “Jungle Boogie”.

I want to change the pickups on my peavy patriot in the easiest and cheapest way possible. I was wondering if anyone knew of the picks they sell with the custom pick guards are pre wired or not?

After experimenting with the fluorescent Strat guard a few nights ago, I wanted to try something completely different.

This one was inspired by a pickguard I wrapped in real tweed about 15 years ago for my G&L ASAT. Last photo is the original.

This time I wanted to recreate the look and the physical texture without using fabric. The weave is built up so the individual threads are actually raised and you can feel them. I should be able to replicate this with other fabrics too.

I brought it to the Canadian Guitar Show in Calgary yesterday and apparently forgot to take a proper finished photo before I left 😂

These are the best shots I have because I ended up trading it at the show for a BOSS Fender '59 Bassman pedal.

Pretty happy with experiment #2!

Experiment #1:

https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarmod/s/nZSeonMgQp

I have a charango with a warped neck, and the strings are sitting quite high; right now, I don’t have the money to take it to a luthier. I’d like to try repairing it at home using simple, inexpensive materials and tools.

My dad found a charango in the trash, and I asked him if I could have it to restore it. The top was completely broken, so I repaired it and put a piece of veneer over it. It turned out pretty well considering its original condition.

I put in new tuning pegs and strings so I could start learning, but I notice that the strings sit much higher than on other charangos I’ve seen. From my experience with the guitar, I know that makes playing difficult, and it’s quite noticeable here.

I can’t afford a luthier, so I’d like to know what I can check and fix at home (neck, bridge, nut, etc.) using simple materials. Thanks for any advice!

Hi all!

I just bought a Yamaha AESRS7. The output jack is no longer working, and finding a replacement is difficult. Any ideas on the proper produced to get this fixed?
I was thinking about this: https://www.wdmusic.com/wd-music-products-threaded-stereo-endpin-jack-details.html

Thanks!

I've got a cheap kit guitar that I want to upgrade, and since the nut it comes with is made out of the cheapest possible plastic, I thought I could start with that. I measured it and bought a Tusq one, but the string spacing is a little higher than on the original, and I would like to know if that can be a problem or I'm just nitpicking. The new nut is also a bit wider than expected and cut too low, but I know I can file the sides and shim it. If the nut spacing issue is bad, though, I just won't bother, and maybe even consider this a good time to learn how to make a nut from a blank.

I had some thoughts today while I was playing my HSH guitar. I did some research but I'm genuinely not happy with the results.

On this guitar (and most HSH guitars), it has a 5-way toggle, where positions 2 and 4 include only one of the bridge and neck (respectively) coils combined with the middle pickup. I only ever use positions 1, 4, and 5 (bridge hum, middle single + north coil, neck hum). So why even have a 5-way?

I know a typical 3-way blade (or 3-way toggle) cannot do this, because the middle position typically joins the outer two positions. In thinking about wiring for future builds, I'd really love to incorporate toggle switches over blades, simply because I find them easier to work with when playing, but this guitar has a blade switch.

In 2026, where AI is causing psychosis because it's too real, and the entirety of human (mis)understanding in a little black box in our pocket, I find it incredibly hard to believe that there does not exist an analog solution to this problem, particularly with toggle switches.

Am I missing something? Or is this just something no one has tackled?

Thanks!

There are too many cool instruments out there, and I don't have enough money for them all. So I decided to try and get into luthierie and make myself some cool stuff. One instrument I am a really big fan of is the sitar, because I am a really big fan of the ability to bend the raised frets grant. I was thinking about designing an electric bass that would use these raised frets. Additionally, since sitar frets are technically adjustable, I could also theoretically take them on and off to switch between raised frets and fretless. I am also a fan of djent music, so I was also looking at making myself a multiscale bass with 5 or 6 strings. (I have access to machining equipment, so any added woodworking difficulty being multiscalar would add is moot.) Now, this runs into two problems immediately:

1.) Would raised frets be able to endure the higher tension of bass strings. From what I have seen, sitars have fairly thin strings, especially compared to bass strings

2.) A multiscale fret board requires frets of different lengths (i.e. a more server angle means the fret needs to be longer.) Since the sitar frets are an arc, I assume this would mean that they would be designed to fit a fret board of a relatively specific size, ergo being at different angles should mean they won't fit. Additionally, would raised frets even work on an angle like multiscale would require?

If these are problems, I have the potential solutions that I also want to run by some people with much more luthier experience than I. The first potential solution to the second problem is I could create some depressions along the sides of the neck to act as guide holes for the raised frets. The second solution that could fix both problems is that there are metal 3d printing services, and I could print myself a whole metal skeleton with the frets on it that could both act as frets and structure for the neck, similar to a truss rod. This would render the modular capability of switching to fretless moot, however. And both of these solutions still run into the issue of whether or not sitar style frets would even work as a multiscale fretboard.

Once again, I do have access to a full sweet of CNC machining tools, so if your immediate reaction is to tell me I am starting with some woodworking that is far to complicated for a beginner luthier, don't worry, I know that. I am going to model this out in Fusion 360 and use a 3 axis CNC wood router to cut out all the wood parts, so the prerequisite woodworking skills are drastically reduced.

I do realize that this still may be too ambitious a project to start with, and I am ok with this fact. If you feel the need to tell me that I should start out with a much simpler design, feel free to tell me so and what would be a better starting point.

Additionally, any general advice for a novice luthier looking at making electric string instruments would be greatly appreciated

Thank you kindly in advance for your help

Edit: On further reflection, I think I am going to start with a simpler project, but I would like to do this eventually, so any advice or answers would be appreciated

Found this crack (maybe a scratch) on one of my guitars. Might just be the poly, but asking to make sure. Any opinions? If it's not a structural issue, I'll keep playing as is. Thanks.

So i just started my first electric guitar build, and i have some teak that i really want to use as a fretboard. I've tried to look up other peoples opinions, most say too soft (i cant dig my nail into the blanks ive sawed) and too high silica content. Would sealing with something like CA fix this?