Electric Guitar Construction: A Guide for the First-Time Builder Paperback – December 1, 2002

This guy is not a professional guitar builder and this book is amateur at best. All the guitars this guy builds have a wobbly, squished or lopsided look to them and many of the finishes are poor (look at how uneven the dark edge around the guitar on the cover is). He spends tons of time basics and glosses over the more technical stuff. Most of it was severely lacking and there were several things I completely disagreed with (it has been several weeks since I went through this book and don't remember any specifics, and I can't be bothered to read through this poor book to track it down).There is much better information available on youtube for free, and it's in video format, which is even better. The author talks about building a guitar for $500, but in all honesty, you are not likely to build a guitar for that price unless you have access to a fully stocked wood shop, and even then it's not too likely unless you build if with very cheap parts. A guitar bridge will cost you anywhere from $80 on up ($160 for 2), Pickups are going to cost about $80 or more for name brand humbuckers. Knobs, wire, switches and pots will probably cost about $50, $150 on up for wood. I would say at least $100 for finishing (Dyes and/or paint and clear coat). Guitar Reranch have the best spay can clear coat I have found and that is easily going to cost $100 to finish one body and neck. Remember one good screw-up on the finish and you are starting over (I know this from experience). Don’t forget the price of tools you will need. I have easily spent more than $500 on tools, both specialized and general for building guitars and I don't even have any of the big tools such as a drill press, table sander/spindle sander, band saw, etc.If you really want to learn about guitar building I would recommend starting with a guitar kit such as the Saga LC-10 LP Style Electric Guitar Kit (Be aware that you cannot use stains/dyes on this kit. There is a coating on this that will not come off even with paint remover and stains and dyes will just wipe off instead of soaking into the wood.). Don't expect this to be an awesome guitar (the electronics are all garbage, and there will be plenty of other things that will need to be fixed to get this to play decent), but it is a relatively cheap learning experience. Once you are done with one of these kits you should be ready to either build your own guitar, or completely give up on guitar building. Just remember that pretty much any question you will have will be most likely be answered on youtube, and much of these answers will be from professional luthiers, not amateurs like the guy who wrote this book.

Tom Hirst has a a very good book on guitar instruction and finishing. If you are building a guitar for the first time, this is a great way to get started. I also recommend getting Oakham's book Building Your Own Electric Guitar. Why do I recommend getting 2 books? Well I am an avid woodworker and turner (lathe). I found in my experience that it is good to have complimentary references and these are great ones to have. If you don't have the money to buy both, start with Oakham's first and then get this one.

Great text, and plenty of photos and illustrations. Valuable information for beginning builders.

There is a lot of value in this book for complete beginners (such as me) who want to start from scratch but don't know where to begin. This is also a product for people who have started but now are wanting to know the 'why is this so?'I think as an overview it is great. If you want specific knowledge beyond this then you would be beyond what a book could teach you anyway.Highly recommended.

Hobbiest info rather than luthier based instructions. No book can describe how to build, takes lots and lots of trial and error. Put down the books and go out there and do it. :)

I was looking for a book that would explain step-by-step the procedures for putting together my own guitars and this book certainly fit the bill. Easy to read and follow, the author has taken his time to make sure anyone that can read English can understand the text. I highly recommend this book.

Great info for the first time builder. I recommend this regularly to would-be guitar builders that ask me where to start.

This book certainly is useful for an aspiring luthier to have on one's bookshelf as it walks one through building a solid body guitar. I'd recommend buying a discounted or used copy though, since other books in a comparable price range tend to give more information. The price probably has to do more with being a Hal Leonard book with glossy cover and color photography, then being a comprehensive guitar building grimoire. Martin Koch's book may be a better buy though the difficulty curve may be a bit higher.However to Hirst's credit, his book is geared toward the aspiring luthier with limited woodworking experience.

Great book