solid body construction books and beginner timber blanks

[mtodd]

Hello everyone,

After previously making my first classical guitar a couple of years ago I am currently in the middle of my first electric guitar build at a course near where I live in Adelaide. The wood is conveniently provided by the course but I would like to work on my hand tool skills at home and attempt to make some more guitar necks and solid electric bodies at home. I feel that the real learning will come when I am left completely to my own devices and go through the process of making several mistakes and attempts to rectify the mistakes. I suspect that this process will result in the unintentional destruction of some wood blanks. After purchasing some stuff from Stewmac I now qualify for free postage for a year which is helpful. I see that Stewmac have some maple neck and body blanks that are quite cheap. Do any of you recommend this as a good place to start or would I be just as well practicing on a piece of Meranti from Bunnings, for necks for example?

Also, any recommendations for books on building solid body electric guitars from scratch would also be welcome. Two books that I have found so far are Building Electric Guitars by Martin Koch and Electric Guitar & Bass Making & Marketing. The book would mostly be a reference for techniques I have already learned.

My current build project
body: mahogany
top: figured Blackwood drop top
neck: Mahogany

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[kiwigeo]

"Electric Guitar and Bass Design" by Leonardo Lospennato

www.lospennato.com

[56nortondomy]

You could try tas oak ( kd hardwood ) from Bunnings it's fairly cheap and actually makes a pretty good neck. I've used it on a few builds. Wayne

[Darrel Friesen]

Melvyn Hiscock's books are a good starting point as well.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, Tassie Oak from Bunnings, this is what I am looking for, cut on the quarter, and buy it when I see it. It worked well for the cigar box-style guitars I was building at that time, with no truss rod either.

This was a fun build some time ago, all pine, neck as well, still good after a year or so.

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Cheers Taff

[kiwigeo]

A good source of wood for solid body work in Adelaide: https://mountainrivertimber.com.au/

[mtodd]

You could try tas oak ( kd hardwood ) from Bunnings it's fairly cheap and actually makes a pretty good neck. I've used it on a few builds. Wayne

Thank you very much Wayne. I'll give it a go
Cheers,
Matt

[mtodd]

Melvyn Hiscock's books are a good starting point as well.

Thank you for the tip Darrel. I am fortunate to have been loaned a copy of Make Your Own Electric Guitar.
Cheers,
Matt

[mtodd]

Hi, Tassie Oak from Bunnings, this is what I am looking for, cut on the quarter, and buy it when I see it. It worked well for the cigar box-style guitars I was building at that time, with no truss rod either.
end grain.jpg
This was a fun build some time ago, all pine, neck as well, still good after a year or so.
1-SAM_3682.JPG
Cheers Taff

Thank you for that Taffy. The pine electric looks great. I'll definitely give the Tassie oak a go. If I can't find any I'm sure my parents won't miss their Tassie oak kitchen bench top
Cheers,
Matt

[mtodd]

A good source of wood for solid body work in Adelaide: https://mountainrivertimber.com.au/

Thank you for that Martin. I will definitely check them out. The prices look reasonable and the location couldn't be better.
Cheers,
Matt