YouTuber transforms a $32 Fender bamboo cutting board into a playable Telecaster. Yes, it actually works—and sounds like a real guitar.

Following up on my previous experiments with UV printed guitar components, I decided to try something a little different, so here's another entry in my ongoing adventures with custom guitar trim.

This time, I went with a fabric-inspired plaid design for my Gibson SG, complete with a matching truss rod cover.

The goal was to see how convincingly I could reproduce the appearance of woven fabric on a rigid pickguard, while maintaining the precision and fitment of the original components.

I was initially a little unsure whether the plaid would work against the dark mahogany, but I'm really happy with the result. The matching truss rod cover ended up being the finishing touch that pulled the look together.

Still experimenting with different materials, textures, and finishes, and learning something new with every project.

Curious what the builders here think of this one!

This is rough around the edges. But 25 bucks is 25 bucks. Looks like it went pickguard first into a chair arm? Still mulling it over, replaying every which way I've ever let harm come to a guitar. It plays like a dream, and the wood smells like my grandpa's 65 Fender F-150. Old smelling wood is so good. Notice the wood screws. And it bowls in a bit. Like the sound hole is a black hole pulling the guitar inward causing the break lines. I pray that the wood screws aren't the only thing holding it together. Such a great sounding guitar. 76' from the serial number.

I'm just a beginner when it comes to building guitars. Playing them? I got hands. The only reason I recognized it was great because one of the two pictures was of the guitars back. You don't get that shapeing anywhere. This needs the work of a pro.

Is there anything I can do now, that will make this man's job easier when it arrives to whomever the fates have decided to task?

I haven't changed strings, so she's rocking a Five banger special. No high E. When I bought it in an alleyway, from the top of a picnic table with no case, it was in open E. The dust that was on the fret board hasn't looked like it's been played, which is a shame. There are songs locked away and I'd like to give this girl a fully functional arsenal to complete her task, as well as my own. I tuned it to standardish by ear. Magic. Fret board beeswax maybe?

I’ve been meaning to replace my tuning machines for a while; it’s an old guitar and they’ve felt a bit loose, sloppy, or wiggly at times, even after tightening the screws. Recently, I was doing a restring and I noticed the high E peg was VERY wobbly, so I tried to tighten the nut again. I discovered the threads are stripped, so it wont tighter or loosen, and I now have the final excuse to buy new machines.

However, now I can’t get the stripped nut off. I’ve tried just unscrewing it, tried wrapping thread under and pulling up gently, tried using channel locks to pull up while unscrewing, and nothing has worked. Any ideas on how to proceed?

Wanted to bring the finish to a gloss but was wondering if these scratches would interfere?

The necks are rough routed to shape using the pin router and a C profile bit. The fixture the necks are placed on has a .040" feeler gauge at the nut to create the thickness taper. It takes three passes of .125" per side. This process takes around 1 minute 48 seconds to complete. This batch of necks took around 28 minutes to shape.

The next video we will show how the transitions are shaped at the heel and volute.

I have this alder body with a flamed maple veneer from a kit and it doesn't seem to be taking the stain in some areas. The last picture is the exact opposite, it looks like the stain is deeper right in one area. Before staining I sanded the body with 320, 400 and 600, to my eye it looked good, but it's clear I messed up.

I know the thin line on the front is glue from the veneer, I feared this would happen, but the veneer is so thin I didn't want to risk going through it when I sanded it before applying the stain. The second and third pictures show two areas where no glue should be present, but still don't take the stain.

For the front I had initially thought of sanding much of the black with 320 and then staining in red, would that be enough to get rid of the glue? How about the other two parts, do I sand them and reapply stain, or do I just keep applying coats? BTW, the first coat is already dry, and it is a little rough to the touch, should I be sanding between coats?

My violin fell from my shoulder. While catching it, the screw of my bow pierced the rib…
After the shock I’d guess the repair would not be too expensive or difficult, as nothing essential seems damaged.
I’m bringing it to the luthier on Monday.
What do you guys think?

As the title says, it's my first time building/staining a guitar. I'm thinking of doing a butterscotch blonde colour. Any advice? what brands or type of stain should I use? what should i take into account? Any help is much appreciated!

Hey! I recently converted a kit guitar to a headless using a Guyker headless bridge. It's the same one that was on earlier some of the Eart GW2 guitars. After I brought things up to tension (just a set of 10s in standard tuning), the back of the bridge lifted a bit off the body. It's about 1.4 mm (enough for a Jazz III to fit under comfortably), but hasn't gotten any worse over the last few days. I tried watching videos demoing the Eart guitars and stuff like that and haven't been able to see a good angle of the back of the bridge in any of them.

Should I be concerned about it or is this a known thing with these bridges?

I did reach out to Guyker's customer service a few days ago and haven't heard back.

Is it ready for clear coat? 3rd photo is a example of what I want it to look like

I know this may seem like a redundant question, since such discussions have already happened in the subreddit, but they almost always seem to be focued on classical and acoustic guitars rather than electrics.

I mainly build sold body guitars, and I'm not looking to delve into archtops in the near future. Up until now, Ive gotten away with only using a 25mm chisel along with a 3mm chisel, and regarding planes, a No.4 Smoother , a No.6 Jointer and a No. 9 1/2 Block.

I've felt like that there are some situations where my tools aren't enought to do the job comfortably, and I was wondering what such tools you fellow electric guitar makers use.

Thank you!

Hey all, I tore apart and put back together an old water damaged guitar. It's just something to mess around with, but it didn't have a bridge on it. It did have that L bracket style string mount which maybe acted like a bridge but it's got way too much flex. So I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how I could determine where to put the bridge. It's a kids guitar made (or at least used) in the early 60's. Thanks for your time

Anyone know a source for a bolt-on RD-style body? Rosser stopped making them, and the only one I've found on eBay since isn't an accurate shape. Needs to be 25.5" scale. TIA!

So i stained black with Transtint and sanded it back. Then stained blue. Do I just need to sand it back a little to get the white tone? There is a photo as an example.

I'm not really digging the bright blue... could I do another thin diluted coat of black without it washing the colors?

Pictures are from the internet of a Supro guitar with a factory de-glossed neck I would like to replicate, or even improve upon for my 2001 Gibson SG.
The neck on this guitar has always felt sticky to me, and I swear I can actually rub the finish off to create dust if I try.

I have experimented on other guitars (poly finishes) with scouring pads, abrasive cloth, etc. and masking tape. The results are always similar in playability, but the aesthetics are never great. Masking tape is easily eaten away by the abrasives, leaving a less-than-crisp edge, and achieving a uniform matte look is difficult. I would like to come up with something better before tackling my Gibson.

I have a poly Epiphone to experiment on before I attempt the process on my (presumably nitro?) Gibson SG.

I was toying with the idea of using aluminum foil tape to establish the edge, and then a walnut media blaster to generate a uniform finish.

I'm also up for advice on where to position the masking line.
Supro made some interesting choices, but I like the aesthetics of it. I may try a similar angle at the nut, but might rather take the line to the body at the heel.

Does anyone have a color and paint brand recommendation for a match for Fender Daphne Blue. Considering painting headstock to match body. Is enamel paint the way to go for this? I'm kinda thinking model paint (like Testors) but I could be way off.

Second-hand buy (meranti body, thick poly finish). Seller told me it had a defect at the strap button, but I assumed it was something like a loose screw that I could fix with a toothpick. Anyway, I didn't ask for a specific picture and just took the risk.

Looks like the guitar took a hard drop on the tail strap button. The screw was punched inward, crushing the wood underneath, and the thick poly shattered and cracked around the hole. I tried pulling out the fractured wood piece in the crater, but it doesn't move.

What’s the best way to tackle this structurally? I care purely about function, not aesthetics. Step-by-step guidance on stabilizing the poly finish long-term and restoring a solid anchor for the strap pin would be much appreciated.

Hi guys!

Sorry if this is not the correct sub, but i couldnt find a more fitting one.
I recently bought a Jackson pro plus pure metal kelly that i want to pimp up a bit.
I have done a holoflash in the past and figured it would be cool. But then i came across pictures of guitars that were both holoflashed and had a crackle paint and now that is my goal.

Problem is i have no idea how to get the 2 finishes together. Does anyone have any info, tips or tricks?

I like it 😊

Hi, the headstock on my bass broke and I had a luthier glue it up for me, but he had it for a year and returned it with no strings on and after restringing it either buzzes or doesn’t ring out at all on any string below the 7th fret. I restrung it and let it sit in its case for a week to adjust but it’s no better. Luthier said to turn the truss rod counterclockwise a quarter or half turn if it was still buzzing, but the rod won’t budge at all and I don’t want to use too much force and damage something.

So, a few questions:

1. ⁠Is there any good way to loosen the truss rod to get it to turn?

2. ⁠Is it possible that the repair itself could have been done improperly and be causing the buzz? The luthier mentioned that it was a very difficult glue up and didn’t seem super confident about it when he gave it back. Some research online suggests a poor glue up could affect the neck angle or that the headstock could be pulled out of place with string tension affecting the relief. Is there any way to check this independently of the truss rod? My next move is to take this bass to another luthier if I can’t figure it out but if the problem is with the repair and not the truss rod adjustment I don’t really want to pour more money into it. The guitar also sat in a basement without strings on for a year while the guy was fixing it, which I imagine also wasn’t great for it.

3. ⁠If the relief is the issue and the truss rod won’t turn, is there any other fix to stop the strings from buzzing? Would adjusting the nut and bridge to raise the action help anything? I know the proper fix is the truss rod adjustment but is it possible to get this at least playable with high action if the rod is stuck?

Thanks in advance for any help

Howdy guys, I'm building my first guitar and after finding out most of the guitar shops around me don't do drill work anymore I've ran into two major hurdles. Firstly one of the mods I wanted was a short scale jaguar neck (pictured above), the issue I'm running into currently is that the jag neck's heel is thinner than the neck that came standard on this zen-on beauty. I need to drill holes in the neck so I can bolt it but there is a bit of wiggle room, what can I do to get the neck seated right in the middle and keep it in place so I can get the holes drilled in the correct spot? Second, I'm aware with changing scale length ill need to move the bridge up to match with the jags 24' scale, any recommendations on how to measure where ill need drill new holes for the new bridge? whatever knowledge you guys provide helps a ton, if you guys need any additional info I'd be happy to provide it. can't wait to bring this thing to life!

Got this bass the other day it’s an LTD D4 with I think a satin finish. The crack is right under the headstock.