Should you build a guitar?
Answer 10 questions to find it out.
Is it worth the trouble?
If you see the building of your own guitar from an economic
point of view, the answer is no. Building it by
yourself doesn't save money. You've to compete with
computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines and mass production.
Otherwise if you look close to some mass produced guitars in a
music store, you'll sometimes notice sloppy work and carelessnes.
Sometimes just the name determines the price.
Your advantages
- You have time, all time in the world to complete your own
guitar carefully and accurately.
- You can select beautiful wood and good and expensive
hardware
- You can tailor the guitar to your specific needs.
- You'll gain satisfaction, you are challenged,
you'll develop skills and will change from a passive
consumer role to an active one.
The disadvantages
- You'll get addicted. I promise you before your first
guitar is completed you'll start to think about the next
one.
- You'll spent a lot of money for tools. Probably more
than you would spend on a factory made electric guitar. But since I
made most of our furniture by myself (I love working with wood) the
machines and tools have paid for themself. Just a few tools are
specific to guitar building.