Where to start

[princepudding]

I want to learn about the inner workings of the guitar. I was thinking about buying a really crappy guitar and taking the whole thing apart and installing new pick ups and bridge systems and stuff like that. One day I'd like to be able to build my own guitar completely. Is my idea of buying the cheap guitar and maybe a book a good place to start on my guitar tech work or not?

[OU818]

Sounds like a goo place to start. The best way to learn anything is by trial and error.

[jason41224]

i'd love to learn basic electronics, at least enough to build some basic pedal clones. it would be a dream of mine to build custom amps or clones or something, one day.

[mselego]

Maybe just smash your own guitar to rush the matter.....

[Mrjones2004x]

Excellent way to start is getting a cheap one.

I got loads of cheap ones from cash convertors so about £40-50 each time.
There is always aria strat copies in there and there pretty good for a starting block.

Strip it to bits, draw a wiring diagram by following the wires and carry on.

Have a practice doing fret dressing cos the ends are bound to be sharp on a budget guitar.

The world is your oyster after that.

The actual wood working skills to make a guitar from scratch is a new ball game!

I'd suggest woodwork night classes

[space-boy]

Maybe just smash your own guitar to rush the matter.....

Billy Bragg once wisely said

"The temptation to take the precious things we have apart to see how they work must be resisted for they never fit together again"

So at least make it something you don't consider precious. That ideally means it says "stagg" or "squier" or something like that on the headstock.

[danbond]

Maybe start with a Squier Classic Vibe Tele/Strat.

Those guitars are already pretty decent, so any upgrades to the pots, pickups, bridge etc will leave you with a really decent tele that would be ideal as a backup/recording guitar.

You can't go too far wrong with a tele and you could even simply remove the control plate and replace everything, so if you totally mess it up, you can just drop the old control plate in and have a working guitar.

If you buy something really cheap, you'll essentially be upgrading a potentially crap guitar.

[Neiloler]

Get a Classic Vibe strat or tele. Great place to start, and it's actually a worthwhile instrument.

[blenk]

as everyone’s already said a cheap guitar is a good place to start, but learn some basic soldering skills, even if its just practising soldering wire together and when you are taking everything apart make sure you draw a diagram or some note to help you put it back together.

[space-boy]

Get a Classic Vibe strat or tele. Great place to start, and it's actually a worthwhile instrument.

I'm thinking about getting myself one of those classic vibe '50s strats and start to play handy manny on it

[irish_admiral]

Start off with Dan Erlewine's book.

It's easy to put an electric guitar together out of parts in a fairly poor way, and much more difficult to do a really good job of it. If you're interested in some of the luthier aspects of it, there might be some places near you doing workshop - it's hard work though, and not too many people end up doing it!

The guy who oversaw music at my old church trained as a violin and guitar maker, and he's made a couple of acoustic guitars now, good ones, but it's hard work. And to get to a stage where you'll be able to build something better than you buy, you've got to put some time into it.

For electrics, learning how to change pots & pickups etc is pretty achievable, and helpful to learn... start by learning how to solder... the only other thing you'll need to learn then is how to operate a screwdriver

[Mrjones2004x]

the only other thing you'll need to learn then is how to operate a screwdriver

Your stuffed if your left handed! you know how hard it is to find a good left handed screwdriver???

[Neiloler]

Get a Classic Vibe strat or tele. Great place to start, and it's actually a worthwhile instrument.

I'm thinking about getting myself one of those classic vibe '50s strats and start to play handy manny on it

Haha, this made me lol.