Haynes Build Your Own Electric Guitar Manual – by Paul Balmer - forward Brian May

It has never been more tempting to put together you own ‘custom’ electric guitar and today the internet offers unprecedented mail-order access to the world’s best materials.

However, few of us have the specialist routing and shaping tools to start from scratch. This easy-to-use, step-by-step manual shows how to use good quality pre-finished components (or if you have access to a spraying facility, then a raw, unfinished neck and body), together with suitable hardware to build your own individual dream custom ‘S’-type. Alternatively, you could follow Eric Clapton’s lead and recycle a ‘Bitsa’ from bitsa this and bitsa that’ !

With a detailed look at four project  guitars built especially for this book, and case studies on possibly the world’s most celebrated homebuilt guitar – Brian May’s ‘Red Special’ – as well as Bo Didlley’s ‘Cigar Box’, this book provides all the information necessary to create a unique instrument that is satisfying both to build and play.

The down-to-earth text features advice and guidance from luthiers John Diggins and Andrew Guyton, who between them have built guitars for Tony Iommi, Mark King, Roy Orbison and Brian May.

The advantage of the custom build lies in choice:-

*  Body – ash, alder or maple?
*  Neck – vintage ‘boat neck’ or slim compound-radius?
*  Fingerboard – maple or rosewood?
*  Electrics – everything from vintage spec to high-tech stacked humbuckers
*  Piezo bridge or ‘stoptail’ – or both?
*  Relic or ‘factory fresh’?
*  Custom wiring – push-pull pots, parallel or series?
*  Tremsetter or modern floating trem?
*  Fiesta red, sunburst or maple glow?