Custom Guitars......

The ultimate guitarist dream, to have a custom guitar built just the way you want, in the color you want, the pick-ups and hardware etc. etc. etc. In the current economic times it is perhaps the last option many guitar players of modest income think about. Consider that many of the custom guitar builders and various custom shops from major guitar manufacturers usually come with quite hefty price tags, usually starting around $1500.00 US dollars and going up. Many artist signature models from the big guitar companies also run with a hefty price tag. Why? Because the artist who endorses them has picked out every single option on the guitar to suit his style and technique.In todays modern manufacturing state finding quality guitar parts is much easier. What? Yes building your own custom guitar is much easier today than it was when Eddie Van Halen built the Frankenstrat back in the late 70's. But he is Eddie Van Halen, a guitar god, of course he built his own guitar. The truth is before he was the guitar god he is today, he was a broke kid who wanted to play guitar but couldn't afford to buy a super nice Fender or Gibson. So he bought some parts through mail order and put them together and the rest is history.

The trick to building a custom guitar is knowing what you want. Neck width and thickness for example, very important measurements that affect how the guitar plays. Obviously trial and error would get quite expensive even with bargin prices on the Internet but thankfully there are some standard measurements that make things a little easier. First you have your Scale length, the standards are 25.5 inches(Fender, Ibanez, ESP, the most popular scale) or 24.75 (Gibson). So the real trick to deciding on what will go into your custom guitar is playing as many guitars as you can and remembering which models you feel the most comfortable with.

Let's use my main guitar as an easy example so you can see how this works in the real world. I have played and owned many many guitars and for the longest time I played Ibanez or Jackson guitars. Then one day I got to play a '59 Strat and fell in love with the neck and how much easier it was to play than my wider modern guitar necks. So now I go and research and find out those old Fenders used a 1 5/8 inch nut width (Nut width is the width of the neck where the strings pass through the nut going to the tuners) . The quest has now begun to build MY guitar. (Here I must note that I work professionally as a guitar tech for professional bands) I had never really thought about the body shape and just assumed it would be a variation on the standard Strat body of all my other guitars. Then one day I was at a music store and for some strange reason decided to try out a Telecaster. Instant love. It was very close to the perfect neck size and the way the body hung on a strap was way more comfortable to me than any other guitar I had played. So now I know I want a Tele shaped body and the size neck I want, all that is left is the bridge, pick-ups and tuners.

I happened to find a Telecaster in pawn shop and fell in love with the color. After finding the neck had some chips and knowing I would be replacing it anyway I negotiated the price down and got a gig bag throw in. The stock bridge is nice and comfortable to my hand and playing style so that just saved me a little cash and some woodworking. All I needed now was a neck and some pick ups. The neck I ordered is from Warmoth and is a a compound radius 1 5/8" 25.5" scale neck. I ordred a left handed one for two reasons. First I think the reversed headstock is way more practical from a tuning stand point while your playing, second they already had one ready to ship with my exact specs. Sold! I will admit I'm still playing and swapping pick-ups to find something that I truly love the sound of.

My current total investment in a custom guitar that I am absolutely in love with you ask? Less than $650. Now that seems a bit more realistic to the average guitar player doesn't it?