First build always a dud?

[Okieactor]

I'm approaching the last phases of my first tele build. I went to a local shop to pick up a few parts and had a conversation with the tech, an older guy who I think owns the shop. I guess I asked a question that set him off and he got lost on a tangent about how he'd been working on guitars for 40 years and nobody else knew anything, and Dan Erlewine was an arrogant b@st@rd who didn't know anything, and my first guitar wasn't going to turn out any good, and how you could NEVER learn anything from a book or website, but only by doing it for 40 years or so. The guy was a real ray of sunshine. He is actually mentioned in one or 2 posts here, one of which mentions him being a jerk. I don't want to name names, but if you search under setups in Austin, TX and the thread about rude mom and pop guitar stores, his name comes up, I believe. I think the whole point of his spending 10 minutes tearing me down, despite my repeated iterations of respect for him, his shop and his craft, was that he wanted to sell me lessons on setups for $75 an hour. But whatever...

So my question is this: IS your first build usually bad? I'm building a tele with a Warmoth neck, Mighty Mite body, nitro paint from ReRanch that I'm doing myself, locking kluson style tuners, Earvana compensated nut, standard bridge, mostly allparts hardware, and Area T and Area Hot T DiMarzio pickups. I've had some issues with the paint, and am learning as I go. But I think I'm going to have a guitar that plays at least better than most MIM teles from a guitar center, and will certainly have components that are far superior. So, what have your experiences been? Anybody knocked one out of the park on their first build? Or is everyone's first build expensive kindling? I expect the process to be hell, that's why I'm doing it. If I wanted it to be easy I'd have just had somebody else make it. But I think I can come out on the other side with something to be proud of. What do you think?

[LocustPlague]

My first build was an old warmoth neck and a body I built myself. Thinline style. I love it. It sounds great. The pickups (I wound myself) aren't bad, but the body just LIVES. Everyone who has played it says that it just has this great sound and feel to it, even unplugged.

I just finished building a neck (SUPER wide nut, short scale, spalted maple) to retrofit onto a much abused body (it was given to me along with that neck from the first build) and I love the way it feels. I'm going to wind some jazzmaster style pickups to stuff into it, wire it up with some modded mustang switching and it has a mustang trem and jazzmaster bridge...a real mutt. I haven't played it plugged in yet (obviously) but even unplugged, it feels great.

I want to know who the guy is...I'm in Austin myself, and would like to avoid jerks as much as possible.

[tonfarbe]

My first ever build is still my No. 1 Telecaster.

- doublebound body + neck by Bassarts guitars (nitro finished)
- Fralin bridge pickup and a Muddy Waters neck pickup
- Glendale compensated saddles, Kluson Deluxe tuners, bone nut, Elektrosocket and my own Decal design

[Mister B]

My first (and only to date) scratch build turned out to be dud. It wasn't a Tele, it was an original design with a set neck, mahogany body and sycamore top. It was pretty good for a while but over time the wood moved and eventually split. It turned out the wood wasn't well seasoned and I probably used the wrong glue. The actual process of building and setup went smoothly, I just didn't know what I was doing when it came to timber selection. The guitar became unplayable so I broke it up and put it in the bin.

Since then I've put together several partscasters (Warmoth and Musikraft) without any problems. As long as you follow the excellent advice you'll find on websites like this you should end up with an great guitar.

[mrmorrison]

Here's my first build ever: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaste...ele-clone.html

She's my #1.

[jkingma]

My first scratch build is still being played by my son on a regular basis. I'd say its his #2, after his Epi LP.

[Okieactor]

I guess I should have specified that technically I'm assembling, finishing, soldering, etc. Not a from scratch build. Didn't mean to represent that I was doing more than I actually am.

And Locust, I'll send you the info on the guy in a msg so it's not public. I don't want to publicly defame anyone or anything.

[Cavi]

Look at my post of Tele resurection, I built it from scratch back in the early 1980s, I was just a teenager, with no experience, no real tools other than a jigsaw and a set of chizels, trust me, it is no party carving the holes for the pickups with just a chisel and hammer and a electric hand held drill. But it is still with me and even more now after the rfinish it plays great.

[woodman]

i thought my first build was a dud — i didn't like anything about it. Of course i was a green rookie and fairly clueless about setup subtleties. Since it was long before the Web became widespread, i had to accumulate the fine-tuning details now readily available at TDPRI and other sites. It took over 6 months to tweak it into shape, but it ended up an excellent player that my stepson still plays. i would take what that guy said with a grain of salt and proceed vigorously — it'll be an education you couldn't get any other way!

[Telenator]

It's as simple as this.

I bought a guitar yesterday and questioned the set-up. The guy told me "it's perfect" and that it had been set-up. It was barely playable to me. He loved it. Or claimed to anyway.

There are many tricks and skills you can learn to get it your way. That's really all you can do because as soon as you show it to someone else, they're going to tell how they would have done it differently.

In the end, learning the skills only accomplishes two things. 1) You can set things up for yourself, the way you like it. 2) You can sit with someone who doesn't know how to set up a guitar themselves, and take their concerns and preferences and turn it into a wonderful playing guitar, for them. You might not like but, so what.

After all this, you will never satisfy another luthier when handing them a guitar you set up. Why? because it's set up for you, not him!

Don't worry about what other people think. Everyone's frickin' expert.

[3rdDIY]

[ and Dan Erlewine was an arrogant b@st@rd who didn't know

Then it certainly wasn't Mark Erlewine you were talking to!

My first DIY was like my first (well, only) child. Nobody could convince me it wasn't the best thing I could have done under the circumstances of ignorance and curiosity. I played that thing for a couple years and learned a lot from it. The body is still floating around here somewhere and the pups and bridge ended up on my current frankencaster.
It was ugly as sin and I had to have it repaired a couple times to deal with weaknesses, but I lovingly gathered the parts and carved (okay, hacked) the body out of block of mahogany, while researching how I wanted the controls,
two on/off switches and two pots mounted in an Altoids box with the wires going through copper tubing.

I'll never forget the odd look Gerald Weber got on his face when he saw that thing! That body still has the ability to frighten small animals and irritate adults... i left it at Heart of Texas a couple months ago for Hearndon to look at, and after he brought it back and left it at the shop, one of the salesmen hid it behind the trash can... apparently it was bringing down property values on the 4grand strats and prs's!

[Ironwolf]

The first one I built turned out pretty damn good, and the tech that did the set up for me told me as much. I think it's a matter of the care taken in construction combined with a good source of the knowledge/information you'll need to complete the build.

[maumari]

My first build was a Flying V to be smashed on stage at the end of the live act. Purple with orange stripes like EVH "frankenstrat", gold hardware, setneck from a semihollow "donor". I was 15een, Punk rock era, 1979. It was not playable at all, it had to emit some heavily distorted sounds and then explode on the stage. According to this purpose, it has been a real success.

Then I assembled some "things" for me and friends, always with good results, before a 15 years stop with music.

Had to wait till 40 to back in music and build something from scratch, tha bass I actually love and play, perfectly in tune and growlin like I needed. I think it's a matter of maturity and patience. But then I got the GBS (guitar building syndrome) and can't stop, really I can't!

Mauro

[Leigh]

My first build was one of the better guitars I have ever owned. I actually sold it to pay for more build projects and got a lot more than I had expected.

There were mistakes I learnt from in building it and hopefully wont make again but it was no dud. The fact that I accomplished the challange of making a guitar that looked and sounded great to me was all that mattered.

Each build since has incorporated something I have never done before, such as making a neck, carving a top or using new finishes. So to a certain degree these are also first builds.

Go for it, you will be proud

[star]

I don't think your first build is always a dud,I do setups on almost everybodys guitars around here.I just built my first tele out of a saga kit,changed out the pots,caps and the tuners.I will be gigging this weekend with the sagacaster. Just remember your building it for yourself and look at it as a learning experience.

[Runn3r]

...me first build was a dud for sure...

...it was technically playable and measurements were sound but the neck was way too fat ....and the body was oddly shaped .....

...and all the little things tht make a smooth ...really playable guitar ...was missing....


...but no biggie....i re-used all parts (except the wood of guitar) for next guitar which was much much better in terms of putting it all together as a whole with form and function in mind

...the first one was just putting to reality wht i thought i learnt from books/tips/etc

[LeroyBlues]

My first guitar is my #1. It turned out so well that a friend, who plays professionally, asked me to take a neck and pickups from his #1 guitar and build him a custom body.

[Ricky D.]

My build worked out extremely well. I was lucky, I think, in that the Allparts neck and the USACG body fit perfectly, just a slight interference fit. When I was finished, it sounded great but was not a great player. Tony Mellichamp (user name Mellecaster here on TDPRI) leveled off a couple of high frets and touched up the nut slots.

Now, I may be guilty of a father's pride, but it's at least the equal of a 52RI in terms of playability and sounds better to me (thank you, Don Mare).

My next build will have a better finish. People say nice things about it, but I know where to look...

[weldfish]

Some people think tearing someone else down makes them look like they know a lot. It just demonstrates that they are knowledgeable about nothing and jerks too boot.

[flyingbanana]

Built my Cray from parts scavenged here and there. The neck is off of a Deluxe Player's Strat. Everything simply went together. I had not a single issue...not even a high fret. I did run a jumper wire to get bridge tone but that was all. Other than that...all stock Fender stuff. It is perfect.

Now I'm working on my first "from scratch" build. Remains to be seen how good she turns out. I'm pretty optimistic.