Post a pic of the first guitar you ever made

[steve_robinson]

This was mine, made in the school workshop in 1974, using plans from Everyday Electronics magazine.

I recently reattempted it and made a much better job almost 50 years later!

 

[Boris Mozart]

Made in 2021

 

[John_Jones]

Because I couldn't afford the Fender Joe Strummer Tele, I made this out of inexpensive parts. When it turned out (purely by chance) to be the best playing guitar I own, it started to get upgrades. It's as light as a feather too.

 

[Sacco_SVD]

Made out of a Harley Benton blank kit. Heavily modified.

This one is overkill in terms of intonation (it simply doesn't go out of tune). It has locked nuts, roller bridge and microtuners.

 

[Greplington]

My first guitar build is so far my only guitar build (I have also since built 2 electric ukuleles and started on guitar number 2).

Semi hollow, Queensland Maple top on Tasmanian Blackwood and Brazilian Bloodwood body, Queensland maple neck and Australian white beech fretboard.

 

[Muadzin]

My first build was a partscaster I built on a guitar building class. As a big Warhammer 40K buff I made it Warhammer themed in the style of the Imperial Fists.

I did some relicing to create the illusion that it was a time honored piece of wargear of the Imperial Fists, like a demon had a claw at it.
Electronic wise it's got a Fernandes Sustainer, a Kent Armstrong Motherbucker dual rail bridge pickup, toggle and push button kill switches and a Zvex Fuzz Factory for oscillating goodness. I was heavily into Muse at the time.

Warcry of the Imperial Fists.

Shoulder piece to simulate a Space Marine's shoulder pauldron with the heraldry of the Imperial Fists. It's basically strips of wood glued on top of the body with MDF over the top and back. Bulky, but then again so are Space Marine shoulder pauldrons. Not the most comfy, but not as uncomfy as it appears.

Control cavities for the sustainer and fuzz factory. And also the dual battery box.

I figured calling it the 'Axe of Dorn' would be appropriate, as in universe we have weapons like the Hammer of Dorn, or the Fist of Dorn.

4 years later, having built several guitars this guitar was starting to annoy me. Not that it played bad, or sounded bad, but the shoulder thing was a little uncomfy, but above all the quality of my guitar finishing had improved and I no longer liked what I had made. So I remade the Axe of Dorn. Was the first build a body and neck that I bought on Ebay, this time I built a body from scratch. That allowed me to make the shoulder pauldron part of the body, making it thinner and more comfortable. I had also learned how to make decals sink away into the finish, so they looked like they were printed on instead of decals stuck on top.

I removed the front control cavity plate, I only build guitars with back control cavities now. No more tone knob either, who needs them anyway. The Motherbucker has been replaced with a Bareknuckle Nailbomb. The volume knob is also a push button killswitch.

Different cavity plate covers. Note also the different contour heel and neck fastening for more comfortable playing.

As the shoulder pauldron is now built as part of the body there is only a thin strip of wood, like you get to stir paint when you buy a pot of paint, to create the illusion that a larger shoulder pauldron installed over the body. Much more comfy.

 

[jedgington]

Made back in 2018. Solid one piece walnut with a quarter sawn hard maple neck. I got a lot of help from reading through many posts on this site. Pickups were made for me by John Benson. This thing is a heavy beast.

 

[Uncle Daddy]

 

[montyveda]

still busy trying not to make a pig's ear of my first build

 

[Engraver-60]

The first I ever started, but because of life's interferences, it became the second I ever finished. 12 years start to finish - TeleBaum.

 

[tonfarbe]

2004

 

[Noobluthier]

This was mine, made in the school workshop in 1974, using plans from Everyday Electronics magazine.

View attachment 1001383

I recently reattempted it and made a much better job almost 50 years later!

View attachment 1001384

My very first build the Covid-Caster!
Ash body,Maple Neck,Birdseye Maple fingerboard

 

[krankykarl]

How I got through the first year of covid.

 

[A-Zed]

Here's my first build:

Body is made from a H4 treated pine sleeper that I had left over from a garden bed I built about 10 years ago.
Top is made from 2 x 6mm Spruce pieces and the neck is maple for both the fretboard and neck.
Pickups are Tone Riders with CTS pots and Switchcraft jack and switch. I also made a treble bleed circuit for the volume pot.
The switch is a four-way so first three positions are normal Tele and the fourth position is both pickups in series (really nice sounds).

 

[Y-not]

I have done mods and partial builds, but this is the first total build, unfinished warmoth. Stained and nitro.

 

[bullfrogblues]

That is gorgeous! I'd love to see more pictures if you have any

not many pics but a bit of a story.
Not long after building this guitar, a friend of our son's came over and was somewhat distraught. He said his band had a gig but he had to sell his guitar to pay his rent. I brought out the guitar and asked how he liked it. He said wow, so I said it's yours! have a good gig.
this is Mason with it.

About a year and a half later I heard that he sold the guitar but was too embarrassed to let me know. He sold it after a gig to the guitarist in a small touring band that ended up touring with Fugazi, even through Europe. So that guitar had some miles on it.
Fast forward to April of 2011, we went to our son's place in Gainesville, FL for my birthday. Somehow he had found that guitar, bought it back and gave it to my for my birthday!! What a son!! It shows some wear and I've done some work to it, but this is the condition in which I received it. Thank you for asking.

 

[RobSzat]

First kit guitar, innexpensive jazzmaster kit with lots of upgrades.

First “real build” from lumber, a wild Billy Bo w triple TV Jones, cherry and maple body, bigsby and double binding

 

[peterg]

The first guitar I “built” was a kit from BYO Guitars. They call it a Nashville Strat. I think it was the first body of this style they machined - the body on their site is mine.

BYO Custom Shop Nashville Strat Kit - Guitar bodies and kits from BYOGuitar

www.byoguitar.com

 

[Ryden]

Not technically a guitar, but I made the SG-lele as proof of concept for every step building my first guitar and it was the first one finished.

 

[Will V.]

I built this Strat partscaster in 2004-5 with a Warmoth extra light one piece swamp ash body, which I grain filled, applied a pickling whitewash and Tru-Oil on top of that. The original neck was a Fender CIJ ‘57 RI which unfortunately I removed and sold a couple of years ago which I now regret doing. I recently put this Warmoth roasted neck on it and it’s pretty nice but I have a raw maple neck I am going to finish and try out on it instead. Wish I still had the ‘57 RI neck. Oh, I also had CS 54 pickups in it originally but I just rewired it with a brighter cap and some NOS AY CS 69 pickups I had laying around. The CS 69’s are great.

Anyway, more of a “build” than “make” but that’s about the extent of my skills!