Making an Electric Guitar

This is photographic account of my making a Stratocaster©-Style electric guitar from Saga Strat Kit and some spare parts that I ordered as well to customize the guitar to my liking. The body I'm using is made of black ash, or swamp ash, fairly light, open-grained wood that grows all over the country. You can find a comprehensive list of guitar woods and how they affect sound on my Links Page. The body was built by Allparts and is licensed by Fender to look like a Strat. I bought the guitar kit from a retail website, but it was manufactured by Saga, and it includes a basswood body (which I use for finish testing) and maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, a white, 3-ply pickguard with 3 single-coil pickups (knobs and 5-position selector switch too), and hardware (strap buttons, tuning heads, output jack, neckplate, and all screws needed). I bought gold hardware later to use, as I want the guitar to end up green with gold hardware. I will also be showing you how to cut and etch sheet brass into a pretty rad custom pickguard.

Update 1-21-08: Click here to view the page on shaping the head.
11-3-07 (3:00AM): Click Here to see how I filled the body's grain.
Update 1-21-08:Click Here to learn how I sanded the epoxy off of the body after it dried.
1-21-08: Click Here to see the holes I drilled in the body to get it ready for assembly.
3-23-08: Click Here to see the page about staining the body.
3-23-08: Click Here to see the second page about staining and painting.
3-28-08: Click Here to see the page about etching the neckplate.
3-28-08: Click Here to see the page about etching and finishing the Pickguard.
4-4-08: Click Here to see the 'final' assembly of the guitar.

Legal Crapola

Unfortunately, we live in a day and age in which people have to slap a copyright on everything they do just to protect it from getting stolen. I don't flatter myself by thinking that anyone but my family and friends (Thanks Guys!) are going to see this, but I'd like to be sure.

Therefore, I proclaim all content on http://people.brandeis.edu/~rheisler and any of its subsequent pages COPYRIGHT 2007 by Ryan Heisler. This means that you can't copy the pictures or their captions onto your website without written consent by me, Ryan Heisler. However, if you wish to use the contents of my pages on your site, feel free to email me at rheisler@brandeis.edu to request permission. Also, feel free to link to this site anytime, I'd like if my work got a little exposure.

Also, The chemicals and tools I used in the making of this guitar can be hazardous and deadly if they are used incorrectly or without proper safety gear. Please, if you choose to follow any of the steps I take to make your own guitar, protect yourself. I am not responsible for your injuries should you saw off a thumb, burn your eyes out with caustic epoxy, or hurt yourself in any way while following my instruction. Protective gear is disposable, your body is not.

Thanks for visiting, I hope the information here helped you, and you can use it to build your own kit.

About the Author

My name is Ryan Heisler, and I'm an undergrad student at Brandeis University. I've been playing guitar for about three years, but I recently realized that I'm into guitar building a lot. This is my first project, and I'm trying to do it really well, so I decided to put it up on my student website. I also play the trumpet and the piano, and I perform with my old roommate at small shows on campus. I'm majoring in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, which I hope to apply to my career, though I plan to pursue luthiere as a hobby. My email address is ryanh119@yahoo.com. Feel free to contact me with any questions, tips, or comments you have about the kit. However, make sure to write "Saga Electric Guitar Kit" in the subject line. I won't answer emails that don't have that in the subject.

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