The 66 Steps To Building An Electric Guitar

While building the Highline Single Cut electric guitar, I put together a list of steps to keep me organized. One of the many things I've learned while building electric guitars is order reigns supreme. For example, if I carve the top before routing the control cavity into the back of the body, I have a hard time keeping it steady. The body has to be clamped upside down in order to do the routing and if the top has already been carved out, it wants to wobble around. Another example in the neck pocket. It has to be routed after the neck is finished so that the tenon can be used to set up the template.

Anyway, here's the schedule I am following:

The neck:

1. Cut and glue the heel block

2. Cut the headstock angle

3. Plane the fretboard mating surface

4. Rout the truss rod slot

5. Cut the tenon shape

6. Sand the headstock angles to match

7. Glue on the headstock angle

8. Trim the headstock's thickness to 9/16"

9. Cut the neck's thickness from the headstock to the heel

10. Glue on the headstock ears

11. Sand or plane the top of the headstock flat

12. Sand or plane the mating surface of the headstock cap flat

13. Glue on the headstock cap

14. Cut the side taper and headstock shape

15. Shape the contour

16. Sand the contour and the headstock edges smooth to 220 grit

17. Plane the fretboard's mating surface

18. Cut the fret slots

19. Radius the fretboard

20. Deepen the fret slots

21. Cut the fretboard's taper

22. Install the truss rod.

23. Glue the fretboard to the neck

24. Install the fret wire

25. Bevel the fret wire edges

26. Drill the tuner holes

The body:

27. Plane the mating surfaces of the body halves square and level

28. Glue the body halves together

29. Plane and sand the top of the blank level

30. Plane and sand the mating surface of the cap level

31. Glue on the cap

32. Cut the body's shape

33. Sand the edges smooth to 150 grit

34. Rout the control cavity

35. Carve the top if desired

36. Rout the pickup pockets

37. Rout the neck pocket

38. Drill the wiring tunnels

39. Drill the bridge and tail piece mounting holes

40. Drill the jack hole

41. Round over the edges

42. Sand the body to 220 grit

The finish:

43. Make sure the surfaces are error free and sanded to 220 grit

44. Tint the wood with water based dye or stain

45. Fill the grain on any open grained wood used

46. Lightly sand with 220 grit to remove any raised grain

47. Seal the wood with water based sealer

48. Apply 12 coats of water based lacquer

49. Allow the finish to cure for 150 hours

50. Wet sand with 800, 1,500 and 2,000 grit 

51. Pre-polish with Menzerna yellow compound

52. Buff with Menzerna tan compound

53. Clean out the holes for the tuners and the bridge/tailpiece

The final assembly:

54. Wind the pickups

55. Solder the control connections outside of the body

56. Install the controls, pickups and finish soldering the connections

57. Install the tuners

58. Install the bridge ground wire

59. Install the bridge and tail piece

60. Level and dress the frets

61. Make the nut

62. Install the strings

63. Adjust the truss rod

64. Adjust the action at the bridge and nut

65. Adjust the intonation

66. Final inspection and testing

If anything changes during construction, I'll be sure to update the list.