I’m thinking of building a stratocaster as a side project while I still have access to the lab. I currently don’t own any electric and even if this ends up sounding awful, it would kinda makes a cool legacy piece to hang on the wall or something. So I’m wondering if anyone here has attempted to build a guitar (or at least a body) from scratch? Tips are appreciated.
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Welp, there goes my dreams.
Replace “not” with “definitely” and we have a winner.
If you can’t feel the AC current literally flowing through your nerves, are you even enjoying the music?
On a more serious note, during the summer of 2018 there was summer school on how to build your own electric guitar. They had rough blanks you could start with and some blocks if you were going to roll your own. Most went with the starter blanks. 90% of the project is the woodworking. Dropping the pickups in and doing the wiring was less than a day.
If you just want to build one then Amazon is your friend with a cheap kit of everything. But since you are a roboteer, you are going to want to old school it. Lots of sites have instructions, go for it.
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Digging up this thread to show the mostly finished product. The neck was bolted on somewhat carelessly by one of the students who helped me, so the low E string is kinda hanging on the edge, fortunately those frets are rarely used anyways (I think).
Haven’t been able to test the sound yet because I forgot my amp, but unplugged it intonates kinda decently so I’m not quite worried.
All in all this is quite a fun project and I definitely picked up some woodworking skills and such. Like I said, if this becomes unplayable it would make for a good wall decoration after painting and some polishing is done.
(Also forgive the mess that is our lab in the background)
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Never fully trust anyone when working on self related project.
My son, a two year FRC alumni, built this T cast style this past summer. Blank of Alder that was routed, sanded and finished.
It sounds/plays great. Pink Floyd is his favorite. 
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