Tools Required To Make Your Guitar

If you choose to make a guitar using a guitar kit you will require some basic tools to get you started. Don’t be too concerned about the amount of tools required though if your budget is tight, you can get away with very little if you choose to make a guitar using a guitar kit. If you were planning on building a guitar from scratch however the tools required would set you back quite a bit. 

Some tools that can help you to make a guitar from a standard guitar kit

• Good, solid work bench or table is a must
• Sandpaper, emery paper and a sanding block
• Paint, stain or lacquer for the finish
• Air Gun or spray cans for applying finish
• A decent screwdriver set
• Soldering iron and solder (often not required)
• Very sharp chisel
• Power drill
• Clamps

This should really be all you require if building a guitar from a guitar kit especially if you are building a solid body electric. There are exceptions depending on the kit you buy especially if purchasing an acoustic guitar kit. If you are not sure do some more research further beforehand.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to make a guitar

Don’t be convinced you need to spend a lot of money on tools if you wish to make a guitar.  Kit guitar making isn’t just for those of us with a well equipped tool cabinet. Tools are essentially there to make your life easier by making the process simpler and allowing you to get things completed in a more accurate fashion with less effort but you can still manage quite comfortably without an extensive range of tools. For example you can get away with a hand held power drill instead of an expensive drill press.  A drill press will obviously give you perfect straight drill holes but you can manage without rushing out and purchasing one.  If you do feel limited by the tools you have keep some blanks on hand beside you so that you can practice before committing to the actual timber used for the finished guitar.

All guitar kit suppliers take different approaches with their products. For instance some guitar kits cater to those who want to do most of the skilled luthier work themselves while other more basic kits come with most of the more advanced tasks completed for you, leaving the finish of the instrument the most challenging aspect to consider. We suggest if you don’t have a great deal of experience to stick with something reasonably simple to begin with that comes with pre fabricated parts. If you are building an acoustic guitar we strongly recommend choosing a guitar kit that includes sides already bent to shape. Some of these kits include Grizzly and to a higher level Martin & Co.

Pre Fabricated Parts

If you choose a guitar kit that doesn’t have sides pre bent things can start to get complicated if you are building from an acoustic guitar kit. You would require a mold for shaping (Which serves as a mold for the sides of the guitar to retain shape while steaming) or a bending iron. Timber is shaped when exposed to steam over a short period, it will then retain it’s new shape. You can make one yourself but you can also purchase one fairly easily for around $100.00 and upwards.

As you are probably aware you will require more tools if building an acoustic guitar kit as opposed to a solid body electric guitar kit. If you purchase an electric guitar kit you will find the finishing the most demanding task as most of the parts will come together fairly easily. An acoustic guitar kit on the other hand will test your skills more thoroughly during the entire build and as mentioned in a previous article can be a lot more critical as far as tonal quality is concerned should the job go less than smoothly.

If there is anything you want to know more about, hey don’t fret it just drop us a line at support@eguitarkits.com . We would love to hear from you.