Making Your First Guitar
A Tutorial
Getting Started
You are now just about ready to start making that guitar! But, first a few words:
While at the lumber yard, you selected wood of your choice and of the dimensions necessary for your project. Wood for the neck and body can be either quarter sawn or plank sawn. This refers to the direction the grain is running in the wood in relation to how you are using it. A quarter sawn piece of lumber will have the grain or rings running parallel in an "up and down" orientation such as: |||||, whereas plank sawn will run across the work or in some other plane: ///// or -------- .
Much controversy exists over whether instruments should be entirely constructed out of quarter sawn wood, but for all intents and purposes, this has little effect on an electric instrument. Acoustic instruments such as violins or steel string quitars are another matter. The only place where I feel quarter sawn is required on an electric is when using traditional woods such as ebony or rosewood for fingerboards.
When deciding on how to glue up your stock, take into consideration the grain orientation as it applies to aesthetics, but also as to how it will affect strength, prevent warping and be most workable.
