All these ideas and concepts are applying for everything between ukulele and guitar. Partly even for violins. So this collection covers many more string instruments than just guitars.
We will walk over all parts of the guitar. Beginning from the head and ending with the body. For every part you will find a collection of different options. Some are easier to build, some others sound better. Some are realizable just by collecting the right trashes, some others require some shopping. None of them aims to guide you to a high-end instrument, as you can buy them from professional luthiers (guitar builders). But you should get a well playable, self-made instrument with a very individual style.
What is important to start?
If you never build an instrument before, get a good overview about the options, gather informations and then just try it out. Don’t stress too much about details in the beginning.
Still, this website offers inspiration and possibilities, but is not a simple step-by-step instruction. So for a first instrument, better watch some video tutorials to get an idea, and then figure out your favourite way, with the help of the collection of this website.
Guitars
5 string bowl guitarlele
Like a 5-string guitar with a capo at the 5th fret. So you can play it like a Ukulele, but with a deeper sound.
The body is out of an old aluminium bowl, the neck from a single big piece of beech (was the only available wood). Thanks to string based frets and tuners out of wire, it was an easy and cheap projects.
- Super light for it’s size
- Very solid
- Cheap and easy to build