- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £6.60
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Make Your Own Electric Guitar for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £6.60, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A belter of a book. Assuming you are reasonably OK at woodwork, and know one end of a guitar from another - otherwise you wouldn't be considering a project like this in the first place, Melvyn does not waste time explaining which end of a chisel is the dangerous end, or spend 50 plus pages showing examples of his work. He demonstrates a few styles of guitar - eg a bolt on neck, a through neck, a carved top etc, you could copy one exactly, or (more fun) design your own around his principles.
He explains a bit, but not too much, of where the electric guitar came from, and the early pioneers of the instrument, and also the effect on playing, of using different types of wood, fingerboard radius etc....all helping you come up with your design. Technical stuff like fret spacings is explained, and again copy one of his scale lengths, or go for your own. Electronic stuff is covered - basic, but ideal for the non-electronics person - as an example - if you could figure out the working of a bicycle lamp, you should be OK with his schematics. In short, everything you need to know is covered in sufficient detail to allow you to build a guitar, without going too deep into any one area. If you wish to build something so radical it takes the guitar industry by storm, you may need to find a more specialist book as well, to cover that area. The only down side is there are no drawings of plans for guitars for those who simply wish to copy an existing design. Don't know how important that is though! There is also a handy contacts page to get the gear from.
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book has been an invaluable resource for my first attempts at building an electric guitar. Melvyn Hiscock writes with a relaxed and somtimes humourous approach while still managing to explain in a comprehensive way many of the more complicated issues. Even as a complete novice to electrical wiring I managed to follow the wiring diagrams and explanations with not too much difficulty, and although the section on finishing isn't as comprehensive as it could be it does go a long way to describing the various techniques you could use. Should you wish to get more adventurous in this area there are other publications available.
The best way to sum this book up is that its everything you need to get going altough if you intend to move into guitar building as a career or perhaps a serious pastime you would probably need other, more focused books in addition to this.
Oh, note of caution to Brian May fans, don't buy this book on the basis that there is a forward by the permed ax man, its very short and doesn't give you any particular insight into how he and his dad built the famous 'Red Special'.
56 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Knowing things is only the first step of writing a book. Deciding what to include and what to leave out and how to organize it is equally important. This book has all the essentials of solid body guitar building and is very well written.
The first couple of chapters describes the basic guitar parameters and planning steps as well as the general approach for the woodwork. The next part describes three different guitars which covers most of the methods/styles found on electric guitar/basses. Finally, the last parts describes the finish/assembly/set-up of the guitar.
The book does not give you all the details on wood-working, finish etc. nor does it list all kinds of guitars, woods, pick-ups and other stuff. But it has all the essential information to get you started.
I also have "Building Electric Guitars" by Martin Koch. This is slightly less well organized; but has somewhat more details (more step-by-step instructions with pictures, a few additional tricks, and also covers a few more subjects like winding your own pick-up's). I suggest you buy both of them ;-)
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
All you need.
When I first got my hands on this book I thought I knew a thing or two about how guitars work and why they are the way they are. Read more
Published 25 days ago by AMSilva
A REALLY useful reference for amateur guitar builders
This was the book I chose to help me when I decided to "Make my own electric guitar"!!!
I found it an invaluable help - as a previous reviewer has stated, if you do not... Read more
I found it an invaluable help - as a previous reviewer has stated, if you do not... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. Paul Boden
Great overview of how and electric guitar goes together.
To be fair I've not read the whole book from cover to cover yet, but first impressions are that it's a really useful book in explaining how an electric guitar is put together, how... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Neil F. Thomas
I don't know...
What was i thinking? People spend years to become a luthier... and i thought with one book i could build my own... Read more
Published 11 months ago by jason
This is basically the luthier's bible
This book is awesome. It will tell you everything you need to know about building a guitar. That's all there is to say really!
Published 14 months ago by Alex
Lifesaver
I'm making an electric guitar for my A2 project at school, this book has saved my life and now I have a sweet sounding guitar!
Published 18 months ago by Cullum
Make your own electric guitar
Very good, clear instructions. Helpful if you are not too knowledgable about guitar's. Great for a first attempt, it guides you well.
Published 18 months ago by J. Billich
Great book for anyone interested in guitars
This book is not just for those who have a wood working room full of gear. This book is for anyone interested in guitars. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Rash
Good but dated
Generally good text but the photos are all in black & white! Lots of good info on the build but you do have to flip back & forth to find stuff. Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2010 by Sm Proctor
A great instruction or reference book
This is a fantastic book for any serious guitarist. Even if you find that you don't have the necessary skills or tools to build a guitar right now, the insights that the book... Read more
Published on 17 July 2009 by S. Lott
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
