Introduction: How to Make an Electric Guitar (Physics B Period Edition)

Following are the instructions to make an electric guitar that can be played with an amplifier. This project should take about 1-3 hours. Recommended tools are a glue gun and drill.

Supplies

  • Piece of wood (1" x 3" x 2.5' ish)
  • 2 strings (any pitch)
  • Angled piece of wood
  • 12 nails
  • Wooden dowel
  • Small block of wood
  • 2 metal brackets
  • 2 screws
  • 2 I ring bolts
  • 2 small disc magnets
  • 10 ft. of wire
  • Cardboard

Step 1: String Holes

To begin the guitar, take your long piece of wood (the neck of the finished guitar) and drill 4 holes in a trapezoidal shape. Together with this step, install a small dowel down the neck of the drilled holes in order to suspend the string above the wood.

Step 2: String Brackets

Next up is the other end of the strings. Install 2 L brackets by drilling two screws into the neck.

After the L bracket is installed, screw in your I bolts, making care that the nut is as loosened as possible in order to tighten the string later on.

Step 3: Frets

To install frets, take your thinner slanted wood piece and glue it down by the end of the neck opposite the brackets. Make sure the higher part is lower down the neck (closer to the brackets).


Begin marking frets. Fret distance is calculated using an exponential equation off a fixed constant, which is just the established traditional distances for a western guitar. Mark notches from the end opposite the brackets using:

string length*(1-(0.9438743))^(fret #)

Make sure your string length is the effective string that can vibrate, not just hole to I bolt. After marks are made, glue down nails on the piece of wood horizontally to create the fret structure.



Step 4: Installing Strings

Take 2 strings, preferably of a different thickness, and secure it to the I bolts (through the loop). Then, run it through the trapezoidal holes on the other end tightly until you can secure it with hot glue.

Step 5: Bridge

The last step in the acoustic guitar is to install the bridge. Using whatever scrap wood or dowels, glue down enough height under the string so that the guitar is playable and that it is located to create your determined string length.


Once the bridge is in place, the guitar is playable. Tighten the strings to the desired pitch and tuning.

Step 6: Pickup

The final step is to create the electronic pickup to amplify the sound. Cut one piece of carboard to a square the width of the neck of the guitar. Coil the wire to a loop with a diameter about 2 inches, or enough to fit both magnets inside of. tape it down to the piece of carboard. Glue down both magnets so that they line up to the width between the strings. Ensure that the poles of the magnets point in the same direction (either both north up or south up). Finish the sandwich with another piece of carboard and tape it all together.


Then, test the pickup. Connect your two wire ends from the cable to the amplifier and play some notes, trying different pickup locations to see what works best. Try changing the gain on the speaker if the sound is too quite. Once you are satisfied, glue the pickup down and your guitar is finished!