Guitar Building Tips - Strats & Teles - From Stephen Davies, Colchester

1. To build a great-sounding solid guitar, you need good tonewoods.
2. Its worth searching for good bodies made of alder, ash or poplar.
3. The body should be the correct thickness; thinner bodies give less bass and proper size tremolo blocks may protrude on strats
4. Maple necks are a must. These can be 2-piece - maple with rosewood or maple fingerboard, or one-piece maple.
5. As a rule, the thicker the neck, the fuller the sound. The limiting factor is the player's ability to play the thicker necks. C Profile necks are a good compromise.
6. Don't pay a fortune for good quality - it is possible to buy excellent quality for under £50 for a neck or body, often with great finishes. Music King have a range that I have found give outstanding results, with some of the best finishes I have seen. The strats that I gig with have Music King bodies. Many necks come complete with good quality vintage-style tuners.
7. To give the bodies and necks a vintage vibe, it is worth rubbing the finish to matt with 1200-1500 wet and dry abrasive paper. Do this carefully, lubricating with soap and water. The aim is to achieve a smooth consistent finish over the whole body or neck. Then, using a finish restorer such as T-cut you can bring the finish back to the required level of gloss. The result will look more authentic than modern 2-pack "globby" finishes. On a body, a few small dings with a screwdriver or a bunch of keys prior to polishing will give the instrument a "played-in vibe. Resist the temptation to do very much of this - overdoing the relicing process rarely looks authentic, unless done by a professional restoration expert.
8. Lining necks up with bodies prior to drilling neck location holes is critical. I always but the 1^st and 6^th strings on with gentle tension when doing this, to make sure the neck is properly centred. If in doubt leave to an expert.
9. Metal parts can be treated in a stone tumbler (used for polishing pebbles) to give an authentic aged/ worn appearance.
10. A little woodstain mixed with lacquer, applied to bridge parts with a fine brush will give an aged rusty appearance
11. Bridges should have 2 3/16" string spacing, not the narrower far eastern spec. Available for less than £25.
12. Pickups should have 52 mm string spacing, not the narrower far eastern spec.
13. Don't pay a fortune for pickups. A complete scratchplate assembly with vintage-type alnico pickups can be bought for less than £50.
14. When first setting up a guitar, it is worth remembering that the action will rise by a could of millimetres over 24 hours, as the neck and body adapt to the string tension.
15. If you need to remove the scratchplate/ pu assembly, put a capo at the first fret before loosening the strings. This stops the strings jumping out of the tuners and getting jumbled and knotted.