This is a forum full of tinkerers and DIY-ers, so I figured this might be a good place to start.

I am NOT a tinkerer. Yes, I've put grips on a gun, changed a sight, added a mag extension, but nothing that required sawing, cutting, milling, drilling, etc. I long ago stopped being a shade tree mechanic; I now have my auto repairs done in a shop. I'm also a guitar player. And a collector.

But I've never tinkered with a guitar past changing strings. I hear and read all the time about people swapping necks, changing pickups, filing frets, replacing the nut and even building their own guitar from the git go. The guitar player in our church band now plays his own homemade Stratocaster.

Normally, I wouldn't entertain the idea of building my own guitar. But COVID-19. You know...

I know there are places (like Warmoth) where parts can be bought. In fact, some of these places offer parts and woods not even available from the "name" makers. So, let's just say I wanted to build a Telecaster made of swamp ash, with an ebony fingerboard on a maple neck, how would I go about finding all the needed parts (pickups, tuners, cables, knobs, etc.) and instructions on how to put it all together? And if I'm no good at soldering, then what?

You see, I don't have a clue as where to start.

Warmoth, StewMac, and Sweetwater should be able to get any equipment, pickups, tuners, knobs etc that you would need.
Youtube actually has quite a few nice tutorials on many of the steps you'd need to put your own together. Soldering pots/input jacks etc included.

That being said you may want to start out with an old beater guitar and practice on it first.

Warmoth neck and body, bought at once, after a phone discussion with a human there about what you want and what they make and why this versus that...

Or a stripped Neck and Body from.Gibson or whomever else. I see kickass Firebird bodies and others all the time, ready for the guts and a setup.

Or buy OEM and used Fender parts and build a Partscaster.

Many options.

I took a different route. Twice, even.

The first was an acoustic guitar building class at our local Woodcraft. 4 weeks, twice a week, and the body form was already done. Learned a great deal. Neck isn’t perfect, action is a little high, but it’s quite playable and the sound is good.

My partscaster started as a pile of parts I paid $60 for. In it was a mid 90s Mexican strat with a pickguard that had an interesting arrangement of Lace Sensor pickups (gold, gold, silver) from the 80s. The body was high mileage. Not scratches, gouges.

Left the pickups, trashed the pots and switch and rewired. Did a total refinish of the body in a Roth candy job. Copper in the cavity, the whole thing.

Plays well, maybe not spectacularly, but for about $200 total in it, it’s great. I would do another if I came across something similar in a pawn shop. Or a bass, guess that would complete the set.

check out guitarfetish.com

Check these guys in Ft Myers out: wdmusic.com.

I started out by taking a guitar apart to refinish it and then I put it back together. That way was easier and more instructive than just buying parts.

Do cigars still come in wooden boxes?

flashguy

What you want to do is easy, and can be done in less than a day. There are hundreds of youtube guides.

The best money you can spend is a pre-wired kit, like this.

Get a body and neck from warmoth. Can't go wrong with some Fender locking tuners.

For a tele I like the Gotoh bridge.

Pickup selection is almost unlimited, and makes the biggest impact (IMHO). You'd have to be more specific about what kind of tone you're into.

Another decent resource for factory components:

https://stratosphereparts.com/

Others:

Warmouth, AllPart.com, Guitar Fetish, Reverb.com, Stewmac.com, USA Custom/MJT for finished bodies, even Fender will sell you a factory neck.

You pretty much get what you pay for $. Lower price will generally be lower quality.

Sounds like you are more interested in assembling than building from scratch?

For what you want, I would go buy a used or newer Fender Squier - cheapest you can find. Tinker with it and make it a really nice player.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Oz_Shadow,

I'm definately gonna follow this!!!!!!

Get a Hakko Dash 25-35w soldering iron, some Kester 63/37 solder and a Helping Hands and try to solder. It’s not hard. Watch YouTube

Yeah, definitely get a good soldering iron and the right solder. I struggled with the wrong stuff on the first couple of builds I did and I was so relieved to find that it really wasnt so hard when you had the right tools.

For my first guitar in 1979, I bought the parts to build one, influenced by Eddie Van Halen at the time. I wanted a guitar better than the factory ones out of Fender, with a humbucker just like Eddie. I bought a neck and body from Charvel and went to different shops to get the parts. There was no internet or you tube to learn this stuff, I did it by trial and error and luckily got it mostly right. The hardest part for me was lining up the neck with the body, then screwing them together. I learned to solder and wire up the guitar from a friend who built his own guitar as well, he drew me a wiring diagram. I later replaced the body and got a bone nut, and in recent years completely replaced the electronics (Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates, new pots and switches), doing a MUCH better job in soldering and grounding. I have better guitars, but it is still a sentimental favorite, the only guitar I have messed with.

You're fortunate to have places like StewMac.com for parts and youtube for info.

there are people out there that teach you how to do it ,I think they call then Luthiers?

https://roberto-venn.com/

Maybe buy something inexpensive and disassemble and do custom work to that and reassemble for a learning experience.