WHAT BUILDING GUITARS HAS TAUGHT ME

12/26/25

In the last year I've had the pleasure of building three guitars. Not from scratch of course, but with parts and pieces to make something new. I didn't chop down a tree, carve the wood to shape the body, glue the fretboard to the neck, or machine any of the hardware. They all started as normal stock guitars from the factory, then were modded and changed to high hell. Here's the story.

The first project started in the summer of 2024. I traded my 2018 Gibson Double Cut Les Paul Jr. Tribute for a 2015 Fender Classic Player Jaguar Special HH that had been converted spec-wise into the Kurt Cobain Signature model. The guy who did the conversion royally f**ked it. The wiring was so poorly done that the neck pickup only worked when the Jaguar rhythm circuit was engaged, leaving very little tonal options. I picked up the guitar as a project guitar, so the wiring would be redone and changed anyways. I wanted to install Lollar P90s and rewire to put the controls in a Les Paul style layout (2 Volume 2 Tone). My idea was perfectly set in my head. The rhythm circuit would be ditched and the pots [potentiometers control the volume and tone] used for the neck pickup. Not much would have to be routed or changed. Basically a drag and drop job. I enlisted help from my buddy Evan aka Boston Bob aka the Japanese Jim Morrison. He majored in electrical engineering, so he was the natural choice for circuit work. We took the first day to remove the pickguard and determine what we were up against, which ended up being far more than I previously thought. I ordered the pickups thinking that I wouldn't have to order anything else. Yeesh. I was so wrong. As was discovered after opening the guitar up, the pots in the rhythm circuit had resistance values not entirely suited for P90s. The pots in the normal circuit were also not optimal for P90s, as humbuckers had been in the guitar previously. I needed to get 4 new pots, not a major expense, but the first set back.

By the time I got the new parts it was mid July. Then we found another problem. The pots I had bought to fit in the rhythm circuit wouldn't fit without major modifications. We pondered this for a while. I had my heart set on the control layout, so there was no turning back. We had to make the modifications. I don't even think we started to actually build anything until August or September. I had moved into my new apartment and we started doing the wiring and the drilling. The project inched along with small improvements each time we met to build. I also picked up a hollow Gibson Les Paul tribute and planned to build it out at the same time as the Jaguar. I did some of the work on the Les Paul myself. I installed the tuners, pickup rings, and knobs. It took me a goddamn eternity to find the right bridge for it. I watched Evan wire the pots, capacitors, and pickups together on the Jaguar. He took his sweet time. It had been months since I initially got the guitar, so I was antsy. I wanted it to be done. Evan wanted to make sure that everything was done right. I listened to him... and I'm glad I did. I was able to learn from the wiring Evan did on the Jaguar and apply it to the Les Paul (we actually f**ked the wiring up on it). By the time we were done it was January. Or maybe it was February. 8 months of setbacks and long breaks. 

Both guitars were done and ready to play in February. I was baffled to find that it took that long to build a guitar. I figured it be so easy. I was wrong. Very wrong. Thankfully I hadn't dumped an arm and a leg into it. A couple hundred dollars didn't hurt my pocket too bad. Actually, it kind of did at the time, but in retrospect, it wasn't that much in the grand scheme of things. Funnily enough, I only played the Les Paul once or twice through an amp. I recorded with it at the studio and figured out the wiring was cooked. Evan and I had accidentally swapped the solder positions of the bridge pickup wires and the neck pickup was functioning as one coil. I ended up using it to trade for a Hagstrom II from the mid 70s. I still have my SG so I honestly didn't need the Les Paul in the first place. The Jaguar was my main live guitar for the beginning of 2025. I wrote and gigged with it from February until early June. I took it on a mini tour in April--a whopping 2 stops. It survived the 4/20 festival in the Porter Meadows in Santa Cruz. I decided to retire it in June in favor of my SG. It was heavy and poorly set up. I had a bunch of issues with it that I was too lazy to resolve. 

I guess I kind of did resolve the issues it had by dismantling it. I was planning on getting another SG that already had P90s in it that would become my main guitar in D Standard. After that fell through, the Jaguar was stripped to a body and neck. I took all the parts off it that had been painstakingly put into it. I was sad to see it go. But I knew it was going to be better in the long run. I was with my friend Gavinski in August when I found a beautiful Mustang with an aluminum neck on Instagram. It was posted by a company called Aluminati Guitars that I'd been following for some time. Such a killer brand. And one of the only ones manufacturing aluminum necks. I had written down exactly what I wanted my dream guitar to be in my notebook the weekend before. It was scary close to the one I saw on Instagram. I knew I couldn't afford it, but I had this itching feeling that I needed to get it. They were having a Labor Day weekend sale that would knock 20% off, which only added fuel to the fire. I emailed them with some questions and I decided the next day I was going to buy it. I had the parts I needed to make it exactly as I wanted. This time, though, I knew I had to take it slow and figure out everything before jumping the gun.

The first and only setback was that the body and neck were shipped separately. I know. It sounds crazy. But the lady who worked in shipping accidentally thought I ordered just the neck. I called immediately and left a frantic voicemail to the owner of the company. The shittiest part was that it was 4:30 pm on a Friday in California. They closed at 5pm...in Asheville, North Carolina. I had to wait until they were back in the office on Monday. It all got sorted out and the body was shipped that day. I played it for a week before taking it apart to prep.

Some of the work could not be done by me. The body needed to be routed slightly in the pickup cavity and the control cavity needed to be enlarged to fit in the Les Paul style layout I'm partial to having on my guitars. A new pickguard, completely unique and never before seen, had to be made. I made the outline with a mix of the original Mustang guard and a Gibson LP Melody Maker. I had to find a luthier to do the work, finally landing on a friend of a friend who happens to work at the Fender Custom Shop. I dropped the body off with him and he got to work on it. The guitar took a few months to get back to me. I grabbed it from him when I went to the Teragram to see the final Osees show last week. It felt so good to see my vision partially alive. I just had to finish the electrical work and drill holes for the pots. I borrowed a drill from my roommate's girlfriend's dad. The work was completed on Sunday night. I couldn't be more stoked. Next is strings and a set up. That's to come next week.

Building guitars takes an eternity if you have no idea what you're doing--and I have no idea what I'm doing. It's also expensive if you want to do it right. Most of the time you should do it right. Take the time out of your precious time to do it right. Spend the money if you can. Getting it done quick shouldn't be a priority. I know I know. You want to get it done and play the damn thing. You need to make to make sure that you measure twice and cut once instead of measuring none and cutting your fingers off. Nothing is ever going to go to plan, so try to make sure, to the best of your abilities, that you get somewhere close. 

Well that's it. I wrote this on Christmas Day during the downtime between all the festivities. Hopefully you all had a great time with your families. 

Play music. Keep ears open. See you next week...

Cheers,

Jack