Custom Guitar
Custom-built guitars are just a dream for regular guys. You usually have to be famous or rich to get your hand on a custom hand built guitar that is made exactly for your convenience. The world today offers a mass manufacturing and global distribution that you could possibly buy almost everything you want. For instruments like guitar, huge manufacturers are turning out high-quality instruments at very affordable prices and advance production techniques have made it possible for factories to offer options and a point of customization that would have been expensive and impractical in the past. On the other hand, there are also booming cottage industries of individual guitar-makers who can build a completely custom-made guitar suited to your needs.
Some may ask why bother with a custom guitar when there are so many choices available in the market. The primary reason for most is the basic ergonomic needs. You may just benefit from a unique neck geometry that fits your hands better or custom electronics to better capture your live playing style. Any feature or combination of features that you can't find in the usual stock instrument can easily justify a need for a custom order.
A good starting point would probably be choosing wood for your guitar. You may need to research a little to find out what tone you will get from each of the different guitar tone woods. You should narrow your choices based on the tone that you are looking for.
As you start to explore the options, you will learn that there are so many variations in woods. For instance, if you wanted a spruce top, you can explore all the spruce varieties which include Sitka, Adirondack, Engelmann, German, Carpathian, Bosnian and a lot more. However, the woods used for the back and sides offer more visual variety and come in an even wider range of exotic types.
Do your research to find out what the consensus is on the tone that you get from certain woods. Just remember that the wood is only the starting point and is not the only part of the guitar that will affect your tone.
If your friend or your luthier is willing, it would be a great idea to let him accompany you at lumber store that sells different types of exotic words. Think about the guitars you have owned in the past and decide what woods you have loved the most and keep these three things in mind:
- Tone. The denser the wood usually gives off brighter sounds
- Beauty. Some woods are more beautiful or fancier looking.
- Weight. Denser wood is heavier.
Some wood stores may already have available guitar body blanks cut for you to choose from. If so, you will likely get these much cheaper than buy a larger piece to cut down.
Lastly, when choosing wood, be aware of the ecological and sustainability issues revolving many exotic woods. There are ethical and legal problems with a lot of the woods that are frequently used for guitar manufacturing, especially those used for the backs and sides. You should understand and consider your own position on this kind of issues and be aware of potential problems especially if you have any plans to travel abroad with your instrument.
Imagine how great it will feel to learn the guitar real fast! Click here to find out about guitar lessons online and soon you'll be strummin away.
About the Author
Visit Basic Guitar Lessons for more tips in learning how to play guitar, from basic to advance method.
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Guitar Wood Differences and Tone Factors
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