Prologue to a life as a part-time Luthier

It was a long time ago but I remember coming across Melvyn Hiscock's book Make Your Own Electric Guitar (I can't remember where) and felt inspired to give it a go. Little did I know that it would take me on a long journey of discovery. I lusted after the fine vintage instruments that were used to make classic recordings but not being able to afford one of these I thought I could try building one similar. After all, they're just wood and wire and magnets I naively believed. I had no woodworking experience and I had many obstacles to overcome. Not least being a lack of the necessary tools. I did have access to a workshop and some machine tools such as a Drill Press but I had no idea how many specialist tools I would end up needing to buy or make. I've never been well-off financially so the odds were stacked against me. What I learned was how to be resourceful both with tools, materials and techniques and this is something that still challenges me. That is, how to make the best of what I have. It's an important skill to learn and it can only be cultivated by effort and persistence and letting go of the fear of making mistakes. Easier said than done, of course. I've never been one to take the easy route in life. Life should be an adventure and that's how I've always tried to see it. I owned an electric guitar, a Japanese Les Paul copy retro-fitted with Fender and Schaller humbucking pickups. Through my amp (a Guyatone Zip 60) it sounded muddy and indistinct, to my ears anyway. So i dismantled the instrument, which fortunately had a bolt-on neck. I sawed off the fingerboard with a hand-saw and removed the truss rod. I made up a neck from a scrap piece of Jarrah and fashioned a body out of another slab of Jarrah. This made for a seriously weighty guitar! I made a fingerboard from a piece of Jarrah and cut the fret slots with an old Tenon Saw. I expoxied in frets I cut from lengths of fencing wire. It sounds very crude I know, but not knowing any better, that's what I did. I installed the pickups and wiring loom from the old guitar into hand-chiseled cavities. The Jarrah transformed the sound. Suddenly the guitar sounded crystal-clear with sparkling highs and a deep round bass. The thing looked terrible and the neck was way to thick but the sound blew me away. I was hooked and just wanted to do more and more building. More soon...