This project is one that I've been wanting to try for many years, and I finally feel like my shop is setup enough to properly build a guitar. I've never built a guitar from scratch before, so this will be as much a learning experience for me as it is for you. I hope you follow along with our build, and maybe this series will inspire you to build your own guitar!

DIY Guitar Materials (for part 1):

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Potvin Guitars Template

Sapele hardwood purchased from Asheville Hardware

Neck from Warmoth

Tools used in Part 1 of the DIY Guitar Build:

Part 1 of our DIY Guitar build covers the wood we chose for the guitar and rough cutting that wood. The piece of sapele purchased for the build was roughly 43" long by 9" wide by 1 ¾" thick. I cut two pieces from the board using the miter saw, then jointed one edge on each of the boards. You definitely want dust collection when working with the jointer, and the Oneida Molded Mini Gorilla did an awesome job. After jointing, I could glue the boards together with the help of some parallel bar clamps from Bessey.