I like to try new things, take on new challenges, and look for ways to get something done in spite of inadequate resources. Disaster strikes. Then I smeared glue on the side of the strip and clamped it in place. This also required some creative clamping methods. I placed the wood loosely between two long blocks of wood clamped on to my flat surface. Here is where things started to fall apart for me. A template can greatly help you simplify this. Some premade necks will still require you to place frets in the fret slots. I also found that when I test-fit the nut I had purchased, the neck was a tad too wide. The cedar top is supposed to create a "warm" sound. There are many fancy, square dual rod selections available from different suppliers. Once the side to be bent was in the steam box for several minutes, and there was an abundance of steam escaping from its joints, I slowly clamped the wood onto the mold. It was slightly concave. As far as general categories to consider in your planning, there are two: Single coil pickups: Typically these offer a more biting sound with a lot of treble and bass. You can pick up a truss rod, ready to place in the neck at most music stores. The book includes lots of photos and even full scale plans, which are handy, but it lacked information I needed. I cut the rod and threaded it with a 10-32 thread and placed the cylindrical nut inside the guitar behind the neck block. They way he describes some things, and the words he uses, make it a bit hard to interpret at times. I build the fixture with two pieces of the shaped plywood, separated by spacers. I now had something resembling a guitar body. Probably the most important consideration is the pickups. I installed the truss rod end cover, a little off-center of course. I drilled the holes in the tenon deeper than specified. If they are too far away, playing becomes difficult. A fixture, or mold, is needed to hold the top, back, and sides in place while they are glued together. I now had three marks on the tool for the adjustments. To cut out the guitar body, I used a 1/4" blade on the bandsaw. The next step was to trim the side to length and glue them together with the neck block and bottom block. I then took a very small router bit and routed out the drawing of the cavity. I added more tape to areas that looked like they needed it. My apprehension was beginning to build, however, thinking about the next steps. Time to try bolting on the neck. How to Build Your Own Guitar Step 1: Shaping the Guitar. Answer: It would be hard for me, but maybe easy for you. I also added a rounded piece of wood with eye-bolts and wing nuts to help hold the side wood against the mold at the deeply curved waist in the body. As mentioned previously, preparing the neck requires specialized tools and needs to follow precise specifications.