Electric Guitar Specifications

This is a "top-down checklist" for the assembly of a solid-body electric guitar. It can help you to build a guitar with specific sound and playability characteristics. Please read licence and the contribution guidelines before contributing.

Table of Contents

• Sound and Playability Influencing Factors

• Guitar Necks

• Neck Profile
• Neck Nut Width and Nut Slot Spacing
• Neck Heel Width and Mounting
• Fretboard’s Radius
• Fret Sizes
• Common Neck Head Shapes

• Tuner Holes

• Guitar Bodies

  • Body Shapes
  • Bridge And Pickup Routing Overview
  • Flat Mount Strat Routing
  • Flat Mount Tele Routing
  • Flat Mount Schaller Routing
  • Tremolo Routing
  • Tune-O-Matic Gibson Style Routing
  • Other Rare Bridge Variants
  • Pickup Routing

• Tuning Machines

• Bridges

• Hardware Parts Checklist

• Electronics

• Pickup Properties
• Sound Control with Switches
• Potentiometer and Capacitor Values
• Volume and Tone Potentiometer Options
• Potentiometer Knob Styles
• Electronics Wiring Schemas

• Active Pickups Electronic

• Strings

• Scale Length

• Woods

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Sound and Playability Influencing Factors

Component	Sound*	Playability*
Guitar Neck	+	++++
Guitar Body	+	++++
Guitar Electronics	+++	-
Strings	++	++
Scale Length	+	+
Woods (Body, Neck and Fretboard)	+	+

*influence ( "-" stands for little, "++++" stands for very strong)

For example, for building a solid-body 'jazz-sounding' guitar you have to choose (top down by importance):

• vintage or jazz pickup with convenient po­ten­tiomet­er and capacitor values
• flatwound strings
• massive neck, hollow body with wood such as mahagony
• shorter scale length

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Guitar Necks

Neck thickness, neck width, neck contour and fret wire size affect playability and are a matter of personal taste. Important for good playability is balanced interaction of these components. Thicker neck often creates warmer tone.

usacustomguitars.com/necks - many neck shape and thickness combinations
musikraft.com - additional information for understanding of neck features.

Neck Profile

Neck Profile is the combination of contour (C, U, V , asymmetrc) and thickness (.0750" - 1")

Contour	Thickness	Warmoth*	Fender*	Gibson*
D	thin	Wizard	D Shape
C	thin/medium	Standard Thin	C Shape (AM Std)	Traditional C
C	medium	59 Roundback	Deep C	Round C (1959 LP)
U	thick	Fatback	U Shape (Vintage Tele)
V	thick	Boatneck	V Shape (Vintage 52 Tele)
asymmetrisch	medium	Wolfgang	Modern C

*warmoth - Warmoth Neck Profiles
*fender - see "NECK SHAPE" Filter
*gibson forum - Gibson Neck Profiles

Neck Nut Width and Nut Slot Spacing

Category	Neck Nut Width	e1/E6
Many Fenders from Japan	41 mm (1-5/8")	approx. 34 mm
Standard	42,9 mm (1-11/16")	approx. 35 mm
Acoustic analog	44,5 mm (1-3/4")	35 mm till 37,5 mm
Superwide (Warmoth)	48 mm (1-7/8")	approx. 40 mm

The real e1 to E6 string spread can be controlled not only through nut width, but also by slot spread in the nut. For example, 44.5 mm wide nut can have e1 to E6 distance between 35 and 37.5 mm.