So You Wanna Build Your Own Guitar?
DIY guitar kits are probably the most popular method of entry into the world of lutherie. They’re perfect for anyone interested in building their own guitars from start to finish. Even if you don’t have the expensive heavy machinery available to you for the body & neck cutting and shaping, you can still get the satisfaction of creating your own instrument.
A guitar kit is also a great way to learn the craft without having any fear about messing up on the more complex parts of the process, such as fretting the neck or building the nut. You can also avoid buying expensive, specialized lutherie tools – learning how to use them properly even takes a bit of time. With a kit, you can put your guitar together without having to meticulously shape each piece to exact proportions. The whole process starts to look daunting for a first-time builder.
I personally started my own journey into lutherie by learning how to repair and modify guitars – but if I’d known it’d lead to building custom guitars from scratch, I’d say a DIY kit guitar is the perfect stepping stone.
Where to Get the Best Guitar Kits
There’s not too many websites out there that offer a wide range of instruments to choose from. We’ve taken the time to scour the web and gather the best sites to buy guitar kits from so you can find what you’re looking for a little easier.
The sites were chosen based on their selection, web-store quality, and their shipping policies (non-international sites don’t make the cut). So take a look at what’s in stock and see if anything piques your interest!
- Solo Guitars (Or try their web shop directly)
- Seismic Audio
- Festnight
- BYO Guitar
- TheFretWire
- StewMac (A tad pricier, but they do have a reputation to uphold in terms of quality)
- Saga
- Musoo
Solo Guitars
https://www.solomusicgear.com/
[Site Preview]
Location: Canada
Shipping: International
# of Kits: 53 Electric (Guitar) / 13 Electric (Bass) / 9 Acoustic (Guitar) / + many more instruments
[Sample Kit]
StewMac
[Site Preview]
Location: USA
Shipping: International
# of Kits: 6 Electric / 4 Acoustic
[Sample Kit]
Guitar Kit World
[Site Preview]
Location: USA
Shipping: International (Free)
# of Kits: 50+ Guitar / 5 Bass
[Sample Kit]
BYO Guitar
[Site Preview]
Location: USA
Shipping: International
# of Kits: 27 Guitar / 8 Bass
[Sample Kit]
Guitar Fetish
[Site Preview]
Location: USA
Shipping: International
# of Kits: 11 Guitar / 3 Bass
[Sample Kit]
DIY Guitar Kits
[Site Preview]
Location: Canada
Shipping: US, Canada (International shipping on contact)
# of Kits: 12 Guitar / 3 Bass
[Sample Kit]
Guitar Maker’s Emporium (RIP – Dec 8, 2018)
[Site Preview]
Location: Australia
Shipping: Australia (International shipping on contact)
# of Kits: 36 Guitar / 3 Bass
[Sample Kit]
Precision Guitar Kits
[Site Preview]
Location: Canada
Shipping: International
# of Kits: 28 Guitar / 2 Bass
[Sample Kit]
Warmoth
[Site Preview]
Location: USA
Shipping: International
# of Kits: ∞
[Sample Kit]
The sites are listed in no particular order, but Warmoth is listed at the end because they don’t supply complete guitar kits. They do, however, offer you the choice of putting together your very own custom kit assembled from about a billion options they have available. The possibilities here are endless, and their parts are well-reviewed.
If you’re still looking to simplify the process of acquiring a custom guitar, then I’ll recommend you visit the Luthier’s Directory and take a look at some of the amazing guitar makers local to you.