How I Built My OWN Electric Guitar (Ibanez Style)

Building your own electric guitar is one of the most rewarding projects a musician or maker can do. For my final year of high school, I decided to combine my love for music, design, and craftsmanship into a single project: crafting my own custom electric guitar. The result is this matte black beauty, full of character—and signatures from people who were part of my journey.

Last year I already built my first electric guitar. It was a school project and a really nice experience. Of course, that being my first ever electric guitar build, it has its mistakes.

So, for this one, I was aiming for PERFECTION! I tried my best to fix all the mistakes from my last build and create a new and better project.

Here are the supplies I used in this project! Of course you don't need to use exactly these.

1. Wood (I used Basswood for the body)
2. CNC machine
3. Sandpaper (various grits)
4. Chisel
5. Matte black paint
6. Lacquer glossy finish
7. Custom neck (bought on eBay)
8. Pre-wired pickguard with pickups
9. Soldering iron
10. Guitar strings
11. Screwdriver
12. Masking tape
13. Photoshop (for design planning)

Before cutting or sanding anything, I opened Photoshop and mocked up the design. I used the Ibanez JEM body shape as a base but chose to remove the iconic "monkey grip" handle to give it a sleeker, cleaner silhouette—and more space for the signatures.

This step really helped me visualize every detail, from contours to color scheme, before starting the build.

If you don't have photoshop, or don't know how to use it, find pictures online of what you want for your project, look for ideas and designs. It really helps to have a clear mind picture of what you want beforehand.

I went with basswood because it's light, easy to shape, and has good tonal properties for rock and metal. It’s also affordable and common in many commercial guitars.

I found a JEM guitar blueprint online with all the measurements and dimensions, and input that design into a CNC machine, which precisely cut out the body shape. It took approximately 4-5 hours to complete.

This part felt super high-tech and satisfying—seeing your digital design come to life in wood is next-level.

During this process, I had some chips come off of the wood, which I fixed with some glue and wood fill.

This was the most hands-on part, and tool REALLY long. I sanded down the body to smooth out the CNC cuts, refine the curves, and prep the surface for painting.

For the curves, I used the spokeshave and then refined it using an oscillating spindle sander.

Every hour spent here paid off in the final feel of the guitar.

I spray-painted the body matte black, which gave it a clean and stealthy look. Matte finishes are forgiving and look modern—exactly what I was going for.

Between coats, I lightly sanded the body to maintain the smoothness of the wood and ensure the paintjob quality.

Before finishing the body, I asked all my friends and classmates to sign it with white paint markers. As a grad year project, I wanted this guitar to be more than just an instrument—it’s a time capsule of my high school memories (I stopped counting the signatures at 160).

I also, have never seen an electric guitar fully signed like that, which makes my guitar even more unique.

To protect the signatures and seal everything in, I applied several coats of glossy lacquer. The contrast between the matte paint and glossy finish created a really unique visual texture.

I bought a custom neck off eBay—black with a beautiful flower inlay (it's the Steve Vai's signature inlay—the Tree of Life) that totally fits the guitar’s vibe. After aligning it, I screwed it into place and admired how the black-on-black theme tied everything together.

For this step, you really have to pay attention to make sure the neck is straight relative to the body.

The pickguard came pre-wired with pickups, which made my life WAY easier. All I had to do was solder the input jack. Super quick, and it worked perfectly.

If you have a pre-wired pickguard like me, your input wires are the ones not connected to anything.

The input jack has two parts: the tip and the sleeve. The tip is where you solder the hot wire (usually it's the wire with a cover)—that carries the signal of the pickups. And the sleeve is for the ground wire.

After you wired your guitar, it's time to screw everything in place. First the pickguard itself, and then the bridge.

PAY ATTENTION to the bridge placement. Measure the distance from the nut (the top of the fretboard) to the 12th fret. This should also be the distance from the 12th fret to your bridge. Make sure you check that before screwing the bridge on.

I also added the guitar straps and screwed the input jack on.

Final step: I strung the guitar up, accidentally broke the A string while tuning it, tuned it again, and plugged it in.

The first strum was magic—this wasn’t just a project anymore. It was an instrument that I built.

And there it is—my custom-built electric guitar. It's more than wood and strings; it's a reflection of creativity, hard work, and a whole chapter of my life. Hope this inspires someone else to build theirs too.