The other day my trusty old Ryobi crapped out on me as I had expected it would. It was only a 1-3/4 horsepower unit which was barely up to the task needed for building electric guitars. I had hoped to step up to a 3hp model, but, boy are they expensive. Instead, I picked up a 2-1/4hp Makita with both a fixed and plunge base. The key is the motor. Makita make’s really good motors.

In the end, it came down to three routers; Bosch, Dewalt and the Makita. The Bosch and the Dewalt had nice features, but the reliability of the Makita’s motor sold me.

As soon as I got home from Tool King, I finished off routing my latest guitar, which is a prototype Legato I plan to sell. In fact, I plan to make several prototypes available for sale on my site very soon. Right now I have two guitars nearing completion. One is a Tomahawk neck-through I’ve talked about before and the other is a Legato neck-through that’s progressing quickly. I’m also going to build a single cutaway neck-through down the road.

My goal when I started eGuitar plans was to sell plans to anyone interested in building their own electric guitars. Over the past year, I sold a lot of plans, but as I expected, many aspiring builders quickly discovered what a massive challenge it is to actually finish a build. For that reason, I’ve decided to occasionally build a guitar and offer it up for sale as if you’d built it yourself.

I don’t plan on manufacturing guitars, but I would like to make them occasionally as a form of artistic expression and as a way to promote and educate budding luthiers. I also hope to start making and selling my own pickups in the near future, but more on that later.

In the meantime, here’s a photo from my workbench to inspire you:

That there's Rock Maple and Walnut