For me it all started when I retired. Knew I had to do something because I was a workaholic so I started building electric guitars. My niece and nephew were very interested in learning guitar and I had the knowledge to build them guitars. Like anything else in order to learn you have to fail but never give up or you will never succeed. I have successfully built over fifteen guitars, nine of which I built for myself to my specifications because I am left handed. Well anyway I grew tired of building them so I decided it was time to start learning to play guitar. I never knew that I could really play or learn music theory (which I suggest everyone should learn) . I tried a few different platforms but I didn’t feel I had any connection with the instructors so I decided to join Justin guitar. At first I thought he talked too much (sorry Justin) but as I went along I realized his approach to learning was the best so here I am. A couple of those guitars are made from vinyl and two of them the controls are backwards.
Welcome to the forum James
Hello James & Welcome!
Tod
Thank you. Got a lot to learn
Words of wisdom! Welcome to the Community, James.
welcome 
Nice to meet you, James, right up my street. I am just starting to build guitars, so enjoy your stay in this wonderful place, cheers HEC
Thank you
Thank you . Patience is the key good luck
Hi James,
Welcome and i wish you a lot of fun 
Greetings ,Rogier
Welcome to the community James! Enjoy your learning journey!
Hi James, welcome to the community forum. You have a cool collection of guitars.
Thank you The black vinyl guitar plays better than the store bought ones although the ESP LTD I upgraded
Awesome. welcome to the forum
Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I am hoping to get some good tips along the way.
That’s an interesting way of getting into guitars - building several first before learning to play. Are they built from parts or did you start from scratch?
I built one guitar and I’ve completely restored one that was in extremely poor shape, tp the point that it’s now my most playable guitar. It’s a fun pastime, but playing is more fun.
I love the grey tele on the wall.
I have to be honest I found fretboard work was too much like work. The leveling, crowning , beveling and polishing was not for me. So I would much rather pay for a neck than go through all that trouble. You will notice on the gray Telecaster that it has a Fender neck. The body is made from Paulownia wood which is a hardwood but very light. It is not painted but done with vinyl car wrap. I used that wood because it was so light but strong with great sustain and stability. It is compared to swamp ash but it costs a lot less. I would put that up against any single coil tele. So maybe the words I used should have been renovate. Next to it I have a LTD-6 that I added the humbuckers and controls. But it still has a preamp and I am able to use two amps with having acoustic and electric guitar sound. Sorry if I misled you
Welcome to the community James! I started learning how to build acoustic guitars 3 years after I started learning to play them with Justin.
Hah! I thought you had melted down vinyl records into a form 
Well, you’ve already rocked the guitars, so time to start rocking them again.
Retirement can be a wonderful thing. Something, dunno know what, tells me this is not your first time in the shop!!!
I agree with you–I think you’ve found a good place to grow.
Cheers,
Bruce
Acoustic guitars are definitely out of my league. I know a lot about electric guitars but steam forming the the shape of an acoustic is not for me. I bought so called ESP LTD-6 which is not even made by ESP and I made it into an acoustic -electric combo which can play on two separate amps but I am not happy with the acoustic sound. I found out the guitar was made by a company called World Musical Instrument Company and the guitar was only designed by ESP and the Fisherman preamp was only designed by Fishman but made in China. The electric side of the guitar sounds great. I have to hand it to you, I would never have the patience to build an acoustic guitar.
