Building a Custom Guitar - 100+ hours in 15 minutes

In this video I show how I build a completely custom guitar with minimal tools. The whole build took over 100 hours and is summed up in just over 15 minutes.
Please consider liking and subscribing if you like this video, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any question or feedback!
Specs:
- Body (back): Alder
- Body (top): Sycamore
- Neck: African Mahogany and curly Hackberry
- Fretboard: Curly Hackberry
- Scale length: 25"
- Pickups: 85/15 (from a PRS SE)
- Tuners: Grover (18:1 ratio)
- Bridge: wraparound bridge
Note: I do not own the rights to any song played at the end as a demo.

[@JR-dd4ec]

Guitar looks beautiful and sounds amazing!!!

[@gk6993]

Nice work man. Love the natural look. Beautiful instrument.
Not bad playing either.

[@realitystudioscustomshop]

lovely job

[@andrewmundenandcadfellmast4624]

Looks terrific Alex. Love the oil finish.

[@saucetguitars]

Thanks!

[@vinztattooerartguitars]

Great job 👏🏻

[@FreeGuitarSound]

Great!!🔥🔥

[@domtanko7160]

Ghost!

[@user-xn8fr3mx6d]

Beautiful! What is the black line in the wood that you were trying to sand or apply some oil at 10:21 in the video? Is that a natural defect in the wood?

[@saucetguitars]

Thanks! I filled the knot with epoxy and just wetted the wood to see how it’d look like once finished.
The dark line that runs in the back of the body I believe is the pith, since the growth rings seem to be centered around it.

[@cghbuilder86]

Another beautiful tru oil finish! It looked like the technique was different from the last guitar though. It seemed you applied it very thin with no need to wipe away excess, is that correct? Also how many coats and did you sand or cut back with anything between coats? Looks good!

[@saucetguitars]

Thank you! Yes I applied thin coats for this one, wanted to try a different process but the end result was about the same as my last video. I don’t remember how many coats I applied but with tru oil usually I do 10-15 coats, until I get a shine I like. I do not sand in between coats, unless I can feel some nibs, in which case I sand very lightly with 400 grit paper. With tru oil I always wipe away the excess though, even if I didn’t show it on the video. Thank you for your comment and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@cghbuilder86]

@@saucetguitars thanks for the response. I’ve noticed everyone seems to have a different wipe off technique. Some use gentle smooth passes smoothing everything out but leaving quite a bit on the surface, while others go at it vigorously buffing it almost dry. Can you tell me which direction you go? Whatever you’re doing is working very well!

[@saucetguitars]

I prefer to buff it almost dry, I found that if I don’t wipe enough it takes longer to dry and can even get sticky/tacky. It takes more coats but I don’t have to wait as long for them to dry