Building a Guitar from Clearance Parts

A while back I had the crazy idea to build a guitar almost entirely out of clearance parts from Guitar Fetish to see if I could make a decent instrument. I call it my “Coronacaster” because I built it right at the beginning of the pandemic. The outcome looks like something out of a acid-induced fever dream, but it gave me some insight about the parts and whether or not you should use them in your build.

The guitar body and neck

Let’s talk about the guitar body and neck. Both came straight from Guitar Fetish already finished. The body has something like shrink wrap on it that gives it the colorful floral pattern. The neck is finished with a tinted, glossy finish. Both are from the “Basics” collection on the site.

Let’s start with the body. It is SUPER lightweight (under 3lbs)! From what they tell me, its made from Paulownia wood which is both very light and very resonant. They have a similar body for sale here. I would classify this as an incredibly soft wood. So soft, in fact, that if you drop a screwdriver on it, it will leave a mark (trust me, I know from experience…). That said, it was a good base to start from because all the hardware that I chose probably doubled the weight of the body. Overall, I would give this body a 7 out of 10.

Next, the neck. This was also from the “Basics” collection and it feels every bit like it. The neck is lightweight and feels cheap. Also, counter to what I would expect, it didn’t fit properly with the body. So, in order to make it useable for this build I had to sand it down by about 1/4″ and you can see this in the photo of the back of the guitar. I probably wouldn’t buy another neck from Guitar Fetish, at least not one from their low-end collection. 2 out of 10.

The pickguard and pickups

Similar to the neck and body, the pickguard and pickups both came from the clearance section of GF.com. The pickguard is 3-ply and of good quality. You can actually still snag one if you’d like here.

The pickups were in the “GFS Factory Blow Out” area of the clearance section. These were 3rd party pickups and I do not know what company they originated from. What I do know is that they are overwound for a high output and they sound fantastic. For me, there is something a little surreal hearing humbucker sounds coming out of a Strat-style guitar…but I like it! 8 out of 10.

Bridge and tremolo block

I had to pony up a little extra for the bridge and tremolo, they did not have what I was looking for in the clearance section. The bridge is USA spec. Which, unfortunately, doesn’t work the best with the cheap neck. The span of the strings is wider than what I expected and as a result, the strings get really close to the edge of fretboard from about the 18th fret on up.

I love the brass block! The brass makes for extra “twang” and the sustain is really nice. I highly recommend upgrading your block to brass if you are looking for a change in sound, it makes a difference.

Pickup selector, tone and volume pots

Here I opted to save a little time and ordered a pre-wired Telecaster control plate with pickup selector, tone, and volume. This system is high quality and worked out great because I only wanted to wire this for a 3-way switch. I popped everything out of the control plate and put it on the Strat pickguard. I highly recommend this if you need to save time or aren’t the best with a soldering iron.

The rest of the hardware

The rest of the hardware came from either Guitar Fetish or Amazon.

The tuning pegs came from GF.com. I bought the 6-on-a-side connected tuners. However, to my disappointment, they did not fit the spacing of the holes in this headstock. I guess this is why they say “measure twice”… Anyhow, I opted to keep them and MacGyver a solution. I hacksawed the tuners apart (you can see my not-so-handy work in the picture). It worked out good enough to make them useable. These aren’t expensive tuners and you can tell. 4 out of 10.

The output jack and jackplate both came from Amazon. I opted to buy these separately because I wanted to get the higher end multi-contact output jack to ensure the connection was solid.

I ordered some nice vintage-style strap buttons, tuning peg ferrules, and string trees all from Amazon. All were good quality and do the trick.

My favorite part on this whole guitar might be the Abalone top knobs on the volume and tone. I just think they look amazing!

The verdict

All in, this guitar plays pretty nicely. I think I came in right around $400 for the build and that’s probably what I would pay for it if it was already assembled. The best part is that it’s a neat conversation piece and people can’t help but notice it.