Build Your Dream Partscaster Guitar!

Building a partscaster is a great way to get the customized guitar you've always dreamed of, and learn essential lutherie skills along the way. In this video, our guest Dan Petrzelka shows how to build a custom t-style partscaster, step-by-step, so you can follow along at home.

0:00 Gathering Parts
3:09 Body and Neck Considerations
6:11 The Truss Rod
7:08 Choosing Tuners
9:33 Installing Tuners
17:47 String Ferrules
19:53 Strap Buttons
21:56 Body & Neck Alignment
25:06 The Bridge
26:56 The Bridge Pickup
30:27 Approximating Intonation
31:29 The Neck Pickup
33:52 Control Plate Selection
37:41 Wiring the Control Plate
44:06 Installing the Pickguard
50:15 The Output Jack
52:28 Final Wiring
54:59 Knobs and Switch Tips
57:07 Fret Buffing and Fretboard Cleaning
57:42 Final Alignment
58:15 The String Tree
59:00 Setup
1:05:51 Pickup Height
1:07:00 Sound Demo

Parts and tools featured in this video include:

Fender Deluxe Telecaster Body

Fender Classic Series 50s Telecaster Neck

Kluson 6-In-Line Deluxe Series Tuners

Vintage-style Tuner Bushings

Luthier's Digital Caliper

StewMac Shop Rule

Tuner Bushing Press

Depth-stop Drill Bits

GuitarSlinger Aged Strap Buttons

Fender 3-Saddle American Vintage Telecaster Bridge with Brass Saddles

Compensated Bridge Saddles for Tele

Saddlematic

TV Jones Classic Pickup

Golden Age Pre-wired Harness for Telecaster

CTS Control Pots

CRL Lever Switch

Fender Vintage Tele Control Plate

Tele Pickguard

Electrosocket Jack Mount

GuitarSlinger Aged String Tree

Digital Nut Slotting Gauge

String Action Gauge

Neck Relief Gauge

Gauged Nut Slotting Files
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[anthonysablan]

You’ll never love a guitar more than a partscaster you assembled yourself !

[PhilVeraChuckDave]

What a create quality video. Dan, you’re a natural teacher. This is how you get the telecaster you really want.

[OracleSlayer]

This is the best THE BEST video tutorial on building a guitar on YouTube. The Most educational and informative video on YouTube. And trust me I have seen many guitar builds.

[NoUploadJustComment]

I've built dozens of partscasters thus far and I was enthralled by this video. It's always fun to brush up on the essentials and even pick up a few new ways of doing things as well. Great content as always.

[stevescuba]

As a tradesman across multiple disciplines, i appreciate all the pro tips. It takes years to learn all these types of techniques without a pro sharing what they learned the hard way. Even in my apprenticeships, i rarely had journeymen so willing to help a newb make professional choices

[SerenityGuitars]

This is without a doubt one of the best setup videos ever made. Kudos Stew Mac. Great tools, great videos.

[lloydster]

This has to be the BEST guitar build/setup video I have ever watched. Clear explanations and demonstrations, chapters for each step, loads of "tips" for getting around potential problems. Great job StewMac! 👍👍👍

[ORZ]

Every single guitar player should watch this video. So good !!! Kudos to this guy!! I stopped missing Dan for a while 😁

[Musecrafter]

This video is a complete course on not only building a partscaster or kit but also setting up any guitar. Very detailed and easy to follow! This this is pure gold!

[Doc_Holaday]

The timing of this video couldn't be more perfect! I'm working on a parts caster right now!

[stevescuba]

A friend of mine taught a soldering course for the USAF. I took his class, and one major takeaway, briefly addressed in this video during the jack plate install, is to ALWAYS crimp your wire for a solder joint. Make a good mechanical connection, then flux and solder as per normal. The likelihood of a cold solder joint (not shiney when cooled) goes down considerably, and it will help you manage gilding everything together while soldering....as often we wish for a 3rd hand. Also, tinning your wire and the connection point gelp make professional results. Merely flux and put a dab of solder on each connection before you connect them

[blueflame]

I've been building and repairing guitars for over 20 years and I will say, this is a great video! Very thorough!

[ksgtrpkr]

This is by far the best video on guitar building I have ever watched!

[silviopimentel]

Gotta be most professional assembly I've seen! Amazing professional work.

[Krullmatic]

I absolutely love these longer videos! Please do more! Thank you StewMac!

[ernieficklin]

This is very cool! I've never built one and am getting excited about doing it. Appreciate you guys spending the the time to produce this. The editing was long and tedious on something this length. That's what I do for a living and appreciate the job you guys did on shooting, producing and editing. Its very well done. Kudos! Thanks for making this.

[GoodmanRecordingsTokyo]

StewMac produced videos are so pleasing to watch. First I thought it was the way Dan Erlewine spoke. But I noticed that all the people who appear in StewMac videos have this very pleasing to the ear way of speaking. So props to the Dans and also to the producers, especially the editor. You make the best videos, and I really enjoyed the music for the "Wiring the control plate" section.

[brwi]

Been loving these in depth long form tutorials you guys have been putting out lately

[rossbassett]

I don't think instructional videos get any better than this. 10/10. THANK YOU!

[karsenic]

I recently tried my first time at guitar modding with a complete hardware refresh and this video came in handy! I now have a p90 strat with a tune-o-matic. Love this video 👍👍