I went to a Amp Shop/Guitar Shop that has a guitar tech who's done work for me...I asked if she had a junk drawer with a bunch of random parts for me to dig through -- I hunted through a big box of crap and found six Epiphone Les Paul tuners and six chrome 'crappy' ones -- then weeded out a few shaky ones and ended up with two sets of 3 (luckily 2 righty, 1 lefty for each set)

upshot -- they sold me all six for 10 bucks --- but I think I'll have to spring next time and get a few decent after market sets of 6 inline lefty and six inline righty and mix and match.

So maybe just get a $19 - $30 dollar set of three-on-a-side -- (or for the first one, raid your local guitar tech for three junkie ones to use on your prototype!)

best, ET

Ignore all I wrote until it it's time. Just start by just getting:

1.a nice straight solid-feeling stick of poplar,
2.a box,
3. Three tuning pegs

and you're halfway home. I just meant make it solid when you construct it. ET

another possibility: I bought threaded bolt blanks of different diameters and cut them down to various sizes rather than use actual bolts with heads on them --- made for a nice way to try different custom things before i settled on the final set up. it allowed me to play it for a few days before realizing I needed to raise the action for slide work without hitting the neck --- so I was able to just switch the nut bolt with a fatter one. made a big difference.
just for yuks, take a look at my page that shows my first build ( I used a pre-made basswood box from Michael's crafts and did a stain job on it. You can do your first with a regular 'cheap' cigar box. but take a glance at the inside construction of mine. those blocks in the corners and the middle neck made the thing RING like a real instrument. the thing explodes in your hands with resonance, no errant weird vibrations --- and I gotta think the solidness of the build really helps that.

I did my whole thing with hand tools and clamps -- I'd love to get a hand router for future builds, would save HOURS of carpel tunnel inducing labor on the headstock and the neck rout.

fell free to ask me anything. I learned a ton on my first one and it plays well and sounds great straight OR through a Wah cocked to a single sweet spot and straight into a ender Blues Junior -- the wah somehow compresses the signal a bit and allows me to sculpt a sweet spot of highs and mids without having the piezo pickup go a little soft/dull when I play in the middle of the neck. I can get it to sound like a banjo or a guitar. I know it'll be very recordable.

GO SOX! Go CELTS! Eric T.

hello from one born and raised in the Pioneer Valley (now in CA),

I just built my first one. came out a lot better than I thought it would. things I learned:

Make sure you take a little time but treat it as a prototype so you don't' let it get too precious -- allow for a mistake or two. even if it means a botched placement of an element -- just redo it quick and patch the screw up if you want OR let it turn into a happy accident:

I 'screwed up ' on the placement of my tuners on the headstock (hadn't' really placed the fret markers and checked scale length before starting , doh) but then before I re-drilled the tuner holes to move them I thought "I just need a good break angle over the nut so... I made a little string retainer and well, I like the set up so much that's gonna be part of my future builds a retainer on the headstock and maybe even one behind the bridge depending on how I set up the bridge placement. That sharp break angle sure makes a nice solid connection for good vibration transfer.

Consider gluing a couple blocks INSIDE the box that the neck lays flush on and screw through the back (or the front of the neck like a bolt on fender (just one screw at the front and one at the back) so the whole thing is solid -- you won't get errant buzzy artifacts from the box edges meeting when the thing is played. I know some peopel do screw the thing tight and others it seems just let it all go together a little loose and glue it...I like the idea that you can get back INTO the box to redo the electronics or piezo (Radio Shack Piezo transducer part# 273-073)