Tips / Guide

There are some things that you might want to know before starting your work. Below are some things that I have learned and found out on my own.

Where to buy the products needed:
To get a hold of the electronics that you need, check Farnell. My recommendation is that you throughout the build keep an eye on sites like eBay, this way you can get a hold of items cheap and you will see different items that might give you ideas for your design.

If you are looking for guitar parts, the following stores may be of interest.
Stewart-MacDonald
MoongazerMusic
Ted Crocker: Guitars & Gears

How to make this project easier:
There are some ways to make this project a bit easier:

• Use an old balalajka and convert it, make a new body - but keep the neck and headstock.
• Buy a ready-made guitar neck and grind it to the right size.

How to cut down the costs:
Thiere may be many ways to cut down the costs further. For example you could convert an acoustic balalajka to electric instead of building one from scratch.

How to improve the result:
During my build I got the brilliant idea of making the knobs out of wood, later I typed into google and I noticed that this is more common than what I first thought. Making the knobs out of wood has its upsides, other than the design possibilities the knobs aren't cold as they would have been if they were out of metal. One downside on the other hand is that you cannot use them for grounding, which some people do on electric guitars to reduce/remove the buzzing noice.

Another thought that I had was to use diodes as inlays, I have seen this beeing done to several electric guitars.

Other tips and thoughts:
Think about everything that you do, before you do it. If you are unsure read more and get a good nights sleep.

When you decide the dimensions of the balalajka, be sure to think of the fact that one inch equals 2,54 centimeters not 2,5cm. Otherwise you might get some problems.