Fret Not Guitars

Draw it.
We'll cut it.

Pull a plain shape into the body you want, pick a neck and hardware, and watch it pass the same checks the router runs. Order it raw, neck fitted, or finished.

A guitar body, half drawn as a plan with dimensions, half finished in green with pickups and knobs

Necks from licensed makers, never designed here.

Cut two-sided on one CNC, by one person.

Every design checked before it can be ordered.

How it works

Three steps, and the third one is the boring part.

  1. 1

    Shape it

    Start from one of five plain shapes. Every region has a slider for the thing you'd actually want to change, and you can drag a handle when a slider isn't enough. Between two ideas? Blend toward the other shape.

  2. 2

    Check it

    The design checks itself while you work: wood left around the control cavity, string lines staying over the body, horn width where the strap button goes, and whether the shop's bits can reach every cut. Red stops the order. Amber gets a look from a person.

  3. 3

    Order it

    The picture you approve is the part that gets cut, two-sided on registration pins. Pay half to start and the rest before it ships, and watch it move through the queue from your account.

Starting shapes

Five plain shapes. None of them belong to anyone.

They're named for their geometry. What you make from one is yours.

What you can order

Stop wherever you like.

Pricing shows in the builder as you go, worked out from the blank, machine time, finish and hardware. Nothing is quoted by email that you can't see on screen.

Body only
Cut, sanded and ready for your finish. Or sealed and finished here in a solid colour or a burst.
Body with neck
We fit the neck you chose to the pocket we cut, so it arrives bolted on, square and true.
Complete instrument
Hardware installed, wired, strung and set up. Open the case and tune.
The shop: a CNC router cutting a body on a workbench inside an open garage
The shop

Small on purpose.

One router, one builder, and a queue you can see. The builder knows exactly what the machine here can do, down to which bits are in the drawer, so what it approves is what gets made.

  • No headstocks. Necks come from licensed makers and are fitted here.
  • No brand shapes. Starting shapes are generic, and the design you make is yours.
  • No guessing. If something can't be cut here, the builder says so before you pay.
Questions
Can I get a copy of a famous body?+

No. The starting shapes are described by their geometry, not by anyone's brand, and there are no brand presets. You can get close to a lot of classic outlines with the sliders, because those outlines are generic. Registered shapes get flagged for review.

Where do the necks come from?+

Licensed makers. Headstocks are never designed here, which keeps the neck side of things simple and legal. Pick a neck in the builder and the pocket is cut to match it.

What if my design can't be made?+

The builder tells you before you pay, in plain words: which wall is too thin, which corner is too tight for the bit, or which blank it needs. Most problems are one slider away from fixed.

How long does it take?+

The builder shows the current lead time from the queue. A raw body is fastest; finishes and full builds add drying and setup time.

Ready when you are.

Open the builder