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First Day


Nick R.

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Hi all, I'm brand new to the world of music and would like to learn to play the guitar just for fun and my pleasure,well I bought a book and a really cheeeep guitar, well page one says the 14 fret should be at the top of guitar body but el cheapo has the strings at the 12 fret my question: what kind of guitar do I have and can I tune it like a 14 fret (reason for el cheeeepo is I'm not sure I will continue, hope I do) thanks Nick R.

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First welcome

Second i and I think most here will say go ahead and get a decent guitar you don't have to spend a grand on a beginer but get something that's worth playing cheap guitars Will turn you off playing.

As far as 12 vs 14 fret access you will be fine for learning basic chords and scales.

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Hi Tim37, My plan is to build a reasonably decent guitar with some good hardwood and expect that to almost break the bank, being semiretired funds are tight, previously I built strip built kayaks, have 2 now and run out of room so guitar building seems good. The reason for the cheepies is to see how they are constructed when my project is finished give the cheepo to some one.Thanks for the reply ,very best Nick R.

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Welcome to the world of guitar, Nick. Truthfully, a neck joining the body at the 12th fret as opposed to the 14th fret is no better or worse - it's just a different build strategy. As a beginner, it shouldn't matter either way, as most of your time will be spent on the first five frets anyway (if you're like most people).

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Are you wanting to build an acoustic or electric?

Hi all, I'm hoping to build a steel string acoustic I have some Sapele, western red cedar and a plank of ash. I'm thinking of using the sapele for the back and neck and the western red cedar for the top and sides. Please advise if I'm wrong (usually are) Thanks Nick R.

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  • 3 months later...

Get a good book (Kinkead gets a good rap), and go read a lot on other websites - I love PG, but this isn't really the place to get info on building acoustics. The MIMF.com library is outdated, hasn't been updated in ages but is still a treasure trove, and luthiersforum.com has a ton of useful info available. I built my first acoustic from materials I assembled, and it's really not that difficult to do. Preferred the approach over a kit. As an alternative, LMI does 'serviced' kits, where you choose which bits of the process you outsource and which bits you do yourself. Building an acoustic without a kit with a good result is certainly possible, however.

A big caveat, though: if you want a nice guitar to play, buy one. Building is not a cost-effective way to obtain a good to decent acoustic. Look for a nice used guitar of your choosing and have at it. Stewmac.com has online tutorials that should give you a decent idea of the kind of tooling required to build from a kit - a little less than required to build from scratch, but not less.

I love building, but I build for the sake of building and because it's fun. Now it's 'cheaper' for me to build than to buy a guitar, but only if I a) pay myself nothing at all for labour and :D ignore investments I've made in tooling over the years. The money I've poured into this hobby over the years could have bought me several really nice custom guitars from top tier builders by now - instead I have a shed full of tools and large piles of wood that can eventually - when I find time - be turned into guitar. Which is awesome, and a fantastic hobby/passion, but definitely not an effective method of just getting a nice instrument to pal.

Edited by Mattia
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  • 1 month later...

To get the specialty tools to build an acoustic you will spend more than it would cost to buy a good one let alone the price of parts. The acoustic I am currently building was about $500 or so for parts alone and expect to spend close to $1000 for good tools that will get you by for the bare minimum unless you already have a good collection of tools from kayak building I don't really know what you use for those.

If you still want to go for an acoustic I would look into this book it covers both steel string and classical building and is done almost entirely with hand tools, great beginners book. Most Cumpiano books are easy to understand as well.

14 and 12 fret body joints are just different ways of building, typically smaller bodies have 12 frets to the body like a Single O, some Gibson's even have 13 frets to the body.

Don't use cedar for the sides, cedar is not a very strong wood and it would have to be pretty thick to work as sides not to mention cedar tops, even at the right thickness, can break under their own weight if held wrong. I would use the sapele for the back and sides and get some for a neck too.

If you want to see what goes into an acoustic build you can check out my build thread I'm no proffesional but I've covered almost everything done to build it in that thread if you have questions shoot me a message or ask on the build thread.

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