Is The Second Time Easier?

[GREGMW]

Hi all,

How many of you guys reckon the second guitar is easier to build than the first and did you make some new "Stuff ups" instead of the ones you made first up.

This is just something I have been thinking about as I am just finishing the first one and I know that there is a lot of things I would do differently the second time around .

You learn by mistakes!! and how to fix them I suppose.

Cheers

Greg

[Drak]

It depends on which direction you take for your second one, but I think the gap is huge reguardless.

I think on the second one you start doing a lot more prethought before you try something, because you now have something to base your decisions on, whereas on the first one, no matter how much reading you did or questions you asked, it was still mostly a shot in the dark, from all sides, from using the equipment properly to calculating your measurements out to the finishing department to the setup and final adjustment department.

The second one, well now, you have some meat to chaw on when you make a decision, you have some first-hand experience to help guide you.

But, you also can jump into a very adventurous second project where you'll feel like it's still your first one, it depends on how far you want to stretch out from the experiences of the first one and how different you want to make the second compared to the first, but I still think most anyone would feel a lot more comfortable on number two.

[samoht]

it gets easier with every new guitar you make. i've made many and still make stupid mistakes sometimes.. the difference is, now i know how to make them less visible

[Drak]

That was very well said and I agree with that completely!

[Southpa]

Its definitely cheaper. You should have all the tools you need after building the first one.

[PerryL]

feel a lot more comfortable on number two.

That's how my first came out, Like number 2

Seriously, after you made a mistake, you learn from it BIG TIME.

[samoht]

i've seen a guy trace the outline of the body from a template and then cut out the neck pocket with a bandsaw once.. now that's a mistake he never started another guitar or tried to fix it.

Edited November 7, 2004 by samoht

[westhemann]

i've seen a guy trace the outline of the body from a template and then cut out the neck pocket with a bandsaw once.. now that's a mistake he never started another guitar or tried to fix it.

you can do that if you are willing to laminate the back 1/2 of the body on.

[samoht]

i never saw him again it was a strat body and he cut out all the wood that would hold the neck.

Edited November 7, 2004 by samoht

[mpeg2]

I agree - the first is a total shot in the dark. Luckily, I managed to cover up most of my mistakes. For the second, I found a whole new set of mistakes to make (but didn't duplicate any of the first set). As long as you're learning from the mistakes, they keep on getting better & better. I've got #4 & 5 in progress now & find that things that were very confusing initially make sense now - even though there's new challenges with each one (different designs each time) - I've got enough experience to approach them in a reasonable manner.

Rich

[goth_fiend]

i also agree about the second one being easier, its like neal moser puts it: your a cat in the litter box building guitars, if your good you know how to cover your s#*t. after i finished the body of my first guitar (still waiting on the neck, some here know about that, lets not go in to details please) i decided to make templates for everything i would need on my next guitars, and now im building 7 neck thrus at the same time (talk about a budget buster!)

[hy_dro66]

I was trained by great luthiers while building my first electric and first acoustic guitar. This saved lots of stupid mistakes and so forth. The third guitar I built came out close to exactly how I wanted it. I have 6 more in the works(a few are barely started). I've found that making jigs has eliminated hours and hours of hand sanding. I've also learned that making a full size drawing of your instrument helps tons. Everyone finds their groove eventually and I think that after you finish your second you will begin finding it. The idea of building a guitar seems very simple, however, we all know from experience how many little factors pop up when you actually go through the process.

Edited November 8, 2004 by hy_dro66