Daniel Sorbera Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 I am in the process of building my first electric. I have been playing acoustic for about 4 years and electric for about a year. I have a crappy takamine G series and want to upgrade but nothing under $1000 satisfies my craving for tone. IS building an acoustic a whole lot harder than an electric (I am doing a hollow body electric with a 1/8" top) Do you thinmk I can expect results better than $1000 dollar guitars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 You could try an acoustic kit. Read this. It was a similar question. Here, Here, and Here. I'm sure their are more if you look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 i'm not really interested in a kit because the only thing it does is give you the wood cheaper (and it gives you bent sides which would be nice) I would much rather just go out and buy my wood rather than get it in a kit. What i'm looking for is like a VERY in-depth tutorial on how to build one as I dont exatly have the entire process planed out in my head, thers some steps missing that I dont know how to do(when I was planing my electric I knew what I was goind to do until the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Check out the links on Martin Koch's website. There are a few books out there. The process of building a guitar is pretty involved, so, having a hardcopy with really good photos is a good investment. I've got an old Irving Sloane book and "Guitarmaking" by Cumpiano & Natelson, which used to be the bible. There are more books out there and some might be better. Go over to www.mimf.com and see what folks over there think about guitar construction books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 You know a kit is more than just bent sides (which you'd have to build or buy a bending iron for). I think the tops and backs are joined and thicknessed. If you've got handplanes and lots of patience (a thickness sander would really help), go nuts. The neck joints are dovetailed or mortised, which can be difficult to do yourself. You started off by asking if building an acoustic is a whole lot harder than building an electric. If you're not concerned about looks, it's pretty easy to make a good sounding solid body electric body. Start with good wood (cut it on a table saw, think Gretsch Bo Diddley). Buy templates for the neck pocket and pickups, take time to measure and locate them and carefully route them out. All you need to do now is bolt on a neck and the rest of the hardware. Compared to that, making a good sounding acoustic body is much more difficult. There's a lot more precision and complexity involved in making it sound good... or bad if you get sloppy. The best sounding acoustic guitars are the ones on the verge of collapsing under the load. Beef it up and it diminishes the sound/tone. Well designed solid bodies don't work nearly as hard or with as slim a margin for error. I'm not trying to make it sound like building an acoustic is beyond your skills. You can easily make building a solid body as complex and exacting if you're trying to achieve something unique and artistic. Check out a book or a construction web site and see what's involved. Then assess your skills and tools and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 (edited) I think I will give it a try as soon as I get done with the electric I can do the thicknessing of the top and back but the only thing that worries me is the sides. Also the neck joint would be no problem as I would probally do a bolt on for ease. I'm doing some prety hard things with the electric that noone else has ever done(hush now it's top secert) so I think building an acoustic could be done. Obviously it is MUCH harder but I think i'm up to the challange. :edit: I've been checking out hoffman guitars and I think I will take the plunge and build an acoustic. It will be A dread (as my brother has one and I can take measurments and make a template) with rosewood back/sides, sitka spruce top, and cocobolo neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Edited December 28, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGHbuilder86 Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Get the book, Tradition and technology, by William Cumpiano and some other guy. You can get it from any luthier supply house like stew mac or luthiers mercantile international. It is worth your money, and yes building an acoustic is much harder than building an electric of any kind. You must pay special attention to acoustics and voicing for it to sound good. Also, to make an acoustic that is truly better than the thousand dollar guitars on the market on your first try is probably not impossible, but it might be, I don’t know how much actual experience you have had building guitars. There’s no other way to find out than to just dig in, so good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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