Acoustic Advice

[Cyclone]

Hello all, I am relatively new to this area of the forum as I usually hang out in the in progress area. I have built one strat from parts that I bought from Warmoth back in 88', three other solid bodies from scratch and am presently in the process of building a 34" scale solid body bass. All of this being said I would like to try my hand at building an acoustic and dont have the slightest idea of where to start. I have ordered three books on the subject (Guitarmaking, The Luthier's Handbook and A Guitar Makers Manual) all of which should be arriving within the week. Can any one give me any advice on the process or words of wisdom. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

[Acousticraft]

There is a book I used when I started "The Steel String Guitar" It had a white cover and was written by David Russell Young. I looked on the web and it is now out of print but "Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar" by Jonathon Kinkhead seemed to have a good review from lots of people on amazon.

Anyway "The Steel String Guitar" it is a fantastic book as it has plans and patterns and measurements for every bit of the guitar and is easy to follow.

The first thing you need is to make a mould so you can clamp you sides in once bent so the guitar ends up the correct shape. This is fully explained in the book as well.

I found the book in our local city library and that set me off on my guitar building obsession I seem to have now, about 7yrs ago.

Edited July 11, 2007 by Acousticraft

[Mattia]

The Kinkade book is pretty, and fairly modern in its approach, but Cumpiano's book (Guitarmaking, tradition and technology) is still a very good text on how to make a guitar with basic tools. It at least helped me understand how a guitar is put together and works on a basic level, but I did use more 'modern' techniques like bending forms, building with a mold and radius dishes, info about which was gleaned from the MIMF.com library, which is an invaluable resource. Register there, and browse through the library using the catalog (NOT the search).

If you want laminated sides, and a bit of info on classical building in a modern-esque sense, there's Bogdanovich's new book on classical building, which is very, very nice, and has some nifty bits that can also apply to steelstring building (if you ignore the solera stuff, etc...)

[GoodWood]

The Kinkade book is pretty, and fairly modern in its approach, but Cumpiano's book (Guitarmaking, tradition and technology) is still a very good text on how to make a guitar with basic tools. It at least helped me understand how a guitar is put together and works on a basic level, but I did use more 'modern' techniques like bending forms, building with a mold and radius dishes, info about which was gleaned from the MIMF.com library, which is an invaluable resource. Register there, and browse through the library using the catalog (NOT the search).

If you want laminated sides, and a bit of info on classical building in a modern-esque sense, there's Bogdanovich's new book on classical building, which is very, very nice, and has some nifty bits that can also apply to steelstring building (if you ignore the solera stuff, etc...)

Being new to this, alot will depend on what tools you want to use, and what tools you have. You need to research then make the best choices and see what happens. Its a learning curve for me, with fairly good woodwoorking/sculpture background. Lots of sites found on Google also. MIMF is another forum, look at jigs, etc. Google acoustic guitar build etc, there seemes to be the same 10-20 sites for whatever you put in.

Started with both Kinkeads and Culplianos book. First thing is finding the body wood, and getting the body built. I got 2 sets of wood and made mistakes on both, the first set of sides was ruined, but thats what the backup was for. Etc....But its fun and I would get a decent top to start out with, try to limit your trouble. There is no cheap way to do this stuff it seems.

Another way is to get or use a beater guitar and put a new top on it. That limits alot of issues, and they say the top is the most important factor, I asked about doing it and was told it was not a good idea. Goofy Luthier.