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I would like to think that i am 'getting there' with my first build.
Its a Stewmac 000 kit and I have really enjoyed it.
I need to install the bindings, fret the fingerboard, set the neck and then finish it.

Here is a pic of my recently shaped end trim chanel.



I am already thinking about my second build but I wondered what the next step would/should be.
For instance should I build another kit?
Maybe I could do another kit but add more 'bespoke' items? For example I could buy my own wood. I have been checking out the tonewood sites and wow wood rocks! I guess this would mean that I would have to rout rosettes and bend sides etc etc though (maybe not ready for that yet?)

Just wondered what people on here did really after thier first and how they found things.
Ultimately I want to sell guitaars that I have made.

Thanks for listening,
Barry.

Barry--

Good question! I'm only ahead of you by about half a guitar!    I'm getting ready to start number two, which will be a less well serviced kit from one of our sponsors -- John Hall. There will be more building challenges such as adding purflings to the mix and installing a custom rosette.

We all come into this with a different set of skills, varying degrees of manual ability and a different collection of tools. Being a bit of a klutz, I decided in the very beginning that if number one went well enough to think about number two, then I would increase the challenge, but still stay with the kit format. Number three will be from scratch, more or less. I'll be bending sides, but will probably not progress to carving my own neck until I'm able to obtain a couple of more power tools.    zoot and tools, zoot and tools

To me, its all an individual decision and it really may not make any difference in the medium to long run. I'm pretty sure that I will need to be into my second dozen before certain portions of the building and finishing skills begin coming up to snuff. I am enjoying the process, though.

Your first guitar is looking pretty good to me!

_________________
Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Barry check out LMI's kit wizard - you can get them to do anything you do not want or aren't capable of doing. That's what I did after 2 kits and it's working out great.

LMI Kit Wizard

_________________
Thank You and Best To All

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] Hi Barry. Nice work my friend.

I built two kits prior to scratch building. My second kit was a Martin kit that had minimal instructions...... and I customized it with wood bindings.

LMI has kits that are "serviced" at different levels. This means that you could buy a less serviced kit and have the opportunity to do more of the construction yourself. Not unlike scratch building but with the net of the sides being prebent etc.

When on my third I scratch built the guitar it was harder and I was glad that I had built a couple of kits first.

Some of these very talented folks here have scratch built their first so it is very possible for your to go that route now.

Remember too that as you start to scratch build the tool/jig requirements grow too. You will need to bend sides, have molds, etc.

But I can tell that your are hooked since you are thinking about your next.

Your end graft channel looks great - what are you using for the end graft? [/QUOTE]


Hesh,
Thanks for the kind comments.
I have already started to deviate away fromt the Stewmac kit.
I have used round abalone inlays instead of the diamond cut out ones supplied.
I have done away with the nasty black plastic binding and i am using real indian rosewood ones with wbw borders.
I have also done away with the nasty black plastic end graft and i plan to use indian rosewood veneer (normally used on the peghead) with some of the w/b/w border i intedn to 'strip' off from the excees bindings to border it.

Barry.

[QUOTE=jhowell] Barry--

Good question! I'm only ahead of you by about half a guitar!    I'm getting ready to start number two, which will be a less well serviced kit from one of our sponsors -- John Hall. There will be more building challenges such as adding purflings to the mix and installing a custom rosette.

We all come into this with a different set of skills, varying degrees of manual ability and a different collection of tools. Being a bit of a klutz, I decided in the very beginning that if number one went well enough to think about number two, then I would increase the challenge, but still stay with the kit format. Number three will be from scratch, more or less. I'll be bending sides, but will probably not progress to carving my own neck until I'm able to obtain a couple of more power tools.    zoot and tools, zoot and tools

To me, its all an individual decision and it really may not make any difference in the medium to long run. I'm pretty sure that I will need to be into my second dozen before certain portions of the building and finishing skills begin coming up to snuff. I am enjoying the process, though.

Your first guitar is looking pretty good to me! [/QUOTE]


Jim thanks. and excellemnt advice.
I am a physicist by trade ( ) but suprisingly I am very creative and quite artistic. I have limited tools but I think I have the patience to complete tasks well. I still need to appreciate and learn to calm down and not rush/get excited about things (the main source of when things go wrong!)
I think I will build another less serviced kit for the second and maybe the third one a little less serviced again.
When people are building to sell I wonder how scratch these builds are? I mean do people carve the neck from clean rectangular sections of wood?

Cheers,
Barry.

[QUOTE=LarryH] Barry check out LMI's kit wizard - you can get them to do anything you do not want or aren't capable of doing. That's what I did after 2 kits and it's working out great.

LMI Kit Wizard[/QUOTE]

Larry,
Will do and thanks for the advice.
Barry

[QUOTE=snood] When people are building to sell I wonder how scratch these builds are? I mean do people carve the neck from clean rectangular sections of wood?
[/QUOTE]

Barry,

Lots do yes. As you are a physicist you'll love it. Carving the neck is basically differential calculus - working out a series of tangents, translating them to the neck block and carving a series of facets until . . . voila. Check out Jim Williams book on guitar making where he explains this very cleary (unlike Cumpiano & Natleson who more or less say " well ... you just do it" )

I love the process. Others hate it and buy ready CNC's necks.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

[QUOTE=Dave White]
Check out Jim Williams book on guitar making where he explains this very cleary (unlike Cumpiano & Natleson who more or less say " well ... you just do it" )
[/QUOTE]

Are you sure you don’t mean it the other way around, Dave? I don’t remember how Williams shows this process in his book, but I think Cumpiano and Natelson are very clear in their discription of how to carve a neck. They do show how to carve a series of facets, and I think it is very easy to follow this procedure and end up with a decent neck.

I like carving necks too, I was a lot easier than I had anticipated before I started building. And you get to use draw knives and spoke shaves, they are such fun tools! Well, at least as long as the materials are somewhat cooperative.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

[QUOTE=Arnt] [QUOTE=Dave White]
Check out Jim Williams book on guitar making where he explains this very cleary (unlike Cumpiano & Natleson who more or less say " well ... you just do it" )
[/QUOTE]

Are you sure you don’t mean it the other way around, Dave? I don’t remember how Williams shows this process in his book, but I think Cumpiano and Natelson are very clear in their discription of how to carve a neck. They do show how to carve a series of facets, and I think it is very easy to follow this procedure and end up with a decent neck.

I like carving necks too, I was a lot easier than I had anticipated before I started building. And you get to use draw knives and spoke shaves, they are such fun tools! Well, at least as long as the materials are somewhat cooperative.
[/QUOTE]

Arnt,

I'm talking about how to carve the neck shaft - I should have been clearer. For carving the heel Cumpiano & Natleson show in great detail how to mark out and carve the facets. Jim's book shows how based on the profile you want at the 1st and 8th frets you draw tangents and making measurements transfer these to facet lines on the side and back of the neck and then shape it. This was a major moment of understanding for me as up until then I hadn't a clue where to begin.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

I love neck carving as well, but I'm in the take wood away until it feels right camp, I don't use any jigs or templates, just a dial vernier to measure thickness at different positions. Put it in the vice and attack it with the Japanese saw file, very satisfying to see a square lump of wood become all flowing and sensuous in a very short time. Bit like a manly version of brace carving.

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.