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Ok, ill go first. Here are a few shots of my #1. A Sitka mahogany D18. Still play it today! It was a kit I got off Ebay, but as pretty much a martin deal.
I built it with a very small amount of tooling.

Started here.


Ended here


More later!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Ok, I will play along, Lance!

Here is my first. A kit from John Hall, of Blues Creek, one of our sponsors. A OM style, with a sitka top and laminated Braz. Rosewood sides and back. It was so much fun and plays so nice, this is now a life long obsession. French Polish over Z-Poxy.

My first was from John Hall as well. He's a good guy and was always there for me when I needed some help. It's a Martin-style 00-12 fret with red spruce over mahogany, tortoise binding, ebony bridge, fretboard and headstock veneer. I struggled with the dovetail, but hung in there and finally got it right. It's finished with Tru-Oil over Zinsser Seal Coat shellac and rubbed out using the sequence of Micro-Mesh grits. I see a lot of warts when I look closely, but it's a respectable first effort. Sounds pretty darned good, too!

George :-)

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George :-)

Okay, my first build from a custom self made kit. Body was a Martin OOO EIR Kit without the sound hole cut into the top. The neck was a StewMac. I made the soundwell and bought the cover plate and Waverly tuners and cone. Did all the inlay that I learned from a MIMF class and Larry Robinson's videos.
If I can do this for my first build then so can you. Just go for it.

More

The head and neck inlay.

One of these days I'll finish engraving this.

I also started with a kit, 3 1/2 years ago and am about to start guitar number 4, and probably 5 in the next week or so, or as soon as I get my Fox style bender finished. I bent the sides of my 2nd and 3rd guitars by hand on a hot pipe style iron, and now will move forward to a heat blanket and bending press.

I will not tie up forum bandwidth with photos, but anyone interested can see pictures on the guitar and its building on my webshots page http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/549348907gmICqD and there are photos of the next 2 there also if you go to my other albums.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

My first is from a kit from John Hall also, a 0-16NY clone. It is being played by my wife:

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

My first was a Kovacik OMC off eBay--Martin 2nds. Turned out nice. Quilted mahogany, sitka soundboard, cherry neck.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

That's nice Ken . Same one as in your avatar? Need to see more pictures please, maybe of the back and headstock.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Wow, I'm seeing some nice looking kit guitars. It would appear to be a great way to go.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

This is my first as it stands right now. I am on the verge of applying porefiller and finish. I was going to use ktm-9 but my order froze on the delivery truck. It was about 18 below zero the day it arraived. I have a blog that is not up to date but I am adding phots daily.http://stephenboone.wordpress.com/

This is an LMI unserviced highest grade flamenco kit. I braced it a bit differently than a strict flamenco. I am working from the Bogdanovich book which I highly recommend. I kept the binding elements as simple as possible.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

My new blog address is blog.studioboone.com. My wife just changed it so I can manage it from my own website. I do not know how she does these things. Please note that this blog is aimed toward my family and friends who know nothing about building, thus I explain very obvious things. Thanks for looking.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

My first was a dred 28 Martin kit from Nazareth and my local dealer. Sitka/Indian

Here is my third, totally from scratch.



cedar/indian

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I guess I'll add mine too. I just finished it a couple months ago. It's a Red spruce/Mahogany dread kit from LMI. I used a typical pre-war Martin style bracing system. It would be my go to guitar if it weren't for the cursed wolf tone on the two low E notes, other than that I'm happy with it.

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Jeremy Douglas

I started with a few choice books:
Make your own Classical Guitar - Stanley Doubtfire
Classical Guitar Making - John S. Bogdanovich
Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology - Jonathan Natelson, William Cumpiano
Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar - Jonathan Kinkead

Added inspiration/encouragement/tutorial at this site among others.

And came up with this...
12 fret nylon string parlor guitar that I can't put down.






Thanks for the building bug...

_Mike

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_Mike Tracz
MCT Guitars
https://www.instagram.com/mustcreatethings/
https://www.youtube.com/mustcreatethings

Looks sweet Mike, nice job. What's the finish?

Chris,

Thanks for the kind words.

It's French Polish over Z-Poxy on the back, sides, and peg head veneer.
FP only on the top.
Tru-Oil Neck.

_Mike

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_Mike Tracz
MCT Guitars
https://www.instagram.com/mustcreatethings/
https://www.youtube.com/mustcreatethings

I will call this my #0.5 build.....
I retopped an Esteban QVC special Steelstring.
This was a Sitka top + White spruce bracing.


I am currently working on my "Real #1" build -- a Cherry/Lutz Ditson GC.
If all goes well, I will be doing the fingerboard and bridge this weekend.

I would honestly encourage anyone wanting to build a guitar to try retopping a thrift store beater.
It is a much smaller time commitment than building a whole guitar.
I feel like it wasn't really all that difficult, and I feel like I learned quite a bit about the soundboard, setup, and intonation
from that 1st try.

Thanks

John

Here’s my first, a mahogany/Sitka 000 from Stew Mac. Structurally, it’s pretty much by the book, with the exception that I narrowed the neck to 1 5/8” at the nut to fit my hand, and I switched to a Martin-style bridge with 2 1/8” string spacing to accommodate the more narrow neck. I also narrowed the bridge a little back-to-front to fit over the bridge plate symmetrically.

Cosmetically, I changed the contour of the top of the headstock, and substituted an ebony headplate that I inlayed with a rose from Andy DePaule. I got some herringbone purfling from LMI and bent it using a heat gun and a mold. The binding is ivoroid (LMI), as are the heel cap and tail wedge.

I filled the pores with Z-poxy and wiped on Pratt & Lambert #38 gloss:mineral spirits (2:1). I sanded and leveled to 3600 Micromesh, then finished up with Meguiar’s #2, 9, 7, and 10 (in that order). I did the polishing using hook and loop felt pads (from Festool) on my ROS operating at its lowest speed—this worked way, way better than rubbing by hand, as well as being a lot easier on my hands and arms.

I'm now starting on my second (of course), which will be a parlor (EIR/bear claw bound with koa). I'm sure this forum will continue to be an invaluable resource.

John

That looks sweet John!!!!

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

This is my first guitar based on the 1937 Hauser. I changed the nut width and neck profile to be more comfortable for me. LMII kit with redwood top, claro walnut back, spanish cedar neck, flamed maple binding.



Christian

Wow, every one of these guitars is truly awesome! Keep em coming!!

Some great work here, I'll play. Here's my first guitar, a Martin mahogany/sitka 000 kit that I made a few detail changes to. Zpoxy and KTM9.





Here's number two. Some Martin 000 kit parts and some scratch ones. EIR b/s, redwood top. No finish is going on this one, it's a shop mule.





Here's number three. All scratch built with a neck from Hanelei Moon. Black walnut with an englemann top.







I'm about to order parts for number four. Haven't decided what it'll be yet.

Chris.