Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everbod, Well, I got all excited about building a guitar when a member of our local guitar forum (ie. South Africa) announced he is having a custom build acoustic by someone in USA. Been scouting around a bit and thought maybe I'll do two things a) join a woodworking club seeing as I know nothing about this stuff and b) maybe cut my teeth on a Stewmac kit. There is a pretty active woodworking club in our area which meets monthly so that shouldnt be a problem. The Stewmac kit doesnt seem to be too much of a problem except that I cant find any place specifying what sort of tools, equipment and space I will be needing to get this whole thing done. Actually I decided to do three things. The third being find a forum and some sites to get active on.

Cheers - Ray

ps forum said my name is already in use hence the Moobox login user name and hello all the other Rays on this forum.

Welcome, Ray, to the OLF. I think your plan is a very sound one.

I would add a fourth step, add: "Guitarmaking" by Cumpiano and Natelson to your list of must-haves. Going through the book will help you understand the tools needed (surprisingly few special ones), equipment and space needed. Do understand that the book should be a reference and not the last word - lots of advances have been made since the book that simplify many of the processes like, for example, use of a go-bar deck and radius sanding/building dishes.

Good luck.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Ray welcome to the OLF.

If you go to Stew-Mac's site and check out the pages for the dread kit there is also a tab and link to download the free instructions which are excellent. In the instructions you will find a list of recommended tools etc. Of course not everything is needed but it will give you some idea of what might be necessary.

Also one of the cool things about Stew-Mac's kits beyond excellent documentation is that they use and tell you how to make unique jigs that preclude the need to you to purchase or make an outside mold and radius dishes. If you did purchase these things they will cost you over $300 US so this is a huge benefit of the Stew-Mac kit.

Good luck and welcome aboard.

Thanks for the advice and welcomes. "Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology: A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar "
I guess is the book being referred to. It is on order but will take a month to get here.

Cheers

Tell you something else that turns me on a bit is a slotted headstock. That is why I've been eyeing the Stewmac OOO kit. I would however prefer a 12 fret guitar so I'll do some more scouting on the other kit sites as well before ordering.

Welcome to the fourm!

There are tons of resources around the web. This site being among the best.

For some good information on fitting out your shop, check out Kathy Matsushita's site.
http://home.comcast.net/~kathymatsushita/

Also, there is another forum that has a plethora of kit guitar builder activity.
http://www.kitguitarsforum.com/forum/index.php

The proprietor there, Bill Cory has a couple of books he put together, specifically geared towards building the more popular kits.

Also, one of our sponsors here, Bill Hall from Blues Creek Guitars can put together a nice kit, serviced (pre-bent, etc..) or otherwise, including whatever scale length, fret position, and head stock pattern you desire (at least I think he can).

http://www.bluescreekguitars.com

You should drop him an email and let him know what you are interested in.

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Jim Hansen