Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi. My name is Tim and was sent here on the advice by someone at projectguitar.com. I have a 7 year old son who is learning the classical guitar and I thought it would be fun to learn along side him. I am also a cabinet/furniture maker in my one man shop in Salt Lake City. I have always wanted to make and instrument and I just got my tax return. I would like some advice on books to read, should I get a kit, where do I start. I have been looking at all the pictures on this site and it both very inspiring and intimidating. Thanks again for all your help. Tim

A must read Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology by William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Naterlson.

The book is updated on Mr. Cumpiano's website. the website alone is a great reference.

Cumpiano Website

There is nothing to be intimidated by here. Dive in. Like anything worth learning guitarmaking (or ukemaking) is a matter of breaking a difficult tasks into many, many attainable steps.

Tim,

Welcome to the best guitarbuilder's forum on the web. As you may already know, this is a great bunch of folks. Many recommend starting with a kit for the first one, but others have had great results building from scratch. I built my first (steel string) with a kit from LMI at www.lmii.com and ended up with quite a presentable guitar, IMNSHO. The LMI kits (they sell flamenco, steel and classical kits of good quality) come with a DVD that was very well done by a fine builder and frequent poster here, Robbie O'Brien. You can order the DVD alone to get an idea of what's involved, and LMI will refund the cost of the DVD if you buy a kit. The bible for budding builders is GuitarMaking Tradition and Technology by Cumpiano and Natelson. A bit dated, but full of great info, with updates on Cumpiano's web site. If you go the scratch route, the sponsors here have good product and excellent service.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Hi Tim,
Do not be intimidated. This is the friendliest,most helpful group of people you are ever going to meet!!
The first book I would get is the one by Cumpiano and Natelson.
It has both steel string and classical construction side by side.
I don't know the answer to whether a kit or from scratch is better.
Since you are a cabinet maker you might like to build from scratch better.
Keep hanging around here asking questions and you will laern a lot real fast!!
Good luck,
Brad
Brad Goodman38779.4225694444

Hi Tim, welcome to the OLF!

I second William Cumpianos book, its a great place to start, that and a Kit. I used the book as a referance as I built a kit.
Blues Creek and Steward McDonald both sell nice kits.
Its a great way to get a feel for what building a guitar is all about.

Also, there is not better place then right here at the OLF for asking all the questions and getting a quick responce.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Traditions and Technology in Guitarmaking by Cumpiano is a good place to start.

If you are building classicals, Robbie has some DVD's that covers that I understand.

Here is a maxim to consider: A luthier and his money are soon parted. So hang onto some of it, because when you least suspect it, you'll want to buy wood or tool......

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Five Votes for Cumpiano, all right.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Tim, Welcome to the OLF. You will find lots of helpful people here.

Since you have your own shop, most of the large $ items are out of the way (I assume). So what you have to ask yourself is. How much of this guitar do I want to build.

Do you want to build from raw wood, resawing your own backs, sides and top. Or would you feel confident in bending your own sides? Cutting your own fretboard.

Of course there are many options with the first build. You can get a kit with all the parts pre-machined for you (there are some great suppliers of kits out there, Blues creek guitar aka John Hall is very helpful and has great quality items) this doesn't mean that you will just glue it together and it's done mind you. Or you can select from one or more of our wonderful sponsors and get yourself some very nice wood and parts and just get to it.

Here is a link to Amazon's website with several guitar building books, definitely not all of them.

This site is also a great start. Check out the archives for questions you have and please please please ask whatever you need. Remember there are no silly questions.

Also, you will find that most people here will be very encouraging along the way. Take pictures of your build, keep a journal of the build and post your progress to share with the group.

Lastly, have fun, don't worry about making your first "perfect" as I'm sure you know from making furniture etc it's not attainable so just have fun.

Go for it. Rod True38779.430474537

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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, you guys are faster than I can type, there was only one response when I started.

See Tim, we're all eager to help. Rod True38779.4306018519

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"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 Thanks for all the help! You guys are fast. I guess I will buy the book and go from there, thanks again for all the help. TIm

Just in case no one told you buy Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology by William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Naterlson. Also known as the bible of guitar building

Hey Tim, great to see you found your way over!

And, yeah, what those guys said (And what I said over at ProjectGuitar).

And you'll also get your share of laughin' from here bud, welcome to the OLF!

Serge

Tim, welcome to the OLF. Another resource you may want to check out is the "Make your own Hauser style Guitar" CD by David Schramm. Here is a link to his web site. Schramm Guitars. Glad to have you join us.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

I think I have worked my way back through about 1/2 of the archives. Valuable hours spent and a good number of family appropriate chuckles. You will be amazed by the spirit of kind interest in your entry into this and this is a place to make genuine friends, even if you never get to meet them in person.

I am finding Kinkead's "Build your own acoustic guitar" to be a valuable
companion to Cumpiano. Cumpiano is light on illustrations, heavy on
detailed instructions. Kinkead is heavy on illustrations, light on detailed
instructions. Sometimes it helps to see the operation, sometimes it helps
to read a detailed explanation of it. Usually it helps to have both!

Jay

Cool question Hesh, seconded!

Welcome to OLF and I place a third on the Hesh question. This forum has alot of great builders and they help and share. Enjoy your first.

Mike
White Oak, Texas

I think Bruce lived in Albania sometime in the past, he's lived most places

Colin

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

[QUOTE=ecklesweb] I am finding Kinkead's "Build your own acoustic guitar" to be a valuable
companion to Cumpiano. Cumpiano is light on illustrations, heavy on
detailed instructions. Kinkead is heavy on illustrations, light on detailed
instructions. Sometimes it helps to see the operation, sometimes it helps
to read a detailed explanation of it. Usually it helps to have both!

Jay[/QUOTE]

I second Jay's recommendation, Jonathan Kinkead's book is a great read and has some really good tips. Cumpiano/Natelson's Traditions and Tech is a must have, but Kinkead fills some gaps with images that don't translate well to text and it is a fun approach.

My tip, get'em both.

Cheers Kim

larkim38780.2348263889

Sorry guys not from Albania. Just Salt Lake City, Utah. Just hit the wrong key! Thanks again for all your help, I have already ordered a couple of books should be here next week. I let you know how I get along. Thanks again, Tim

Hi Tim,

I am a book junky and have many books now on guitar building. If you are going to build a classical another great book, that I have actually just purchased, is Making Master Guitars by Roy Courtnall. Price near abouts $100 it is expensive but does have some great information! I also have Cumpiano/Natelson and Kinkead and agree with waht is said here. During my first build (presently ongoing) those two books get a lot of thumbing through! I have read both of them a coupe of times also.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Shane

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Canada

[QUOTE=Don A] Tim, welcome to the OLF. Another resource you may want to check out is the "Make your own Hauser style Guitar" CD by David Schramm. Here is a link to his web site. Schramm Guitars. Glad to have you join us.[/QUOTE]

In addition to the completed Hauser course, David is also in the midst of a course on a Rodriguez. You can sign up for that and take part in the discussion group there. This course has been stalled for quite some time due to life taking up too many chunks of David's time, but he has promised to get back to us shortly, and the lessons so far cover neck and headstock construction and construction of the body up through binding. Several paricipants have gone on from there using the material from the earlier Hauser course. It is also a friendly and helpful group. There are new participants all the time, so you wouldn't be out of place in that regard.
onlineapprentice at yahoogroups.com

I'd suggest that an LMI boxed kit (not one of the processed kits, if you want to do your own bending, etc) is a great way to go - it provides some sort of discount over buying the pieces separately. But, there are wonderful vendors here, a few of whom I've had the pleasure of dealing with (Bob Cefalu, John Hall, Shane Neifer - thanks guys!) and many more who I'm looking forward to get to know.

In addition to Cumpiano and Natelson, I've found the book by Roy Courtnall, "Making Master Guitars" to be a real education on the classical. He provides an overview of the building style and guitar design for a range of prominant makers, and then provides a detailed building process in a manner similar to C+N, but totally concentrated on the classical. There are quirks - his path to doing fingerboards (slotting after tapering) is just frightening, but everything else has made sense so far. The book may be pricey/hard to find.

Have a go at it. At the rate I'm building, you'll finish your first classical before me

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I just ordered "Build your own Acoustic Guitar" on Friday knowing nothing of the book. The illustration on Amazon looked great. It appears that my money will be well spent.