Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello Everyone,
I'm Jonathan Wright. I have been woodworking for a few years, and the goal was always to get to the point where I would feel comfortable attempting an acoustic guitar build. I purchased plans from Georgia luthier supply for their Jumbo, J200. I will soon be ordering a Sitka top, maple sides back and a 3 piece maple neck. I am really excited to start and I am sure I will have a ton of questions along the way. I am active duty Air Force stationed at Edwards AFB, people here call me Geppetto. I look forward to learning from you all.

Welcome aboard, and thanks for your service. Careful, building a guitar can be habit forming.
Ask about anything you don't understand, there's hundreds of years of experience here that are glad to answer questions. A more specific question usually gets a more detailed answer.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Thanks Rodger,
I picked up my plans from the printer today. I am hoping it is addicting Id love to get good at this. I am hoping to build the guitar mostly from the plans and from the book by Jonathan Natelson & William Cumpiano. I saw someone on here recommend that for the first acoustic build go for a bolt on neck, my plans do detail an option for a bolt on neck, I hadn't originally wanted to do a bolt on, but I do see the merit in the adjust-ability. First thing I am going to do is start building my forms and a bending iron, I still don't have pictures of the specific pieces Ill be working with. I'll post them once they show up.

Is there a good default size diameter pipe for a makeshift bending iron?

is building a neck as daunting as it sounds?

Hey Geppetto, welcome to the obsession. I started work on my first guitar in the woodshop at EAFB. I was there for 15 years as an FTE. Small world.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Wow that's crazy Steve! Small world indeed! I have been here a little over a year, I have been meaning to take that stupid woodshop safety class for months, I'd love to get my hands on that 14" bandsaw and the jointer they have in there. Work on south base keeps me super busy though. I am also a father of 3 little ones and a full time graduate student. So my time is limited. But I'm sick of just daydreaming about the jumbo build I need to get started on it or I'm gonna pull my hair out haha thanks for your service Steve!

Sgt. Geppeto, congratulations on beginning your journey to building your first acoustic guitar. You will definitely find a wealth of information and many builders generous with their time and guidance. I'm on my fourth build and have learned much here to help me on my journey. Along those lines, and considering your sacrifice and duty to all of us, I would like to propose an effort to help you along your way. I have an extra set of either spruce or WRC tops and a set of tuners I will donate to you. I can thickness sand the tops to your specifications. If a few others have a part that would be appropriate to your build maybe they could hop on board. What do you think?

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

I remember that it also took me quite a while to take the safety class. If I recall they didn't offer it at very convenient times. Some things never change. Glad you found this place. Great group of people and lots of help to be found as you navigate through your first build.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

As it turns out, building a neck is one of the easy tasks. There's quite a few ways, and most of them work fine. I've always done laminated necks, and have developed an unusual design for the headstock joint.
I started 17 years ago with the idea that I'd buy a cheap "donar" guitar, salvage the neck and electronics, and build a flying Vee.
I ended up building the whole thing. Since then I've built about 20, half of those acoustic.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Holy cow! That is amazingly generous of you! Thank you so much!! I would prefer the spruce if you don't mind, I won't turn anything down for sure! I'll shoot you a PM!

So I do have some questions. I'm starting to build my side bending jig. I have seen a bunch of different options, and decided to build the spartan bender with the three 200w bulbs inside. I have all the parts to put it together I just need to build it. Really my only question is how wide should it be? How much wider should the jig be than the actual sides I'll be bending? Has anyone else used this jig? Also what gauge aluminum should I be useing for the sheets? Here is a link for reference, I've read it through a couple times, could find the information thanks guys! http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/spartanbender.html

Well some progress being made,i finished my side bender! Still waiting on my backsides and neck to arrive from wood to works. Brad is amazing and sending me a nice sitka spruce top and some tuners! I also had a question about my outer mold..? I was going to use the piece left over from cutting my side bender for the template of the outside mold, just how perfect does that need to be? It is dang close to matching the side bending jig, but after sanding, and cutting, they are off in some areas, like the waist, by as much as maybe a 1/16". I am guessing that's not a huge problem, but wanted to ask to make sure.