Official Luthiers Forum!

This forum is different from another I visit from time to time. Here, there is a broad variety of issues to follow which really is great.

Is there any reason, the fine folks at OLF do not start threads of a complete build from start to finish?

No interest or just no one with the patience to do all the documentation?

I might do the next one depending on feedback. Would anyone be interested in following a step by step build?

Rich,

You bet i'd be interested in following your developments, i'm also a visual person so pics are obviously needed and also detailed descriptions and measurements would really be appreciated! To me it doesn't matter the length of time you'd need, i'd be one of your most enthused follower! who else?

Serge

Rich, that is an excellent question. There are plenty of extremely talented builders here. I have wondered the same thing - why no start-to-finish documented builds? It could be that some of the builders do not understand how very much we pick up by watching things come together, so maybe if there are a few more squeeky wheels here asking for more documented builds, it will happen.

I would also encourage you and any other builder that would be willing to take the time, to also include documentation of the problems encountered, and how they were overcome. (You don't really get that in the guitarmaking books.)

For the sake of those with slower bandwidth, it might make sense to post medium-sized photos (big thumbnails?), that are also hot links to larger photos.

Thanks, Rich. I'll be watching for yours, and hope you inspire a trend here!

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

SQUEAKY-SQUEAKY! Sounds like a wonderful idea, as is the consideration for us in slow-motion (50.6Kbps tonight, as low as 24 some days )

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DES - Shepherd, MI

I'm in! I need all the help I can get. Great idea.

Ross

Actually this is occurring as we speak. Just a bit of slo-mo though with OLF Build One and OLF Build Two. I think that was why you saw the appeal from Lance for someone to effect a redo of Build ONE and he had planned to keep up with the pics and commentary of Build TWO.

And, there is another problem, it would almost have to be hosted elsewhere, passwords and such, might make posting a build by a single builder easier just selfhosting.

I think it's a great idea. There are numbers of them out on the web. We could just start a thread to all the known builds already out there, as a side to the current idea, that's always good.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

YES,I enjoy following builds on some other forums.That would be great here!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

To go along with Bruce's idea you can get a free bulliten board of your own at ProBoards
It's a bit buggy and you still need to host your photos on a site like PhotoBucket, but it's easy to set up and to document your builds. I use one myself though I haven't been updating it recently.

Kind of nice to have a place to show friends, family, customers, or whoever what's going on in your shop.

You could easily document a build step by step and then link to it in a post here when your build is complete.

Here's mine... Mine!

Rich,

Funny you should ask, but I'm about to start making a guittar cittern fo Gavin Davenport (a great cittern player here in England) and am documenting the build on my website. The build starts in earnest next week and will hopefully be finished sometime in June 2006. You can follow progress here.

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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

Great idea...us newbies could really benefit from a step by step process with pictures.

Here are a few sites:

Kathy Matsushita



Mario Proulx

Osbourne

David Schramm's Classical build

Onl;ine apprentice

Yuh-ya

And there are many others, Google "buiding a steel string guitar", and see.

Colin

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

Along with Colin's links, here is one of the best I have seen on the start to finish build (Mario's is very well documented as well)

Charlie Hoffman, step by step

Lots to sift through here.

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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

Dennis Scannell's True North Guitarssite has a number of builds of interest - superb builder .

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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

keep in mind that most "builds' aren't meant to teach, as much as they are meant to inform. Teaching would be very, very much more in depth than the builds you see, but the sites would also be out of control(not to mention the time requirements).

With that in mind, anyone's best bet is to read everything, and everyone's "take" on everything. We all do things different, hell, I do most things differently today than when I did that documented build a few years back. Take what makes sense to -you- from each one, and don't fixate too much on any -one- builder's take on any -one- subject.

Well this sure got some interest!!! I will not be ready to start my next for about 30 days but may take a crack at documenting it and see how it goes. I do have a web site and could do it there so as not to jam up the OLF and simply post updates with links allowing for discussion at each stage. The links all of you have posted in response to this thread are awesome!!! How the heck do you guys find this stuff? I am on the web daily and thought I had seen it all and then bammmm, here are some great sites identified. You guys are the best !!!

I agree with Mario on the builds. I am documenting and photographing some builds I have going now for the purpose of giving a folder & CD to the customers that personalizes their build. I am still developing the concept and contents, but I think it will really give some added value for the client. As well, it gives them something else to show their friends.

Mike
White Oak, Texas

I like documenting my builds, and writing explanatory text, because it provides a window into what I was thinking/doing on any particular guitar. It's solid, consistent documentation, some find it interesting enough to want to read it, and it's always fun for me to see how my approach to things shifts as I build more instruments. I like looking at what others do to get a feel for how they're doing something, look at their jigs, setups, tools, methods, and sometimes integrate something of what they do in my own work.

Yep, I just worked with a teacher to finish my first, and then I'll go to a website and think "Man, why didn't we do it THAT way."

To each his own.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

[QUOTE=Colin S] Yuh-ya[/QUOTE]
This one is quite interesting. He started with kits and progressed to scratch building. Uses a lot of hand process, with a lot of the same tools we've all got. Thanks, Colin.

Hey, Mario--really nice build document, too!!!CarltonM38845.7221990741