Official Luthiers Forum!

howdy everyone, i have been building banjos, electric guitars, and bass' for about 4 years now and until recently i never really had any desire to pursue doing acoustics, im not really sure what that changed recently but i suddenly have the urge to venture into unmarked territory as it were. obviously as i trek into the dark side there are some skills that will serve me well, making necks, doing fret jobs, and just the general woodworking skills, but there is a ton of stuff that i know very little about, (e.i. pretty much the entire body) im hoping that you guys could recommend some good literature to get me started. i would like to find something that is a sort of step by step walk through so that i can get my bearings on the process of the acoustic build.

other suggestions i would appreciate are in the tool department, i dont really know what all i am going to need that is unique to acoustics apart from the pipe bender for the sides and such. on the bender not i had some ideas for a bender but i really havent looked into it much, i thought that i might modify one of those little electric single burner stove tops that have the heat coil and that way i would have pretty good control of the heat, or maybe use a water heater coil? any and all info, links and resources are welcome and appreciated, thanks a bunch

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

theres probably way more info in the archives here than there is anywhere in any book. i guess you just need to know how to look for it and ask the right questions.

that being said, i really appreciated cumpianos book. you can even find it at your local library if you dont want to purchase it. although the paperback version is dirt cheap and youll get plenty of use out of it.

theres some pretty cheap versions of a charcoal lighter side bender that were discussed recently. i turned a water heater on without any water in it one time and it burned the element up in a matter of seconds. they get hot fast. might want to stay away from that one.

good luck.

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sweat the small stuff.

Build threads are also super helpful in getting you thinking about all the processes and the different ways to attack problems. Luthiercom.org is a great place for build threads.

Also, the tut section here has some great stuff.

Good luck!

In terms of 'literature', i.e. reference books, etc. a few come to mind......no order

-GAL Red Books (5)
-GAL Green books (2)
-Cumpiano (SS and Classical)
-Somogyi (SS and classical)
-Bogdanovich or Courtnall (Classical)
-Sloane, Ford, Siminoff, Kamimoto (repair, set-up, and more)...and there's others, too.

And the OLF discussions (or archives)to fine tune any details.....good luck.

I used the Kinkead book for my first build. It was easy to read and understand, had good pictures to work from and came with a set of plans. There have been some here on the forum who have suggested the plans are a little overbraced and with only three builds I am not near qualified to offer you solid direction on that point. (Although #4 currently in production does have substantially lighter bracing based on those suggestions!) I'm sure others here on the forum could give you some recommendations for a good set of plans. Plans aside, the step by step layout of the book helped me to get through the first one with no woodworking experience at all and in the end it looks, sounds and two years later still plays like a guitar. Good luck to ya!

Donald