Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello Everyone. First, I want to give a quick shout out to my friend Phil who recommended I check out this forum. I have been interested in guitar building for quite some time now, but haven't taken the plunge yet. I was wondering if you guys could recommend some tips for getting started. Right now, I live in an apartment, so I don't really have a workshop of sorts, or any tools for that matter. I would appreciate any ideas of books and basic tools to start out with. I would primarily be interested in building steel string acoustics. I mostly play steel string, but also dabble in classical and electric styles as well.

Thanks for you help!

- Quentin

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- q

Hey. I'm not an expert, but I'm someone in your situation who did recently take the plunge. I don't have a whole lot of space or tools to work with either. If anything, I'd suggest picking up a few books so that you know what you're getting into first. The book I got is Guitar Making: Tradition and Technology by Cumpiano. The general consensus seems to be that some of the information is a bit dated, but it covers the entire process from beginning to end and can definitely serve as an aid. If you're like me and don't really have any prior woodworking experience, I'd suggest getting yourself a kit. I got my kit from LMI and I'm working on it right now (although my guitar is turning into a bit of a nightmare atm... ^^;;) At any rate, the serviced kit is excellent and it comes with a great dvd that takes you through the steps.

I think the most important thing, however, is to stick with it. I'm personally making a lot of mistakes and while it's discouraging at times, I figure nobody's perfect and in the end, your mistakes are the tuition that you pay here...

If you have some time on your hands, another thing you might want to try is one of the many guitar building courses out there. There are some shorter courses as well as longer ones and they seem to range anywhere from a week to several months. I'm planning to attend a 3-week course at Vermont Instrument Makers later this year. Anyway, I wish you the best and welcome to the forum. ^^

Hello Quentin and welcome to the OLF!
I myself am in the same position as you. So take my advice with a grain of salt. I hate to post negative comments , but with limited space it's going to be hard. I have a full woodworking workshop and I still can't afford/be able to make a guitar. If cost isn't an opinion it helps a lot. Your going to need a bandsaw, and drum or thicknessing sander, a bunch of hand tools, and many many mannnnyyyy specialty tools that are quite expensive. If you are interested in starting I recommend a electric first. The time, difficultly, and cost is much less. I hope you can get started in luthiery, it's a lot of fun! Sorry again for the negative comments.
EDIT:
I just found out LMI kits come with top thinknessed etc... Sorry for my comments earlier.

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-They made me do this-
My name is Matthew Luce

Hand tools, a laminate trimmer, and you're good to go. I also recommend a workmate - still use mine every day I build.

Just FYI, I build my first two acoustics in a student room, attic, tiny, where I slept, ate, etc. Climbed out the window onto a rooftop for dusty stuff. My go bar deck was (and, actually, is again) the space under my computer desk (heavy, MDF, CRT and CRT TV on it at the time. No way 30 go-bars were going to budge that), I did build a bender (where there's a will, there's a place to put it) and a mold, so, no, you really don't need lots of space or lots of tools to make a successful guitar.

My personal 'required tooling' list is:
- Planes - block plane and a 5 or 5 1/2 for thinning the top. Get your supplier to thickness back and sides for you
- Scrapers.
- Medium rasp, hand-cut (most of the neck shaping)
- Laminate trimmer (truss rod and CF rod slots)
- Chisel - a 1/2" paring is my weapon of choice, and I like having 1/4" and 1/8" for things like nut slots and purfling, but 99% of the work is done with a 1/2" chisel
- Bender, building form, radius dishes. Cheap to make, messy, but well worth the effort
- Go-bars. Plenty. Glue braces, top and back
- About 6 to 8 cam clamps for everything from holding work down to gluing the fingerboard.
- Electric drill/access to a drill press (tuning machine holes and neck bolt holes)
- Heat blanket - seriously, worth the money.
- Couple of hand saws - I like japanese saws, have one mini saw for fine work (6" blade) and a regular crosscut tooth saw for stuff like scarf jointing the headstock.
- Lest we forget: measuring equipment! Harbor Freight has cheap dial guages/indicators, set of calipers is very handy, ditto a variety of rules in different lengths, and get at least one straight edge long enough to check your fingerboard is level.
- Fretting tools -> if you want binding, get the StewMac tang nipping doodad, and go ahead and buy regular nippers and a crowning file.

That's more or less it, really. I use a whole lot more in my building these days, because I have the space, and have spent the money on tooling (bandsaw, thickness sander, various electric sanders), but almost all the guitars I've built to date were made with little more than the above tooling - including electrics. Only other additions are a Dremel for inlay (if you can't afford bigger and badder) and a full sized router for the electric stuff.

Seriously, where there's a will, there's a way.

Welcome Quentin.

I built my fist kit in a bedroom, my second kit in a hotel room. My fist scratch build in a bout a 10 x 10 shop with no band saw, belt sander, drum sander and a circular saw rigged to a sheet of MDF to form and table saw. I had a lot of wood working hand tools and a good amount of woodworking behind me when I started.

I think kits are a great way to get started. but if you could find the time and money I think the best way is to do a 2 week course at a school of lutherie. It really is not that much more than gearing up for a kit build figuring tools and all in particularly when you consider the experience you will receive, not to mention the guitar you will bring home with you. That way you know if this craft is something you want to pursue before you invest money in tools.

just food for thought.

Michael,

Why would you build a kit in a hotel room?

Mike

Why not? He was probably bored! You only need a pocket knife, right?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I was out of town on my day job for nearly a year.

Bet the cleaning service loved you!

LOL! Building a guitar in a hotel room. That's hardcore.

Books which i'd say are a must are Cumpiano and Kinkhead, I'm in the process of number 1 following the plans supplied in Kinkheads book. You need few power tools but lots of clamps, planes etc I've been given a bandsaw which was better than doing it by hand with a fret saw a portable belt sander may be next I think.

Enthusiasm is the key I find if I stop for a holiday etc it takes a lot to get back in the groove.

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

OK I have to weigh-in here since we are comparing unique shop conditions.......

I built 10 guitars on pot........ Maybe I should say on "the" pot...... My first shop was a bathroom and it worked great for me. Everything was one step away and I never, never, never ran out of paper towels........

Quentin welcome to the OLF my friend!

Hi Quentin,

I agree with what Mattia has said,
You can go the hand tools track and the only power tools needed will be drill press.
Even the routing part can be replaced by chiselling and planing.
Look at Waddy's 1st build, it's all done with hand tools. (But that's a classical build, but I am sure its essentially the same thing.)
I am still building my 1st build classical in an appartment too.
So noise generation by all the power tools is a problem, so most of my process are done by hand tools.

Sen.

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the input. Do you guys have any organizations or school that you reccomend for a class?

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- q

I hear that Red Rocks Community College in Colorado has a good course.

Shamless self promotion

But nicely done!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Quentin,
I just finished my first kit build. Mine was delivered with the basic thicknessing, drilling, cutting and shaping completed. The only electric tool I used was a router for the binding and purfling channels. Everything else was done using hand tools. Even if you go the kit route, keep in mind that good quality hand tools aren't cheap. I don't have my notes in front of me, but I bought chisels, files, saws, clamps, scrapers, various measuring tools, a router, router bits and pilot bearings, sealers, stains, varnishes, sanding and polishing supplies, etc. All totaled, in addition to the cost of my kit, I'd estimate that I spent another $700 on this project. My wife would probably tell you it was at least twice that amount. :-)

Have fun,
George :-)

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George :-)