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Alright guys, well as a few of you know, I'm 16 years old, and I have not yet built my first guitar, and still have a lot of reading to do before I can even be close to being knowledgeable enough to begin my first build. Currently I am reading Tradition and Technology. My problem right now, is that Christmas is coming up, the acoustic I have right now is down right horrible to be honest, and I've been looking for a new one. My parents of course don't wanna just give me some money for Christmas, and I can understand that. The price they're willing to help me out with for a new acoustic isn't bad, I'm happy with what they give me, but it really isn't quite enough to get a nice guitar. So I'm wondering, should I use this Christmas to start to accumulate luthier tools/supplies?? All I have right now is the Tradition and Technology book. And also, just curious about how long it took you for your first build.

Thanks,

Josh

Initial investments may be somewhat high depending on what kind of tools you get. You will need lots of clamps for one thing then some other stuff for fretting and things like that. But If you never built a guitar before your first isn't going to be perfect so be prepared to deal with that. It also took me a while to get my first build almost complete and I still got some ways to go. If you're looking for one good guitar to play then I'd buy one but if you're looking to start a hobby or business then by all means get what you need to build them.

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I'm about to finish my first. I've spent an outrageous amount on tools and the only power tool I bought was a laminate trimmer. One thing I learned about building guitars is that you don't know what you don't know. For example: I didn't how to avoid stress risers before I built my top but I also didn't know they existed and are important. The same thing is true with tools. I kept finding out I had to buy all these expensive tools and materials. I don't have a complete list of tools I bought because I don't want to know how much I spent but here's a few you may or may not need...

Laminate trimmer about $100
router bit and bearings about $60
router guide about $50
two reamers(tuners,end pin, bridge pins) about $40 each
fret file about $40
3 nut files about $60
bridge setting jig and clamp about $70
humidifier about $60

plus all the typical stuff like chisels, saws, sandpaper, files, clamps, scraper, thickness gauge, sandpaper, sanding blocks, materials for jigs like go bar deck, glues, sandpaper, finish supplies, sandpaper and sandpaper.

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Jeremy Douglas

Josh, in a nutshell, it is much cheaper to buy a good guitar than to tool up to build, especially if you only build a few.

This thread might be of interest to you.
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=17491

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Aoibeann

Can you define stress risers Jeremy? Is this why you need smoth transitions when you peak your braces?

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Here's the definition from wiki "A stress concentration (often called stress raisers or stress risers) is a location in an object where stress is concentrated. An object is strongest when force is evenly distributed over its area, so a reduction in area, e.g. caused by a crack, results in a localized increase in stress. A material can fail, via a propagating crack, when a concentrated stress exceeds the material's theoretical cohesive strength. The real fracture strength of a material is always lower than the theoretical value because most materials contain small cracks that concentrate stress. Fatigue cracks always start at stress raisers, so removing such defects increases the fatigue strength."

Yes, that's why you need smooth transitions. If you have a tall brace that has an abrupt scoop at the end where it goes into the lining the stress isn't distributed over much area.

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Jeremy Douglas

If possible, I would really recommend using the money to pay a pro to teach and mentor you through your first build - the access to that experience and help is a great investment and for my part I was able to use his tools as well so. The cost of materials as you will know depends on how much you want to spend, and paying for the time will vary. It took me about 120 hours all in to complete the first, but as I work full time, this was at about 2 hours a week so it took nearly 18 months! Haviing said that, I would say, if you want a guitar tomorrow, dont build it yourself. The enthusiasm that building installs in you makes it very easy to try and rush things... and thats wehere mistakes occur... its a process that needs patience! Then give yourself a tool allowance - and get things gradually - also helps with things like chisels etc to get advice...in the UK we are quite lucky as there are loads of second hand tools out there that are better qaulity than what is made today and only costs say $2-$4 for a high quality chisel - just need to know what to look for.

I would ask about on here to see if there is someone in your area, willing to teach - its great fun and you have the shoulder of experience to lean on when you are stumped.

Good luck - you will enjoy it!

Josh, can you use any of the tools in your woodworking shop at school? That could save you big time.

Honestly, I think a first guitar can be built pretty inexpensively if you're resourceful as well as innovative (meaning, can find a way with little).

Materials:
You can spend really as little (I think you could get everything for about $200 or less if you looked hard enough) or as much as you want. I'm pretty sure you could find Martin second necks on ebay pretty cheap and top, back and sides can be inexpensive if you ask around.

Hot pipe:
Something round and pretty hot to bend your sides.

Clamps:
You really don't need many clamps, but having a go-bar deck is very handy (see my signature for a picture of my go-bar deck in my shop). You don't need to buy fiberglass rods for your go-bars, any scrap hardwood will be fine. You will need a few clamps, maybe for attaching the headstock veneer and the bridge but that's about it. Everything else can be done with the go-bar deck, rope, tape and some small spring clamps (for attaching the linings)

Cutting tools:
Well, this could get expensive if you don't have access to any (like the school woodwork shop). You'll need a way to thickness your materials, a hand plane (#5 Stanley) should be about all you really need for most thicknessing. You can also buy materials from many vendors which is thicknessed, but you'll still need to do some thicknessing.
You can get a pretty inexpensive fret saw in the Stanley flush cut saw

from amazon for about $14. You can also use this saw for cutting other stuff. You'll want to stiffen it up though, this is pretty easy to do, if you get this saw let me know, I'll help you out.
You'll also need a coping saw (hand held saw) or a jig saw to cut out some curves. You don't need a band saw although it's nice.
One half decent chisel will get you through most of the brace shaping. You'll need to learn how to sharpen it, but that can be pretty inexpensive too, with the use of sandpaper.

Drill:
You'll need to drill some holes. Either a small drill press of hand drill will be needed as well as the right size drill bits.

Ruler:
You'll need a decent ruler, one which will let you measure at least down to 1/16", preferably down to 1/32" (for setting the bridge location, you'll want to have a metric ruler, much easier I think).

Hammer:
Something to hammer the frets in.

Glue:
A bottle of yellow wood workers glue will get the job done.

Sandpaper:
Various grits of sandpaper to smooth things out.

Some sort of finish on the guitar is also a good idea. This can be pretty inexpensive too when the time comes. A can of tung oil or shellac will be sufficient. Might not be the best, but it will be alright if done right.

Router or laminate trimmer or Gramil:
Something to cut the binding channels. A gramil is a hand held tool that you can buy from a couple different places.

Really that's about all you'd need to get it done I think. Of course more tools would be nice but as they say "Necessity is the mother of invention" so just figure out how motivated you are, what your really NEED and get to it.

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

If you really want to do this, you can do it for much less than you think. You can also spend well over $1000 just on tools but you don't have to. You have to figure out how motivated you are, that will tell you how resourceful and innovative you need to be.

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I'm on build and have been extremely lucky as I've been given most of the wood and my dad did a bit of woodwork so I've inherited some of his tools, all I've bought tool wise for this is some g cramps as they were on special in a supermarket and a hot airr paing stripper which I place in a piece of 2" tube held in a vice to bend the sides. So it can come cheap I've done a little wood carving so had chisels so have gathered a little over the years.

So don't be put off it can be done on the cheap

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

It sounds to me Josh, that you think this is a choice of getting a new guitar from a store, or simply building one !! ?? first like others have said before, It cost alot to get the tools needed, some of these like a bandsaw drumsander etc etc etc, you can do without, BUT then you will need to be a really good craftsman to manage the task ! , I am building my first right now, ( I am a carpenter so I am a bit used to machines and tools) and this helps. It has cost me "so far" almost 2-3000$ and I still need to get me a few more important tools, also in my case I want my guitar to be as good as can be, so then the tools need to be as good as the guitar I am building. As I also working with music, we have a saying - the sound is never better than the weakest link. so if you have a crappy bandsaw, then the cuts you do will not be as good as you might need etc.

If you still feel you want to become a luthier, then go for it, and save up for tools + wood. and build yourself the guitar of your dreams.

Lars

Hi Josh - Last spring prior to moving to a new town I took my first guitar that I built, wrapped the body carefully in a clean plastic bag, and set it out with the neck upright with my trash on trash day.

The next morning my trash had been picked up, the guitar had the plastic bag removed, had been looked at, and was then thrown on my lawn and NOT taken by the trash people...... Seriously - true story here.

It was so very bad that I could not even throw it away when I wanted to........

Fortunately as I built more guitars I - think....- that I got better or at least I would hope so..... Anyway it was not until about my 10th guitar that I had built a guitar that if it was the only guitar that I had I would be proud to have this one.

Now of course many folks here and elsewhere have been far more successful with their first than I was and a superb first guitar - can - be built. I just lacked the chops, skill, and patience to do it.

So where am I going with this? Where I am going is that we frequently see new builders who's main motivation to learn to build a great guitar is to have a great guitar. And again it can be done and the last thing that I would ever do is discourage anyone - I am not known for that either.

My point is that a lot of money can be spent in pursuit of building guitars, even just one, and there is no guarantee that any of us will succeed in producing a decent instrument.

The advice above to look into getting some professional training is always good advice. Also the folks who believe that this will cost you some serious cash are more in line with my own thinking as well. I had to buy all of the tools and in many cases I had to buy tools twice because I lacked the knowledge to get decent tools the first time around.

It really makes no sense to me to make the investment necessary for some of us who had nothing required to begin with to build one guitar. But it does make perfect sense to me to invest what ever it takes if you know that this is something that you will love doing and probably continue to do going forward.

So how do you find out if guitar building is for you? Consider finding and taking a course in guitar building where you can sample what it is all about, have the benefits of a knowledgeable teacher, and of course have the supervised use of a shop and the tools required. This would be my first recommendation to you.

If a course is not available to you finding a local Luthier as suggested above would be my second choice.

And if neither of these are available to you and you are absolutely sure that you will be building more than one guitar then I would go for it. If just having a decent guitar is the goal consider purchasing one.

Good luck and remember that the OLF is the most helpful place on the planet when folks are learning to build guitars.

Lars, I think much of what you've said is very misleading.

You've spent $2000-3000 and you're still not done? I spent under $1000 for my first and I bought some tools and I had to do my neck twice (total neck including fretboard etc...).




With all due respect, this is the biggest bunch of crap I've heard in a very long time. Do you think they had bandsaws 200 years ago? Or how bout 300 years ago when Stradivarius was making what are Still known as the best sounding and most prized stringed instruments of all time?

Please think about helping this young guy out instead of discouraging him with outrageous statements

Done rant.

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If it's not too expensive, I'd recommend ordering a kit for your first build. John Hall of Bluescreek guitars does custom kits from what I understand, as does LMI. You can also order a standard kit from Martin or Stewmac. Much of the work that requires expensive or precise tools will already be done - sides bent, fretboard cut & profiled, but you'll still have lots of work to do (and lots of fun to have).

If you are just going to build one guitar, and I don't know how one could do that, the kit route is a great way to go. You get to pick your woods, and as has been said, a lot of the "expensive tool" related work has been done. You end up with a nice guitar, and you didn't have to invest in a bunch of stuff you won't use again. Get yourself posting on the Kit Forum here and the other Kit Forum, and you'll get all the help you need from others familiar with the process.

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Waddy

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Josh,

My first was a kit, from John Hall, which cost about $350. The cost of building tools and materials was about $500, not including a case. I have been building furniture for about 20 years, so I already had lots of hand tools, like planes, chisels and so forth and good hand tool skills so I chose not to buy a lot of power tools for guitarmaking. In the end, the total cost of my first would have bought me a pretty nice instrument. Now, the second cost a fraction of the first, since my shop was already well outfitted. Still, with each new instrument, I find reasons to get a few more specialty tools or the opportunity to build new jigs to make the work go faster or more accurately. For example, I am building right now a batch of bridges with some gorgeous Cocobolo rosewood, and so I got a couple of nice files.

While lots of instruments have been built by hand over the centuries, these people had long apprentices learning how to use hand tools, but with care, in my experience I think anyone can do a pretty good job with only a few tools. On the other hand, many power tools, if you can get access to them, will do a more accurate job than you can. See if you can get shop time at school and get a kit. Half of the fun of completing your first is being able to say, "I made it myself." Find someone with good shop skills to be your mentor, even if he/she has not made any instruments.

One more thing, how close are you to Red Wing? I understand that at Minnesota State College Southeast Technical there are classes in guitar building and repair. Maybe you could look into that and see if there is still some kind of a program there!

Go for it! You will not be sorry you gave it a shot.

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Josh,

Another factor to toss in here is your experience with working wood. If you've had a fair amount, you can do a lot of things by hand, saving on tool costs.

I'd recommend a kit. They have most of the higher-risk, accurate work already done. John Hall has a great reputation, well-earned, for helping his customers. If I'd known about him, I'd have bought the kit for my first from him. I bought an EIR serviced kit from LMI and got quite a decent instrument out of it, but it would not have been the best way to go if I'd wanted to just build one so I could have something to play. I think it cost me about $2k in materials and tools, but I had most of the hand tools I needed, had worked wood most of my life, and had had some repair and banjo assembly experience. There was also the time, which for me, was very enjoyable and rewarding. If I had it to do over, knowing what little I know now, and was only going to build one for myself, I'd do it again.

Pat

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You're a lot closer to a good guitar if you apply that money to a Seagull or other Godin product. Waiting to accumulate what you need for building one may mean years without something decent to play. I'd say, from my impression of your finances, that it's a choice between delaying building your guitar for maybe several months (whenever it might be), and delaying having one to play for years, while you wait for something you may never get together.

What's up with that stress riser hijack?

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When all else fails, clean the shop.

Gee, Rod, I think that is over reacting. What I got from Lars statements is the fact that cheap tools are much more difficult to achieve precision with than a good tool. I certainly agree with that. There's also nothing outrageous about 2000 or $3000 spent starting up. You can do it with $100 worth of tools and some wood, but if you anticipate doing more than one, I would invest in the best of every tool that I could afford. Fortunately, I was already a woodworker and had all the tools that aren't guitar specific, but I have around $15000 in tools and use them all in lutherie except my lathe. Several hundred will be spent building jigs, molds, bending forms, radius dishes, go bar decks, etc. Everyone here is right. You can build your first for a few hundred or a few thousand or many thousands. The material in my first cost me around $400-$500.

If you just want one good guitar, go with the kit from John Hall. For $500 you can get an instrument that will rival a $2000 store bought guitar, if your craftsmanship is really good.

Ron

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What Howard said, though I recommend the Blueridge guitars now even more often than the Seagulls. You can also find a great sounding Art & Lutherie (also by Godin) dread for a good price if you're willing to play enough of them though I'm not happy with the new neck joint they're using.

Don't let your eyes fool your ears. If you walk into a store and grab a Martin/Taylor/Gibson I'd put down money that I can run into five stores and pick out a guitar under $700 that'll meet or beat the sound in a blindfolded test.

Also, as others have mentioned, I recommend looking high and low for a workshop (with most of the tools you need) to build your first in. It might be school, it could be a college, and sometimes you can even find woodworking organizations with people who'll let you use some of their tools. I found a nearby college and the only tools I owned during my first build were measuring tools, a spokeshave, my chisels (1" and 1/4", buy nice ones you'll keep forever), a fret file, and a soldering iron (it was an electric). If you build an acoustic and get pre-bent sides and a pre-slotted board, you don't need any luthier-specific tools except a fret file.

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ROD ! No offence taken ! BUT. you are comparing building a Stradivarius "without machines" to 16 year old Josh ! If what I ment with "nothing is better than the weakest link" is only to say that, if your chisel if not sharp then it will not do a good job on your braces !! but I might be wrong ? If I go and do a job as a carpenter without a hammer, but ill use the end of a chisel to get the nail down !, it will work !! but not as good as with a hammer. ! All of you who claim it cost you merly 500 to build your first, are in my book not doing your calculation right !! HOW CAN THIS BE ?? first a Kit cost from 350-400 and up !! so then you meen the tools you bought has a total of 100-150$ !!!! am I right ??

RON Thats what I ment ! thanks.




Lars.

PS. Josh I did not meen it to sound as if I wanted to make you scared of doing this, its the most fun I´ve had for ages !! so if this IS a dream, then persue it !!

Josh,

I'm a very skilled craftsman and grew up with a father who worked with precision tools as a tool and die maker. I have many tools and I am starting on my third instrument, my first guitar. I got a kit and I am a little intimidated by the number of parts and steps to get this glued up. But after the new year that's what I'll be doing.

So if your goal is to learn to build guitars and/or own a guitar you built then by all means build one. At 16 I had both the skills and the energy to do a project like this, but not so much the patience. Please be sure you have the patience to leave it alone when it needs to dry in the clamps. The patience and skills to get all the parts lined up right, etc. Stewart-McDonald has their guitar kit manual on line, take a look and see if it looks like something you'd want to tackle from a kit.

Personally I think it's great you are thinking along the lines of building your own guitar. The skills you build doing this will be helpful regardless of what you do in life. There is nothing like it. At your age I built myself a 6" telescope. I still own it...though it is probably about as good as the guitar someone threw away and was rejected. In my telescope I rushed the mirror and it didn't quite turn out as good as I would have liked. But I built it, it worked and I was always proud to show it off and let people look at the moon and planets through it.

As to my first build, it was a mandolin and it took eight years. Four months at first then seven years to feel as if I had the skills to fix the botched fretting job I did. It turned out great and sounds wonderful.

Guys, I'm just trying to get Josh to see that you don't NEED to spend thousands. Yes, most of us have spent way way more than it would cost us to buy a great guitar, even most custom built guitars from many of the members here.

Yes, I agree that precision tools offer considerably more accuracy when working with wood (or any media for that matter) but there are ways around all of our expensive precision power tools.

Why does one NEED bending molds? Why does one NEED outside molds or body forms? Why does one NEED a radius dish? or any other jig for that matter? Yes, they help but they are not necessities to building a guitar. That's all I'm trying to say.

When I built my first guitar, the Materials including the tuners cost me in total $250. It wasn't the best grade stuff, but It certainly did the job just fine. I have materials in my shop right now that would run me less than that to build a guitar, seriously! I bought myself a makita laminate trimmer and a couple of router bits which totaled $140. I used this to cut my binding channels, truss rod slot and rosette. I bought some MDF to make a radius dish (one sheet MDF was $40, got 8 24" square pieces out of it).

Now, I had access to a table saw so that cost me nothing, but I could have done without it. I had a small block plane and my father in law has a #5 stanley. That was enough to thickness all my parts. I bought that little saw I showed earlier and cut my fret slots with it along with a bunch of other stuff. I had a really old black and decker jig saw (like 30+ years old) which I used to cut out the headstock and the body outline on the plates.

I guess I'm the only one who believes that it can be done for cheaper then buying a decent $700-$1000 off the shelf guitar. The reason I know this is because I did it. Oh and the other thing I bought was the Cumpiano/Natelson book just like Josh has. That and guitar makers forums just like the OLF and MIMF. That was my training.

It can be done. Might not be as easy but you have nothing else to base your experience on so it really doesn't matter.

Check this guy out, he has pretty limited tools and did just fine making his guitar.

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Hi Josh,

I put about $500 into my first guitar, excluding tools. The price could have been less with cheaper tuners.

I think this question is asked in some fashion by each of us starting out. Like many who have responded, I have been working with wood since I was a teenager working in a cabinet shop. I have assembled a pretty good collection of tools and a fair amount of experience over the intervening thirty+ years. However, when I started into my first guitar a year ago, I found I still needed a few additional tools. Given that I have many more financial resources than you may have, I was able to buy pretty much what I needed. I also made a commitment early on that I would build more than one guitar, hopefully dozens, so making the investment in tools seemed worth it.

Are all those tools really needed? I agree with Rod that if you wanted to build a guitar on a very limited budget, I think you could do it. If you could find some one who owns a shop that can help you with routing, some sawing, and has a few clamps, then you can limit your tool expenditures even further (If you were in SE Michigan, I'd even be happy to lend a hand). I also agree that going the kit route if you are building just one guitar can save big $$$ on tools, especially if you buy a kit where the sides are prebent, the soundboard and back panels are joined, the rosette cut or installed, the neck is precarved, and the fretboard already slotted. Good resources were already mentioned for kits, but I will also offer up Ken Cierpilowski at KennethMichaelGuitars (KMG) as another great kit supplier.

So I do think you could build a guitar on a budget, but my single biggest concern is when it is done, will it be the guitar you wanted when you started? That will depend directly on 1) how much experience you have working with wood or what access you have to individuals who do; 2) what access to tools you have; 3) how much time and patience you have to learn what you don't know and to develop needed skills before applying them to your guitar; and 4) how anal you are about quality.

If your budget is enough for a $700 guitar or a $500 kit plus $200 in tools and you wonder if you can meet or exceed the sound and quality of the $700 guitar by building your own, my belief is you can. But you will have to invest a lot in research, time, patience, and seek help from a local woodworker who can lend some tools and experience where you are lacking. If you are willing to make this commitment, building a guitar is a wonderful experience, and you will learn some valuable skills along with way. If the commitment seems too much, put the money into a finished guitar that you can enjoy now, and someday down the road when you are better settled with a few more resources, build your guitar!

Ken

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Rod,

I agree with you it can be done cheaper than one off the shelf. However I think that would be difficult as a first time project without having done it with a skilled luthier looking over your shoulder. That makes a kit more appropriate for most of us trying one for the first time.

I think most of us are trying to be realistic when explaining the skill and patience required to do this as well. On my second instrument I spent hours fussing with the purfling to be sure it all matched up just right. Inlaid abalone, fitting it perfectly edge to edge with a file. Pulled it all out laid end-to-end on the work bench then piece by piece use epoxy to put it back in the inlay channel. I seriously don't think I could have done that at 16. So Josh needs to be honest with himself and decide is he looking for a better guitar or an experience and the pride of building his own.

Some of the tool budgets are a bit off the wall, I agree.

Joe

First, I note that Josh is posting on a luthier's forum. Every single luthier here started with the concept, the notion, the idea of building an instrument. Not everyone who thinks about building an instrument ever does, but every one who does eventually build an instrument started somewhere in the vicinity of where Josh is right now. I sure wish I would have built a guitar when I was 16, rather than waiting until I was 50!

Josh, if you can limp along with the guitar that you have for one year, then you can get started on building your first guitar. Put a new bone nut and saddle on that old one, get the action set correctly - that will help you both by giving you a bit of experience on those critical tasks, and will also make it more bearable to live with that clunker for the next year.

I am another beginning luthier that can say that my first guitar plays very well and sounds better than most any guitar hanging in the music stores. It can be done. There are more resources available to you now than any luthier had even 10 years ago. Books, DVDs, online videos, numerous websites of individual luthiers that document step-by-step many/most of the processes, and several forums full of luthiers willing and able to help you.

Unless you are already very good with your hands, in arts and crafts projects, then I'd say it is likely that a couple years down the road you'll look back at your first guitar and you may be unhappy with it aesthetically. There's a lot of artistry that separates homely looking guitars from pretty nice looking guitars from very nice looking guitars from awesome looking guitars. That is, however, a completely different thing from a very good sounding guitar. The guitar could be kinda homely, and could still sound better than most guitars hanging at the local music store. Don't get intimidated by the guitars you see displayed here and on other luthier forums - some of what you are seeing is literally the cream of the crop of the best and most experienced luthiers in the world.

If you start with good materials (a kit would be ideal), without much regard for the "bling" but asking specifically for a high quality soundboard, follow Natelson and that other guy's Tradition and Technology book, and make the soundboard and all of the soundboard braces about 10% thinner than the book states, you can make a very responsive guitar on your first try. (Ask experienced luthiers why their first guitar sound bad, and most will tell you that the primary mistake was over-bracing the top.) I'm sure I'll get some experienced luthiers to disagree with simply going 10% thinner than that book states. I'm a complete beginner and I really have no business offering tips like that, but if you ask 100 experienced luthiers if that is good advice, well, after the dust settles and the feathers are all cleaned up, I'll bet you'd see that most would agree. The vast majority of factory guitars hanging at the music stores are slightly overbraced, on purpose, to make sure they don't have to do warranty work. Luthiers building the highest quality hand built guitars all arrive at different ways to figure out more precisely (by "feel" or "tapping" or deflection measurement) just how thick each different soundboard should be, and just how wide and tall each brace should be, depending on that one soundboard and even specifically what style of guitar is going to be played. You won't have that experience on your first instrument, so I'm suggesting you go with the simple formula of following Natelson's book but go just a little bit thinner than those given "safe" dimensions for the soundboard and braces.

As several people mentioned, check around and see if there is a friendly luthier in your area. Don't expect anyone to take you under their wing for free or spend vast amounts of time with you, but many luthiers will be happy to help a little bit. After I braced my soundboard, I asked Ed Schaefer, who was local to me at the time, whether he thought it was OK or overbraced. Those few minutes of Ed handling and tapping on my soundboard, with the experience he had gained from many year and many guitars, were priceless.

Well, I've probably already said too much, overstepped my boundaries as a beginning luthier myself, but Josh I encourage you to go for it!

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia