Official Luthiers Forum!

I was hoping that a few of you have been able to pick up "The responsive guitar" and "The Making of the responsive guitar," by Ervin Somogyi. I have a good collection of luthiery books in my library but do not have this set. It is quite a price to swallow for two books and I was wondering if any of you could provide their opinions of the books. Many books on the subject are lacking in many ways, but most provide some good enhancements to what you already know.

There are a couple threads on this already, I believe. One of them took me over an hour to read all the way through. I clicked on many of the reference links, too, so if you read it straight through, its shorter.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Jeremy: I also have acquired quite a selection of luthier books over the years and now have both of the Somogyi books.Most books are concerned with the carpentry of guitar construction and very little about how the guitar works.Somogyi's books have a lot of info on how the guitar does what it does.Have read both books and am continuing to reread sections.Have been building guitars off and on since the seventies and have had quite a few light bulb moments while reading these books.They have been worth the price to me and sure wish they were available when I first started building.For any one just starting and getting serious about building they are a must have. Lets hope lots of others will drop in and offer an opinion. Good luck.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I'm not much of a book person, but if I was Mr. Somogyi's books would be on the top of my list, reguardless of price.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

I have them both, and also was lucky enough to listen to Erwin at Healdsburg this year.
He's very impressive in person, and the books are written very much in his regular speaking
style- which does not say "do it this way", but rather gives you some insight into what
tradeoffs you should consider as you make each decision about building a guitar. As a
former engineer I really appreciated how his considerations are backed by science, and
are very logical once he points them out. I believe there are a couple of YouTube articles
showing him speaking. I'd recommend you listen to them if you want to see more of what
I'm trying (rather poorly) to explain.

Anyway, I feel the books were very much worth the price. I'd love to take his course in
guitar building, but it's just to expensive for me. But the books are a good alternative...

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I have them, and would buy them again, given the option. There's a lot of insight for novices and more experienced luthiers alike, in my opinion.

I'm working on my first, and just assumed that "Making the Responsive Guitar" would contribute more to my learning. I was mistaken. The other volume, "The Responsive Guitar" has been incredibly illuminating. Rather than techniques, it talks about principles.

If there are 100 steps on the way to becoming a pretty good guitar builder, I was at about step 5. Reading Somogyi has vaulted me to about step 25.

To all the new guys out there like me, I'd say, if you want a manual for guitar building, stick with Cumpiano. If you want to _understand_ what you're building, read Somogyi.