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I'm wanting to order a reference book or two.

Which references do you consider must-haves?

Which ones are your regular go-to sources?

Which finishing books/woods reference books/hand tool books do you consider good reference materials?

I'm getting together an Amazon order specific to luthier how-to and peripherals.

Edit to add steel string focus. I'm thinking 2 or 3 slam dunks, with maybe one or two personal favorites.

Thanks so much for your responses.

Good post... always looking for recommended reference sources.....

Current References Books;

5 Red Books (GAL)
2 Green Books (GAL)
Guitars; Cumpiano, Courtnall, Bogdanovich,Somogyi, Williams, Siminoff

Guitar Repair-Kamimoto, Sloane.

Get rid of any of them?...not right now...


Wish List;

Left Brain Luth?
USDA Forestry/Timber specs.?
Others?...

Arnie-
You will get recommendations for Cumpiano & Natelson, I'm sure. Probably a good choice, though I don't care for it much as it makes just about 'everything' seem mind-numbingly complicated (for me). The interleaved info on classical building adds to the problem for some of us. If you get it, be sure to consult William Cumpiano's website for corrections and updates to the book.
Kinkead is a pretty 'standard' SS book, so I'd recommend it. It also comes with some reasonable plans included.

It's a rare (and poor) book that doesn't teach me something, so I have a lot of them! Picking one or two is tough!

Cheers
John

Filippo-
What did you find there that was useful?

It seems a bit dated to me (not surprising, the stuff is from 30 yrs ago) with a lot of talk about Kasha theory and such, previews of stuff from Cumpiano's 'upcoming book' etc.

Which are the 'Don't miss this!' articles in the list, for you?

Cheers
John

I think you should get some DVD's too. Dan Erlewine's complete fretting set and setup and even the finishing ones are good to have. The Larry Robinson Inlay set is a must too.

I suppose I should have added my list of current references.....

All of these are what I consider good to excellent, but I wondered if there was something out there I was missing.

"Guitarmaking" by Campiano/Natelson (1987)

"Guitar Repair" by Sloane

"Guitar Player Repair Guide" by Erlewine

"Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar" by KinKead

The GAL books mentioned above sure have me intrigued.

It's not on Amazon, but I am really, really enjoying the Somogyi books, The Responsive Guitar" and "The Making of the Responsive Guitar." It's an expensive set, but it didn't take long for me to see that they were worth the price. And I was originally a doubter in the value of these. I always wondered if the initial positive reviews were because noone wants to admit spending that kind of money on 2 books and being disappointed.

Hardly anyone talks about "The Making of..." volume, but it is rich with good information and history. This "Making of" volume is very detailed and instructive, as opposed to the voicing volume which is more general and theoretical. The theory in The Responsive Guitar might be a bit advanced for someone starting out, but I still think it'd be valuable to start keeping these principles in mind from the get-go. Both are very dense books, lots to dig into and re-read. Ervin's is not a dense writing style, though, easy to read in that respect.

They are expensive, about $280 shipped from LMI. I rationalized the price in my head in two ways:
1. I've paid more for college engineering texts that I only used for 4 months.
2. If what I learn saves only one guitar from being a clunker relegated to the closet or burn-pile, it will have been worth it just for that.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

+1 for the Somogyi boxed set. Benedetto's book although about archtop construction has lots of useful info including how to find the nodes on a plate etc.

And last but the least expensive is Stew-Mac's Dreadn*ught kit instructions available free-for-download from our friends at Stew-Mac. Many of the methods described in SM's kit instructions are great methods.