Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Coke...do you still need some reassurance/encouragement?
When I first started, I couldn't even drive a nail with a hammer.
First job out of college was with a framing crew, where the head carpenter said, "Boys, we're gonna frame this one by hand". No nail guns. Alas, his favorite nail was a box nail, which isn't much more than slender wire with a head. I proceeded to bend half that first box.

Much embarrassment and ribbing later, I could handle a hammer.
From there things went pretty well, as comfort with tools began to grow on me and become second nature.

The point of the story is to say that this really helped when it came time to build guitars. Confidence built from pressing through your mistakes is invaluable. Especially since you will always make them, and the sooner you learn how to deal with them--to realize that they aren't the end of the world--the better. Like Zlurgh said, if you don't quit, you'll succeed. (Well, that's essentially what he said.)

Best to you,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Same boat - BIG BOAT!

It gives me lots of mediation time at night... "How the H$ll do I do this/that?" Better than reading to put you to sleep.

I've bent sides using an exhaust pipe with bbque starter - got a lot of good scorching (starting with curly maple; perhaps not the best idea). Nice looking rosette (with TONS of gaps). Top to thin (.085 WRC), trying to figure out how to brace it so it doesn't blow up. Sides cupped - still sanding. Laminated sides (one side with Titebond, the other with Laminate glue resin - which I LOVE btw). Lots of emailing Mr. Bogdanovich asking ... uh, what?? (He's wonderful in his reply's and time).

I don't think I'll continue because I couldn't list everything wrong with EVERY piece, but you know what? I'm having a blast! I can't wait to close the box. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I can't wait. I can't wait to figure out how to cut the binding channels.. well maybe I can wait for that.

Bottom line, it's one of the best journey's I've been on in a long time. I started about 8 months ago and.. well you can see how far I've gotten. People keep asking "are you done yet?", "by Christmas?", and I just smile.

I work at home, so I spend TONS of time lurking, reading, reading, thinking, reading; you get the picture. Everyone here is wonderful. I ask and almost always someone has something to say. I've asked Chris P. for photo's of his jigs and he sends them (thanks Chris). I'm here to cry with you , laugh with you , bang our heads together with you , and generally help keep the boat from sinking.

Keep it up! I know I will.
Steve

There is a guy here who attached the peghead to the butt of the guitar... That ought to motivate you.

I just finished this guitar. I had almost no wood working experience. I build it from a LMI kit which helped, I was afraid of carving the neck. I have been slowly gathering tools to be able to build a scratch guitar.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I know how you feel. I personally have built 6 First guitars....

Seriously, the first guitar is a milestone, and there is no feeling quite like putting the strings on number one, getting it tuned up, and strumming a few chords.

The goal with your first needs to be, to simply GET IT DONE. I know I had at least a dozen serious detours on my first, from routing my truss rod channel straight through the back of the neck (yeah, I've learned to take successive shallow cuts since then) and a host of other screwups. We all want the first to be perfect - that's natural - but if you can approach it with an attitude of the journey being at least half of the fun, (and being proud of yourself when you're able to put the tools down after a dumb mistake, come back to it in the morning, and start fresh) you'll get enormous payback out of completing the first.

Oh yeah, and "measure twice, cut once" (I'm still learning that one).

It's an addictive passion - if you get this first one done, you'll find #2 50% easier, and so on.

Good luck!!

P.S. - I'm not going to post a picture of #1 - while I haven't put it in the burn pile, I also don't think it's worthy of photographic immortality

I'm actually refinishing my first two guitars (I just strung up #18) now and repairing many of the cosmetic glitches I made back then. It's fun to go over them and understand why I made those mistakes and what I do now to prevent them. Long story short, perserverance always wins. The secret is a positive approach over the appropriate period of time and there's NO WAY you can fail.

Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

I made my first from scratch. No pre-fab parts, only hand tools. I had a book, but never really read it all the way. I basically looked at a guitar and built one. It sucked, but I learned a lot. When you first start it's not mainly about the end result. The main goal is learning. These days with all the info out there on how to build new builders have a huge jump start on how to do things quickly and turn out a decent result. However if you rely on pre-fab parts, and other peoples recipes your learning curve will be very very slow.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com