Official Luthiers Forum!

I learned by repairing and restoring maybe three dozen vintage guitars before building my first, from simple neck resets to near total restorations. I just completed my 54th a few days ago. I don't keep the soundhole rings.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

25 is FP'd and ready for final set up after some more cure time. 26 is on the Solera. I lost a couple of my soundhole cutouts along the way somehow. The guitars have started to sound real good in the twenties.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

Oh, boy. I started doing repairs in the late 70's and built my first in the early 80's. Sometimes I was so busy I didn't even photoraph them for posterity. Maybe I should have kept better records or a journal.

It's probably repairs of all kinds in the ten thousands, and probably close to a hundred for builds.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I have numbers 97-101 currently in process .... ten years as a full time builder, 15 odd years before that building as a hobby, probably built 6-7 over that time.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I am almost done with 30, and have the next 6 in progress. Though I will say that the greater majority of these were electrics and basses, but most of my work is transitioning to acoustics. 8 of my 9 next orders are all acoustics.

Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

I built my first around 1979. It was many years before No.2 and up until around early 2000's I'd probably chalked up around 15. It's only in the last 6 years that I've making them in decent (for me) numbers. I've never numbered or kept count but I guess I'm close to 60. This year has been awfully slow though. . .

Stephen, I am so impressed that you have built this many this quick! Kudos for you.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I never kept count at first but I've estimated I have probably built about 40 acoustic guitars (Spanish and steel string) and a total of 60 instruments including bass's and electric guitars. I've done a few restorations on guitars and mandolins and have done countless common repairs including neck resets, re-top, cracks, bridges, etc... I don't accomplish nearly as much anymore but still crank out maybe 2-3 guitars a year.

Working on #35 acoustics + 4 electric

Have taught over 100 students in build classes at Marc Adams School of Woodworking

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John Ressler

36 and 37 are in process now (acoustic steel strings). I've done a bunch of neck resets, re frets ect over the last 30 years, as well as over 50 re finishes on factory guitars. I've built a couple Violins, a mandolin and 1 electric.

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

#78 is delivered. #79-85 are underway. I've also built a bunch of necks and bridges for another builder, strung up at least 10 test tops, and done some repair work.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I just strung #57 yesterday.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

32 is finished. 33 & 34 almost ready for the spray room. 35 & 36 on the drawing board. Mostly acoustic steel strings. A few Irish bouzouki's, 3 Weissenbornes & one Appalachian dulcimer (built for my wife back in '82).
I built the first 4 in the early '80s & started up again in '01. In the meantime I have restored & re-topped half a dozen guitars & one archtop mando. A few casual students (Danny V for one) built their first instruments in my shop.
I am getting quite a bit of repair work, these days & really enjoy it. Always good when a customer hands over a small pile of cash & walks away with a playable instrument AND a smile.
I do guitar work in the off season & look after a fleet of bareboat charter vessels in the summer months. Soon, I hope to be able to drop the boat work & spend all year in the shop, but for now, the summer income is a necessity.

I started back in 94 and am working on #34, I'm slow but I reasearch a lot. Probably too much.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Closing in on 40 (of various types, metal, wood, acoustic, electric, resonator) but I'd have to access my cranial structure to get an exact number.
I really should write this stuff down.

Working on number #183 currently

Plus another 50-ish electrics

Plus another 40-ish ukes

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Studied instrument repair at college, guitar making at university, built 7 guitars solo, worked on 300+ guitars, bouzoukis, citterns and mandolins at Fylde Guitars. Worked for four music shops over the course of 20+ years, done hundreds of repairs, the majority on electrics. Set up and repaired over 5000 steel-string guitars working for the distributors of Freshman guitars. Haven't built a guitar for about 9 years, haven't done any serious guitar work for over 6 years. Thinking maybe I'd like to get back in to it again...

I'm working on acoustic #24 right now, getting ready to close in the box, and have 1 electric and 2 electric basses with my name on them. For my acoustics I started getting happy with how they looked and sounded in the late teens, though there is still a lot of growth to experience.

Though I don't post here much I am certainly an avid reader and consumer of information, so thanks for all the help guys.

Kent

About 80 chambered electrics and 3 acoustics!

Just starting this year batch of 12 electrics.

Well about 5 years back me figured me has pounded in well over 12,000 frets.

A few of them instruments were guitars. And no that was not on an assembly line in some factory Truth is me really don't know how many boxes me has strung up. One day you get to a point were it don't really matter any more cuz me still don't know diddly about loofierizeming.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Oh ya, and thanks for that Coach. I haven't been the same since. Seriously, I really appreciate all the shared knowledge and that goes for the rest of you lot too. You guys certainly make it a lot easier. Thanks!

Cheers,
Danny

Let's see, I'm up to just past acoustic guitar #110: not a lot in almost forty years. I've lost track of the numbers of some of the other instruments I've built: I know I got past 150 mountain dulcimers, and I'm pretty sure I've built about 40 harps and a similar number of hammered dulcimers. I must be close to that forty with fiddles of all sorts, too; maybe even as many as fifty. Not more than a dozen each of hurdy-gurdies, bowed psaltries, lutes, and the oddball individual English guittar, and other such, some, no doubt, forgotten. Oh yeah, one banjo (from a kit), and my only solid-body anything was an electric 5-string viola with frets (an example of the 'Golden Rule': 'He who has the gold, makes the rule'. The customer insisted on the frets). I also finished putting together a harpsichord kit for somebody once: voicing is a trip!

Anyway, the small number of completed instruments is no doubt a reflection of the time the 'science fair projects' take. The problem with science is that you're always doing something you're not good at...

Students take a certain amount of time too: I'd have to say that my students must have put together something like 75-100 guitars in my classes, along with a few fiddles, dulcimers, a couple of resos, some mandolins, and one 'guitar machine'. I don't do much repair any more, but that was a real time consuming item, especially the double basses...

I'm at about 17 elecs. and acoustics, combined.
Acoustics about 6?
Guess I shouldn't post on this thread.
I did though.
I ain't gonna stop!
Duaracell battry here.
mispelled battery on purpose.
I don't care.

I just made it to 26 if I count 2 electrics.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I'm working on 48 and 49.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.