pisces7378 said:
Hey gang,
I am a complete beginner at making guitars. In fact, I have never done it before. I have several books on the subject, and have a 6 tape VHS cassette on building an acoustic guitar. I have most recently read Benedetto's book on the carve-top acoustic guitar.
Good start.
pisces7378 said:
That is what I want to build.
Oh boy.
We'll get to this in a second.
pisces7378 said:
I have been to Stewert-Mc, and the lmii.com websites, and basically for a here is what I'd be looking at.
Make sure you look at
Luthier Mercantile before you buy anything. They are both quite pricy, but LMI is a much bigger wood dealer, and probably has better and better cured wood.
pisces7378 said:
German Spruce Top $203.75
There is NO reason to start with a piece of German spruce. To be perfectly honest, your first guitar is not likely to be good enough to bother with high end wood like German spruce. Add to that the fact that you are probably wasting a piece of wood which is endangered, and I just don't see the reason. And then there is the quality of the wood. The likelihood of getting a decent set of German spruce these days is vanishingly slim. All the great wood (which by definition has to come from old growth trees, and if you really want I can give you a tome on why) is gone. It has been harvested years ago. The wood you can get these days has very wide and uneven grain lines, which means it is not as stable, strong, or as stiff as you would like. It just doesn't sound like the great old spruces of the past. Use Sitka spruce. I know, a lot of people poo poo it, but they are fools. Sitka is, first of all, the best quality wood you can get, which matters far more than the species of wood. There is still HUGE stands of old growth Sitka, and it is being MUCH better managed than the clear cutting of the past. Sitka is going to be the best available wood for the foreseeable future, and though it might not sell as well, this guitar is not for sale, it is for YOU. Get the best wood (Sitka), not the sexiest wood (German or red, etc.)
Hmmm, I am starting to think this might be a long post.
pisces7378 said:
Big Leaf Maple (Medium Flame) Backs and Sides $206.45
Again, this piece of wood is really not what you want for your first guitar, particularly not you first archtop. Get maple, sure, but get a very plain set. You have never bent wood before, and even a medium flame set of maple sides is going to make you weep like a little baby girl with
a skinned knee. Get at least a few side bent before you try a figured maple. You'll thank me latter, really. It would also cost less.
And you really don't want to even think about the PITA of carving a flamed back plate your first time.
pisces7378 said:
NW Curly Maple Neck Blank 2nd Grade $87.55
Here, I probably can't save you any money, but maybe. First, however, is the weeping. Do yourself a favor, and NEVER, EVER make a maple neck. Really. It is just about the most unpleasant thing you can do to yourself when making a neck (which on the whole is really fun). Make a mahogany neck. You will enjoy yourself a lot more, it will take about a tenth of the time, (maple is fucking hard shit), and you will end up with a better neck. Maple is really unstable wood, and curly maple that much more so. The seasonal movement on a figured maple neck very similar to a diving board after a sperm whale makes a belly flop off of it. I have seen maple necked guitars which need neck resets in the winter, and have so much bow in the summer they are unplayable. We are talking as much as a 1/2 inch of movement here.
Really.
pisces7378 said:
B16B Chevron Purfling Backstrip $5.35
Ebony Fingerboard $18.85
Fretts $6.00
Bone Nutt $4.00
Kerfing x 4 $4.80 x 4 = $19.20
Mahogany End Block $4.80
3x Bracing Wood Sitka Spruce $5.75 x 3 = $17.25
Tail Piece Ebony $19.05
Ebony Head plate $9.95
Other than your fret cost being way low, none of this is all that far off.
pisces7378 said:
Anyway, I have some friends that know some pretty hard core builders. They would have a lot of the tools that I could probably borrow.
This is good. As much as you will need the tools, however, make sure first that a) they will let you use them, and b) that they will help you use them. I, for one, would not let you near my tools in my shop. You have already stated that you know next to nothing about woodwork, and the liability issues for me (as a professional shop) are HUGE. Even if you were Bob Bennedetto himself, I probably would not let you use my shop, but as a rank amateur, there is no way. Even if I was not a professional shop, however, I still would be very concerned about the potential for your causing severe harm to yourself, and my being held responsible. Don't kid yourself, this is a very real issue. I have the home and office phone numbers of a limb surgeon next to every phone in my shop. I am lucky in that we have never needed them, but then everybody in my shop has YEARS of experience, and we still make sure they are using everything safely from time to time. Even hand tools can be dangerous. I have seen pictures of fingers being severed by a sharp chisel.
pisces7378 said:
My only concern right now would be the wood. I want to build a guitar as a practice run so to speak. I want to go to Home Depot (or wherever) and buy some cheap wood that is probably not ideal for a guitar, just so I can practice a few guitars before I buy $600 in wood.
In Benedetto's book he shows a guitar he made out of crap construction grade wood. He said that great wood is a great thing. But you can still build an exception guitar out of the worst wood. Basically he wanted to stress that it is the builder's talent and skill that count more so than $3,000 rare woods.
He's right of course, but then he has been doing this for 30+ years. You have not. That is again, not what I would advise.
So, now to the crux of the matter.
I highly recommend building a guitar. It's fun! It is a great way to spend time which does not involve mind altering substances (at least, not if you want to do a good job). And it keeps you away from the old Cathode Ray (or LCD array) for a while. You learn a lot.
All that being said, an archtop is more than a little ambitious for someone with little to no fine woodwork experience. There is no more difficult instrument to build than an archtop acoustic guitar. You are, I'm afraid, setting yourself up for disappointment, which could very well end your guitar building carrier, which would be too bad, because it really is great hobby.
So, you ask, what do I recommend you do to get started? A flat top steel string kit. Yup, that's right, a kit. Both Stew Mac and LMI make great kits, and they are much more reasonably priced. It gives you a really good, fun, and satisfying in on guitar building. With LMI, you can have them do many of the early stages for you, which is not a bad idea for some things. For instance, you may want to get them to bend your sides for you. Bending by hand, though kind of satisfying, is a nightmare, and the Fox sidebender LMI sells is a real PITA. There are all sorts of ways to do it which work better, but at least to start with, it may be a good idea to have it done for you. Also, thicknessing the plates is very important to a good end result, and without the proper (and VERY expensive) tools, it is extremely difficult. So have them do it for you. They are not going to brace it for you (which is good - bracing is just about the only part of guitar building which comes even close to being an art, and is the most important part of making a design your own), nor are they going to glue anything together for you, but getting some of the rough work done for you is a really great idea.
As for necks, most kits come with necks which are at least partially shaped for you. If you really want to do one yourself, then do, but don't make a one piece neck. They are bad in every way. They rob the guitar of tone (they are so floppy they act kind of like a heat sink, but for the kinetic energy of the vibrating guitar, which is where the sound comes from, after all), they are unstable, and they are a waste of valuable natural resources. A laminated neck is the way to go. You can glue them up so you have the natural movement of the neck working against itself, which means they stay in the same place, and you can add center strips (or not) which will add to the stiffness and stability of the guitar. A stiff neck transfers vibration better, and so sounds better. There is no neck more stable than a laminated neck. It may not be traditional (which is the reason one piece necks are still popular), but it makes for a better neck.
pisces7378 said:
If any of you know of a forums BBS system like this one only for guitar building, let me know.
O.K., I could go on for quite a bit longer, but I think it is better for you to go to a couple of websites:
Luthier’s Mercantile International
Luthier’s Corner on the Acoustic Guitar website
The Guild of American Luthier’s
American Society of Instrument Artisans
Musicians and Instrument Makers Forum
rec.music.makers.builders
Frank Ford's Frets.com is more repair oriented, but Frank is one of the most knowledgeable guys around. And he really loves great sushi, and is a lot of fun when he has had some sake.
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