Anyone ever built an acoustic guitar?

If you have any inclination to do this at all, I would encourage you to go ahead and do it, and without reservation to whether you would build a second one. And if a guitar is too much at first (it is a heck of a project), get your chops up to speed with a few of these:
http://craggymtnmusic.com/dulcimer_kits.html

What these give you is a trial run at nearly every concept you'll encounter in guitarmaking, but with pretty low risk.

The following link is to the guitar builder's bible, which is worth the purchase price just to read the thing and be transported.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0811806405/themusicianandinA/103-5362094-2398234

Lurk around the MIMF site for a few weeks and you'll pick up an amazing amount of information and perspective. Hope you get bitten by the bug...

:)
 
Tdukex,
Yeah, I've recently looked into those kits, I am still trying to decide if I want to go that way and maybe sub some different materials in there for variety. Thanks for the link

Treeline,
Thanks for the advice. I picked up the Cumpiano book at the library a couyple of weeks ago and I think I've already been bit. Now if I could just fester some cash instead of this itchy rash...:D :D

Pete
 
I spec'd and priced my ideal materials, from top to glue to finish materials, and ended up with a whopping $615.90. That's not even counting the time it takes to do the actual building. I'm leaning a little more towards a kit project for my first venture, where everything is already in the box and most of it is bent properly to start. They range about $300-$450 new, and around $250-$350 on ebay.

Pete
 
Start small - that's why I suggested a dulcimer. Building one of these is like a course in woodworking, luthery, acoustics, physics, and so forth, all rolled into one. For about $150.00 plus a few basic hardware shop tools (a biggie is simply learning to keep edges sharp), including clamps you can make (that's right - you can make Klemmsia cam - style clamps out of plywood and they're way better than the ones you are likely to buy) (and you can learn the art of rope clamping, a technique imported from Spanish luthiers of two centuries ago, and works slick), you can build something that makes really nice music and then remember all the damn fool mistakes you made - so the guitar kit doesn't suffer for them.
 
I share flat with a guy who's in guitar-building "school".. I got a custom Les Paul for ~500$... I can assure you that it's a LOT cheaper than buying a guitar... He's built 4 accoustic guitars, 1 electric (mine) and an accoutic bass so far.. They all sound INCREDIBLE... No wonder the guy got a ~2000$ scholarship..
 
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