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  #1  
Old 07-25-2009, 03:41 PM
tuckomf tuckomf is offline
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Default Building An Acoustic

Hello everyone. I decided that all the wood I've amassed should probably be put to use, so I'm taking on the challenge of building a guitar for myself.
Any tips, tricks, or recommendations that don't involve buying power tools are welcome at any time.

So far, I've designed a headstock shape and some other cosmetic and structural effects. The back is going to be a three piece, since the piece of mahogany that I've chosen has some beautiful figure to it, but isn't quite wide enough for a dreadnought. I'm going to make a smaller version of the back out of the scrap that I have left to overlay the headstock. The headstock shape itself is hard to describe, and I'll be posting pictures once I get it cut out.

On another note, I've weighed the options of building something that's known to work (i.e. the dreadnought with x-bracing that's available in kit form) versus experimenting, and I think I'd rather experiment with it. I've come up with a structural bracing pattern that should keep everything rigid and allow the top to vibrate, so hopefully that will give me good results. I'm hesitant to kind of branch off on my own, but I think it's either going to be satisfying, or a learning experience if nothing else. The ultimate goal is to build myself an original one-of-a-kind guitar, and I think the only way I can really do that with such an established design is to create everything from scratch. It's not going to be a wild deviation by any means, but it's going to be apparently different to those in the know. I'm probably going to move this to the acoustic section, just so I don't have to dig it up here in the lounge every time I make an update.

If anyone has any recommendations for tuners, undersaddle pickups, fret wire, and fret wire/saws/radius equipment, I'd really appreciate the input.

Also, if you've made it this far in my post, thank you.

Stay tuned.
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Old 07-25-2009, 03:51 PM
cc132 cc132 is offline
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You're in my prayers.
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Old 07-25-2009, 04:05 PM
tuckomf tuckomf is offline
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haha. Thanks man. I tend to be a pretty patient person, but I foresee a lot of cursing and thrashing about in my future.
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Old 07-25-2009, 04:13 PM
cc132 cc132 is offline
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Someday, when I have the time, money and patience, I'm going to pay someone to teach me how to build guitars. I have a lot of hobbies that I've pretty well been able to figure out on my own (or, at the very least, with a small amount of guidance), but building a guitar just seems like such a monumental task that I don't think I could do it alone.
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Old 07-25-2009, 04:18 PM
Matt Mustapick Matt Mustapick is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tuckomf View Post
Any tips, tricks, or recommendations that don't involve buying power tools are welcome at any time.
Start making sawdust and solving each problem as it arises. The more specific your questions become the more easily you will find the answers.
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Old 07-25-2009, 04:23 PM
coreybox coreybox is offline
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Sounds awesome.

If it was me, I'd do my first build with less than stellar wood. I'd want to make sure I had it down before using any of your good stuff.
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  #7  
Old 07-25-2009, 10:23 PM
BlackHeart BlackHeart is offline
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Retop an already built guitar, and do a couple tops, take the best top, retop the guitar. It is the cheapest and fastest. You learn to take apart, and put it back together, minimum of tools etc. Tools kill ya..$$$ Never ends. Building jigs etc....
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  #8  
Old 07-26-2009, 02:38 AM
alohachris alohachris is offline
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Default Bravo! Building one is an Essential for ANYONE who's into guitars!

Aloha,

It's fantastic that you're ignoring the lazy naysayers here who can't conceive of making their own guitars. To me, I can't see why everyone claiming to be really into guitars wouldn't try at least one from scratch or from a kit - at least once. Some of these posters spend more time here BS'ing than playing. They should learn from you how to channel their time and creativity into truly understanding the acoustic guitar by building one.

Matt's got it right, get into it and all the answers and questions will unfold. Build a couple. Incorporate your ideas. Then go looking for advice, not before. That's the best way to learn, IMO.

I built my first guitar in '75, a deeper, 00-sized all-Koa (when Koa was pretty much an unknown and not yet re-popular) with a large oval soundhole, 2-1/8" wide nut (I have huge hands), Brazilian RW bridge, bindings and purflings, gold MOP rosette, real Honduras neck, and jet-black ebony fretboard. Used an original X and scalloped fan bracing pattern that luckily worked well, making the guitar very responsive for fingerstyle, tunings and recording. Even made my own case for it which really helped when I travelled with it to over 60 countries gigging. Never got a scratch on it! Too heavy to carry that case now. It's in my "museum."

On that first guitar and the second, I DID NOT USE A SINGLE POWER TOOL! Not even a router for the binding or rosette channels. Why? Because I wanted to make the connection to all the past luthiers who never had power tools. There is a lot of wisdom to be learned without electricity in wood working. Tonal lessons in working slower.

Today, there are so many resources and specialty tools available. But you really don't NEED that much in terms of tools for a single guitar. Dremel tools and good quality files and chisels would be more useful to you now than say a plunge router. Keep it simple and make your own jigs. I even made all my own Cam clamps and kerfing clamps from clothespins and rubberbands.

The process doesn't have to bankrupt you at all - the tools. Stay away from LMI & Stewmac, except for a few items. They're gougers. You don't need large scale power tools either. Start with a drill or two and a very good r.o. sander and build from there. A small bandsaw, a stationary sander, and a small drill press would also help. Go to Craigslist.

In terms of finish, find someone who has a well-lit, ventilated spray booth, a compressor and space for you to work and try and negotiate with them. Most who give booth time will expect you to provide your own gun. I used Preval aerosol sprayers on my first couple - still great for repairs - and cheap. I took my time and got a great and even result. Still shines and looks as good as a factory finish and is so much thinner.

At the time I made my first, there were only a couple of books about guitar construction available, some GAL data sheets, and a small number of very cool hippie luthiers who offered telephone apprenticeship to this rank amateur with no woodworking skills, free of charge. Amazing people. People like Richard Schneider, Nick Kukich, Tim Olson and Ervin Somogyi - Da Gaddfathas!

Thirty one years later, I still gig several nights a week with that first Koa guitar and two others I made for myself. I made over 200 guitars and almost 1,000 instruments total as a pro luthier in the 70's and 80's before stepping back into amateur status.

I'm making three more (probably my last) for myself as I write this. It's slow going but I'm still experimenting with woods (one is Port Orford Cedar/Macassar ebony combo), bracing and designs. I mean, why copy Dreadnaughts? They're imbalanced to begin with, right? And once again, I'm back to using mostly hand tools on these. The circle is completing. Perfect.

Sorry to ramble. A few tips.

Before building, I bought cheap swap meet guitars and made them playable, hundreds of them, using basic hand and power tools. It really helped me understand guitar structure and the forces placed upon them. Then I moved up to better quality instruments for repairs and then made my own. To date, I've reset more than 250 guitar necks, mostly on Martins and their copies. Hope I never have to do one again. Repairs are a different mindset than creation.

Try to get into arched bracing concepts ASAP in your learning curve (certainly before you do built-in armrests or soundports - tomorrow's repair headaches, IMO). They make a huge difference. Read all about it though before doing it. hint: you don't arch the braces above the soundhole.

Have in mind a particular brand and gauge of strings as you work your top, brace and then set up your new guitar and stick to it.

Use a FULLY (not just the B-String) compensated saddle (more like 3/16" wide than 1/8"). Makes a huge difference in playability especially as strings age and playing up the neck.

Don't use plastic anything (pickguards, bindings, bridgepins, etc.) It'll bite you down the road and esthetically doesn't work with the beauty of natural finished tonewoods. Plastic shrinks at a different rate than hardwoods, especially those under 250 lbs. per square inch. Factories need to use it for production schedules. You Don't!

Use an adjstable trussrod (like the popular Martin ones) that adjusts through the soundhole not at the headstock. I've repaired hundreds of Gibson headstocks that fell over revealing that design flaw (not enough meat on the neck beneath the trussrod slot.) Any guitar is going to fall over someday. Why leave that one to chance?

Don't bind the fingerboard or headstock on your first guitar. KISS. Don't get carried away with abalone inlays or herringbone. Fingerboards look so much classier when unbound and not inlayed. Just use side dot markers on it.

Don't copy Martin bridges. Your bridge pin holes must not share the same grain line (eventual cracks - especially if the bridge needs to be thinned down the road). So parallel the saddle angle or use a curve for the pinholes a la Ryan, Olson and many others.

True the fingerboard and hammer-in the frets after the neck has been put on.

Don't struggle with dovetail joints. The only joints I've seen fail in mid-to higher end guitars have been dovetails. Mortise and tenons bolted on work great without glue in the joint with modern fasteners. Consider barrel bolts!

Take a lot of time shaping the neck to your hands. It's one of the true joys in luthiery. Huge hands are how I got into all of this.

Create a dedicated, well lit with natural light, small space for building. You don't need much space. Remember, it's more a craft than a trade. Keep it clean. Watch your humidity in the space.

Buy a waterstone and keep it in Tupperwear submerged near your bench. You'll need it. Highly sharpened tools are the only tools you should use and they're actually safer - less force.

Since it's a hobby, only work when you're really into it. Don't force it. Allow wood to rest between takes, especially when carving braces. If you get pissed at your wife, don't go near the shop (don't ask).

Don't put too much finish on. This one's for you and is all about sound, not factory guarantees or travelling around the world.

Build with as little tension as you can. Fit everything first. Try using routers and depths on scrap wood before using on guitars.

Finally, we know so much more now about art and craft hazards than just 30 years ago. Always work safely. Use gloves and change them often. Always wear a good OSHA spray mask when spraying AND sanding in between coats. Always. There are plenty of older luthiers suffering with perpetual migraines out there because they just did what their fathers did and went maskless. That stuff is carcinogenic and is poison!

Pay attention to certain woods known to be allergants and irritants - like Cocobolo or Bloodwood for bindings, even Pau Ferro (Bolivian RW).

Hope these few hints help you a bit. The cool thing is that you're doing it - in an age that has moved almost completetly away from craftmanship and actually building something you need.

So Bravo, brother. Remember, it's only a guitar, not a house. Anything you screw up can be easily fixed and you'll learn so much in the process - more than the naysayers here, that's for sure. Keep positive about mistakes. The knowledge is worth it. And so is the result. It will bring you to a deeper level of appreciation in your music as well. It sure has for me.

It's ironic to be saying this on the AGF forum, home of the perpetual guitar turnover, but,,,one of the great satisfactions for me has been playing my now 30 y.o. guitars and enjoying it so much as they age. Over 30 years of building in My Tone into these boxes. Thousands of songs and gigs and venues and stories. They've certainly been truer to me than any of the ladies in my life have, that's for sure. They're my best friends. And now, after these decades of playing them all the time, they just sound so good to me! They're all that they can be tonally! May you have the same experience. And please! Keep your first one!

As my grandad said, "If you need or want something and can't afford it, then build it yourself or do without!"

Go for it Brah!

A Hui hou!
alohachris
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  #9  
Old 07-26-2009, 05:44 AM
Wolf Wolf is offline
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Alohacris; thank you, that's realy inspiering thoughts. I too is planing to build me a couple of guitars. I halfway whit an electric, but the aucustic is so much more in my tast at the moment. And i do like your thoughts on power tools.
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  #10  
Old 07-26-2009, 08:50 AM
cc132 cc132 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alohachris View Post
On that first guitar and the second, I DID NOT USE A SINGLE POWER TOOL! Not even a router for the binding or rosette channels. Why? Because I wanted to make the connection to all the past luthiers who never had power tools. There is a lot of wisdom to be learned without electricity in wood working. Tonal lessons in working slower.
This entire post is easily the most inspiring I've read regarding building. I've always wanted to, I just have no woodworking experience, so the whole task seems sort of monumental.
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  #11  
Old 07-26-2009, 10:24 AM
stringbr8kr stringbr8kr is offline
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As a beginning guitarist and a long time woodworker, I also had the bug to build my own guitar, and just finished it last week. I built a OM size to compliment my Custom Shop Martin Dread (D-40 specs) and my Taylor 654ce 12 string. Back and sides AAAA Koa, Master Grade red cedar top with Purpleheart from South America being used for the rosette and binding. Since I had no clear idea where to begin, I asked a local guitar builder in PA (Kevin Gallagher of Omega Guitars) if he would be interested in teaching me or at least getting me started in the right direction. He was more than interested and has become a great friend through the process. It took us the equivalent of just over 40 hours together to fully complete the guitar. I actually am thinking about making guitar building a hobby or a retirement source of income in the future. Although I am a highly skilled woodworker, where I really had no clue was in the "true" voicing of the top and bracing techniques used depending on the tap tone and various wood combinations. He did mention that he is considering doing more of the one on one build classes (what I did) at his shop- you may consider checking into a local luthier/builder close to you to see if they would help with or teach the overall process. It really made the outcome of my project amazing- most of my friends who have seen and played it over the last few days have commented that it is the best they have ever played- It was built correctly and that is why I will say that it has now replaced my custom shop Martin as the top dog in our house. Do it right the first time especially since it sounds like you have some quality wood- Measure twice / cut once and fire up the drum and belt sanders- they will be your best friends.
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Old 07-26-2009, 05:43 PM
alohachris alohachris is offline
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Default Woods?

Aloha TuckomF,

What combination of woods are you looking at for your new guitar?

alohachris
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  #13  
Old 07-30-2009, 07:51 PM
tuckomf tuckomf is offline
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Default woods.

Mahalo, Chris, for all your input.

The back is a 3 piece with a maple center wedge and mahogany on either side, with mahogany sides. The neck is also mahogany, and the fretboard and bridge will be rosewood.

P.S. - I sent a PM your way.
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Gibson J-45
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Peavey Aberdeen
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  #14  
Old 07-30-2009, 09:33 PM
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patticake patticake is offline
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might want to read this entire thread if you haven't already
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=157945

Yamaha Junkie is doing a great job of documenting his progress, including things that had to be redone
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  #15  
Old 07-31-2009, 05:10 AM
axmaster axmaster is offline
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I did a guitar building course at a local luthier. That got me off on a good start. If you can, get in touch with a local luthier.

Besides all the usefull info found on the AGF, the MIMF forum, the usual books (Cumpiano, Kinkade etc.) the one thing I have learned is that many parts of construction can be done in various ways. You just have to find the way that suits you! Also check out http://www.liutaiomottola.com. I recently found this site, and I think it is very usefull.

But first and foremost: be patient. Building a guitar takes a lot of time and comes with a lot of frustration!

Good luck with your first guitar.

Regards, Peter
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