Has Anyone Tried a Stew-Mac Guitar Kit?
 

I have a few guitars that I really love. 2.5 to be exact if I count my Martin, however I am kind of intrigued by the kits that companies like stew-mac offer. I think I am pretty mechanically savvy etc and thought I might try building my own OO or OM that they offer. I would love to hear from anyone who has made this leap. Quality of parts/pieces, time, tools, difficulty and of course, Final Product. I think regardless of it not me a Collings or a custom-shop, it would be pretty satisfying to finish one and it be all yours. Thoughts please. Thanks Scott Oops, I see that their is a DIY section. I guess I will get moved, but I want someone to see it. Oh well.

There's also an entire kit-building forum here http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/

I finished a Martin HD-28 kit a few months ago and am now working on 3 more guitars. The Martin kit I exchanged out a Master Grade Adirondack Spruce top. Glad I did. This is a nice sounding guitar. The best sounding one I own. Stew Mac Kits are fine. I bought mine from Blues Creek Guitars about the same price. Mine is actual Martin parts but the Stew Mac kits are just as good. This is the forum you want to follow:

http://www.kitguitarforum.com/

Bill Cory on this forum sells a very good book on how to build guitars. You run into a problem you can ask on the forum. In my case I ran into problems a couple times and called John at Blues Creek Guitars and he talked me through it. Its actually easier than you might think.

Don't skip any instructions and get a book on finishing. Also look at Luthiers Mercantile International. I use their glue. Its kind of pricy mainly because their shipping costs are high $8.50 is the minimum charge. Their glue has been shown to have the best sonic properties. Whatever you do do not order any Ivoriod binding from them. They have the goofy idea that it is a hazardous substance and needs special handling so costs like $20 to ship it. No one else does that. The one I ordered wasn't even the right one.

Good luck. Its a lot of hurry up and wait.

It is an excellent kit! Stew Mac is a great company. But it is not as easy to put together as the name kit implies, in fact no kit is (its not like building a model car kit). I learned a lot of the different guitar repairs under a master luthier before I built one, I had his help and it turned out great. Now I build guitars from scratch. If put together right it will make you an excellent guitar but if put together wrong it will make expensive fire wood.

It doesn't take a whole lot of special tools to build one but I would recommend or insist that you buy a body mold.
Blues Creek has a good one: http://www.bluescreekguitars.com/cat...products_id=29

You may also want to try one of his kits or attend one of his classes. John is a great guy to deal with and you will get personal service.

Kit are a fun way to start. The Stew Mac Kit makes a nice guitar. I have seen several made from it. If you think it is "cheap" way to make your own, well you are kidding yourself. With the tools required etc it is like a $800-1000 guitar.

A lot of the specialty tool required steps are done for you in a kit. If you look at Stewmacs website you can down load the instruction manual to get an idea of what it entails. Another option it LMI. They make several levels of kits and also allow you to customize it for particular tonewoods.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/GuitarKitWelcome.asp

This is the website for their Kit Wizard. This lets you customize your kit to your liking. Most luthiers buy supplies from LMI and they are a great company.

I have only heard of stewmac's kits. They seem fine. I was too interested and check out also midwest . . . check em out

http://www.midwestguitar.com/kit.htm

Building a kit is a wonderful way to be introduced to the world of luthierie (luthierism)(luther somethin). You will find it to be addictive, ya can't build just one. I started with a LMII kit 25 instruments ago, it is an intoxicating mixture of physics, carpentry, music, engineering, and art. It is also the hardest thing I've ever tried. The first is playable but crude, the second was better, the one after that was better still, etc. If I ever build a perfect one I'll probably quit.
Go for it!, enjoy!, learn!
If you get stuck P.M. me, I'll be happy to share what little I know. Many others that have gone before you will also be happy to help..... Mikey

I'm building a sitka/mahogany kit from Stewmac right now. Just about to enter the "finishing" stage on it.
I have worked a bit with wood in the past, but not for guitars. Between help at www.kitguitarsforum.com and Bill Cory's book, plus Stewmac's DVD and instructions, I've managet not to mess it up. Actually, the most time consuming part was constructing molds and fixtures, that kind of thing.
A good mold is totally necessary, so I bought one. In addition, I bought a Bosch Colt, which is a small laminate-type router, and a jig from Kenneth Michaels Guitars to use for binding and purfling. That makes the binding almost idiot proof. You will spend a lot for the 1st build, but if you make others, you will already have a lot of what you need.
I've found it to be fun and rewarding, and intend to make several more either with their kits, or LMI's or Ken's or John's.
Go for it, have fun.
BoomerSooner, I just started a topic on my kit in this forum. You can take a look at what came with the kit, and some of the things I've done so far.

Bob

I recently build a flamenco from a LMII and it took me about 10 days (daily). Serviced kits are really easy start as all the most difficult parts are done for you. (mostly due to the lack of tools - like thicknessing, bending etc...).

The guitar is a very fine accoustically and visually. It has great, full volume even that it was a small instrument (flamenco). The kit was good, I got a lot of wood, frankly I still have bracing wood leftover for another guitar!
There were few bits a bit wrong - the slots in fingerboard were too shallow (were they expecting me to thickness it from back?) One of the rosewood binding was from different stock (looks ok after FP, but if you look close enough you see it is bit diff. color)

Cost was about $350 and the result is really great.

Yes
 

Just finished the Stewmac bolt on dreadnought kit. I would recommend this to anyone. Nice kit. Good instructions.Took me around 7 months with a bit of work each week. Like another post said, these aren't cheap. This is a really nice instrument. I tend to judge an instrument more with my ears and hands but these look good too. Loud, responsive, balanced. Hit the strings hard and this is a cannon, caress them and it is still responsive to the softer inputs.The neck is carved large which I so appreciate as way too many necks are smaller than I like. Sorry traditionalists, but the bolt neck makes a lot of sense. I have built just a few guitars before this kit and it was interesting to use the cardboard inner form rather than an outer mold. Pre-bent sides were nice but bending is not hard to do. I like the 2 way trussrod. I sprang for some Waverly tuners ( very nice) and the Stewmac Dremel binding router attachment. That takes a bit of practice but a lot less intimidating than the Porter Cable ( I know, I need to set up a router table). I also bought their finishing kit. I had never used nitrocellulose and it is different to work with but doable. I was after the minimum finish and have not polished it out to a high gloss. I made spool clamps out of wing nuts and threaded rod. Also made bridge clamps from wood scraps and threaded rod too. Made the bridge locating jig from scraps and 2 strings. Despite making a few tools, I have found for me, the Stewmac tools seem expensive until I buy them, then once I use them, they are totally worth it. Anyway, If you have the hand co-ordination and patience to learn to play the guitar, you can build this kit and have an excellent instrument.

Stew Mac sells a "How to build a guitar kit video". I bought the DVD preparing for my kit......then bought out a Luthier shop instead. Go to my first build thread to follow the madness lol
I am headed out to Blues Creek tomorrow. Need anything ;)