[charles Tauber]

Twilo,

Your chronicles of your first instrument making experience highlight that there are three primary aspects to instrument making. The first is, for wooden instruments, good woodworking skills and a knowledge of wood as a material. The second is design skills, allowing one to make aesthetic choices about sizes, shapes and proportions and to implement them. The third is a knowledge of instruments, themselves, and the forces imposed on them and how to use materials and design choices to obtain a desired response (tone). While there are other aspects that go into instrument making, those are, perhaps, the most fundamental.

It is, as you are discovering, very difficult to do woodworking without a fair amount of knowledge about the material and the tools to work it. Many very fine instruments have been made with nothing but handtools. Machinery can be used to replace much of the handtool work, but one still needs to be skilled at using the machinery. One can learn these skills as one goes, or one can learn these skills independently. One can learn these skills from books, videos or by taking classes. There are, however, many skills to be learned, from how to setup a hand plane, to sharpening tools, to using a cabinet scraper, use of abrasives, adhesives... The more direct the approach to developing these skills, the sooner one can apply them to instrument making. Being entirely self-taught is, for many, a very long road filled with frustration and money wasted on ill-informed wood and tool purchases.

It might be very helpful for you to find an introductory woodworking course at a local high school, college, or woodworking store. You might investigate robcosman.com.


It is by far, much easier to learn to make instruments by taking a hands-on course. There are now many to choose from, including local schools dedicated to instrument making, colleges and even a few on-line courses, such as Robbie O'Brien's. Doing so, gives you one method or sequence to successfully use. It will provide you with practical, proven approaches for each step. It can reduce the trial-and-error and its associated frustration. One really cannot learn to make instruments via internet discussion forums. Sure, one can pick-up a few tips and tricks, but not much more. To assemble those into a cohesive approach is a difficult undertaking.

Building instrument kits can be a good introduction to instrument making, but it can also be a very frustrating one if one does not have the background skills necessary or if one lacks sufficient instruction on how to assemble the kit. Some kits come with detailed instructions, others less so. Some kits are better designed to ensure a novice's success, others less so.