Best insurance for me was starting by building a Martin kit which has a very good chance of staying together and sounding decent if you follow the directions.
After seeing that work out build a few more kits for friends at cost and as they are local you can watch what they do for a year or two.
Follow that with a good quality building course where you are taught a method that has stood the test of time. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Start selling at a lower price and concentrate on building as many instruments as you can in your allotted time focusing on playability, fit and finish, and minor tweaks that hopefully will have tonal consequences based on feedback from players.
Don’t waste time on excessive bling and fancy appointments at first. Focus on volume.
Use good stable and relatively inexpensive woods like Mahogany or IRW with proven performance and pay strict attention to your building environment as far as temperature and humidity.
Try to hook up with some pro level players who will give you candid feedback as to your progress .
Be honest with customers as to your experience and try to keep track of your early instruments as to any issues that arise. Make small tweaks as needed as you gain experience.
Just one formula that I think works. There will always be small issues to deal with but catastrophic events should be rare to non existent. It takes a long time to find your sweet spot, in fact I am not sure anyone actually does. Lutherie is a bottomless pit.
Many other paths I am sure.
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