The fastest way to get up and running in guitar building is to take a class. Not only do you go from zero to a completed functional guitar in a relatively short time, but you also learn inside tips on what and how to do things and just as importantly what and how not to do things based on the instructor's experience. You also learn what tools are necessary and which ones are nice to have but not essential.
My first class was through a wood worker's coop in the next city over and eight other students and I each built classical guitars. My second class was with one other student in which we built steel string guitars. It was taught by a local luthier who had been building about 25 years. After that, I was able to build just fine on my own.
Since you are near a big city, you might be able to track down a building class or get a local luthier to do a class for you.
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