Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaptonWannabe2
The cost of proper tools is what is ominous. Just to build a few guitars.
What size equipment do you hobbyists get away with? Meaning for instance, a wood planer. You can get a hand planer all the way up to a $10000 planer that takes as much space in a garage as a car. Same can go for a table saw and a router with table. Drill press too.
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It depends upon what experience you want to have and how much you want it.
It is entirely possible to build a high quality guitar using only hand tools. I started out with a handful of hand tools and a router.
Good hand tools aren't necessarily cheap, though one can often recondition inexpensively-purchased second-hand tools.
Good wood is where you find it, re-purposed or "new". Not a huge amount of furniture, for example, was made with quartersawn lumber with little runout. Finding wood that is 8" wide that fits that bill is also less common. Building with 3, 4 or more narrower boards, and joining them, opens additional possibilities.
One doesn't make a guitar to save money on buying a guitar - particularly these days with off-shore imports. As someone on the forum once wrote, trying to save money by making one's own guitar is like trying to save money on fish by buying one's own fishing boat.