[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

The first question that comes to my mind is what do you want from having attended the course? For example, is the purpose of the course for you to make a single guitar during the course, or is it to learn how to make guitars so that you can make more of them on your own, in your own shop?

Most guitar-making courses will teach what skills are needed to assemble a guitar. How long/intensive the course is will determine how much of the guitar making steps have been done for you. For example, will you be hand planing tops, backs and sides, or will they already be thicknesses for you? Or will there be a thickness sander available at the course, negating the need to learn how to hand plane them?

What you "need" to know depends on your purpose in attending the course - first paragraph, above. Presumably, the course will provide all tools necessary to complete the course: everything is setup for you, you just have to show up and do the work. After the course, you'll return to your "basic shop in my garage", which is not all setup for you to make guitars.

If your intention is to make more guitars after the course - a bridge that you can cross after you've attended the course and decided if you actually do want to make more guitars - you'll need to setup an adequate shop. That'll include chisels, planes, sharpening methods, suitable bench...

One of the most basic skills is how to setup and sharpen tools so that they are SHARP. That is a skill you can work on prior to the course. Ditto for the use of a cabinet scraper. You can learn about basic aspects of wood structure: grain direction and runout, for example. They might cover that during the course, or not, depending upon the duration of the course.

LMII.com has some articles on aspects of tool usage. robcosman.com has lots of information on plane and chisel setup and sharpening.

It is unlikely that you will be cutting neck joints using hand tools. Your current knowledge level is probably adequate to attend the course. However, if you intend to build more instruments after the course, you'll need to fill in gaps in skills and knowledge at some point: it is unlikely the course is of sufficient duration to teach you everything there is to know about woodworking and its subspecialty, guitar making.

As I see it now, the purpose is to just build one Guitar, something I could scratch off my bucket list. I have no intention of re-tooling my limited workspace in order to continue making guitars. I would much rather play em then build them.


The course description says “design and build” so I would assume I have some Input in regards to the style and maybe even type of woods used. However the fee is $200, so I think there would be major limitations in regards to wood choices as well as the extent to which a guitar will be made from “scratch”. It could be more of a kit type of build.

I will contact the instructor to get a better grasp of expectations as well as the depth of knowledge needed to take the class. Regardless, I think it could be a fun and educational project, and perhaps I’ll come out of it with a good sounding and playing instrument. Nothing ventured nothing gained. But at the very least I hope to have a somewhat better understanding of what goes into making an acoustic guitar.