martin build kit

[fleawannabe]

has anyone bought this kit. how hard was it. i know it would take alot of man hours for it. but im good with wood.

inputs?

[bob90347]

I've done 4 of them. It's a good kit but you're going to need some tools that you probably don't have. You may also need a guitar building book to explain what the instructions are trying to tell you. I spent more on the tools and books than I spent on the kit but it was fun. Do you know about Stewart - MacDonald? http://www.stewmac.com/?gclid=CIqrh8...FQ8MDQodw0wUIg

To answer your question directly, it's not really that hard depending on what variations you want to make in the kit. If you don't want to do anything other than build what they send you then it's pretty easy (except for the finish issue that I still don't understand) - but if you want to change things like putting in a backstrip and purfuling, etc, it becomes more difficult, but manageable. Get one and have fun!!!!

[moon]

This is something I'd also love to try. What sort of sound can you expect from a kit guitar? In the same ballpark as the real thing?

[mercy]

Ive done it, very difficult and I am a woodworker. Some have had good luck but I was not one of them.

[SeamusORiley]

Any pictures?

[martinedwards]

Originally Posted by moon

This is something I'd also love to try. What sort of sound can you expect from a kit guitar? In the same ballpark as the real thing?

potentially better.

of course that depends of the builder.

if George Lowden were to build a Martin kit, it would sound PHENOMINAL

MOST folks who build these kits get a guitar at least as good as if they's spent the same amount of money on a ready built guitar

[15 Man]

A friend of mine builds his own guitars and ukes from scratch. He started out several years ago by first building an 000 Martin Kit. It came out great! He said that everything he needed was included and that the instructions were also very good. He also added some Koa binding and a Koa end (bridge pin) wedge to his. He also has some prior woodworking experience; which doesn’t hurt. I’d be a liar if I said that it sounded as good as a factory made Martin; but it does sound pretty darn good. He’s got a few pictures of it at his web site. Click on the button at the left that says Concert Guitar (000)”.

Here's his web site: www.nashuariverinstruments.com

[Guitar Hack]

I built my first guitar from a kit back in September. It is an HD 28 kit and I traded out the sitka top for Adirondack. I have to say it is the best sounding guitar I own and will pretty much match anything I've heard from Martin. Sound wise it is excellent. I have the bug now and am working on a sinker redwood top and osage orange back and sides.

I'm surprised more people aren't doing it.

[Chris Wood]

As the others have said, you may need to add some specialized tools, but go for it. It's fun. I built a Martin 000 kit for my first one. Made some small changes and additions. It turned out very well, plays just as easily as my Martin and sounds just as good too. I liked the process so much that I've progressed to all scratch builds, I'm starting numbers 5 & 6 this week.

Here are a couple of pics, to whet your appetitie!

Chris.