Demented Guitar-Building Idea!

[jwbry]

The last woodworking I did was in 7th grade (cutting board with wood-burned Indian chief in headdress ahd "Mom" underneath -- a family heirloom!http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...ewthread&f=24#
Big Grin).

But now, I've become enamored of guitars -- this despite 40 years of banjo playing. Perhaps because of it.

So I'm thinking: Buy a guitar kit from Martin ($400?), take it to a luthier, pay him/her a set amount to supervise, and build the ****ed thing, with cutaway, spiffy B-band pickup, etc. I know one guy who did this and wound up with a very nice sounding guitar.

Thus I learn how to build a guitar, decide whether I want to go the extra step and start doing it from "scratch" but refrain from getting in over my grey head.

Does this sound feasible to anybody? And how long would it take?

[Rejoice Music]

I would think that any worthwhile luthier would probably charge you just as much, if not more than buying a ready-made Martin, for his time and labor. That's just speculation, of course. Unless you are willing to pay extra just for the experience.

[Simon Fay]

It actually takes longer to teach someone than to just do it yourself - this is why most luthiers do not want apprentices. A luthier has to charge at least $2500 for a simple spruce/rosewood guitar to make over $10 hr. So unless you have a good friend that builds guitars, I think your desire might be unrealistic.

However, there are several luthiers that actually give guitar making classes, where for a set fee you get to build a guitar under their supervision and with their own tooling.

I think Ken Everett teaches a couple classes and I am sure there are some other luthiers that do as well. Maybe do a Google search for "luthier classes".

I myself just finished building my third guitar and can say there is nothing quite like playing an instrument you built with your own two hands. I started a thread on this forum about the guitar and on the second page there is some good information for those who are interested in building a guitar themselves.

Here is a link to the thread, if you are interested:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...ad.php?t=73029

I sincerely wish you the best and I hope you get an opportunity to try your hand at building one.

[Rick Turner]

I'll be teaching a two weekend course in building a flat-styled mandolin the last weekend in May and the first weekend in June at "the Crucible" www.thecrucible.org in Oakland, CA. This will be based on the course I started at the Telluride Bluegrass Academy that is now being taught at RockyGrass by Michael Hornick and Dan Roberts. I'll limit the class to 12 students, and they'll all build their own mandolins in four days for under $500.00 including materials. We've already go out first two students lined up, and I hope we hit capacity. I've already been asked to repeat this in their next semester, so I hope to do this twice a year. The place is fantastic, check out the website.

[Tim McKnight]

I am teaching a guy now. Building a guitar from scratch. Every Saturday, all winter, until it is complete.

[PaulData]

Richard Echevarria, luthier, has a kit building class for $1500, martin kit included, either a 000 or a dread, at his shop in Tucson, with I believe a max of three students, one day per week over a six(?) week course.

[jwbry]

That's a great idea, though Tucson is pretty far from the L.A. area for a six-week interlude. However, I'm going to call up to Healdsburg tomorrow to see what's going on up there -- I heard they have a seven-day intensive class, and I could drive up for the seven days. Might be fun. Better be fun. Keep in mind that I'm so bad at detail work that I'm not even allowed to paint a wall. This could be a challenge. It could yield a very crappy guitar, now that I think of it...

[reags]

Originally Posted by jwbry

Might be fun. Better be fun. Keep in mind that I'm so bad at detail work that I'm not even allowed to paint a wall. This could be a challenge. It could yield a very crappy guitar, now that I think of it...

sell it to esteban