Thread: Guitar building books for beginners?

acoustic or electric?

Hi Damien,

Welcome to the forum. I would recommend "Make your own electric guitar" by melvin hiscock or "Building Electric Guitars" by Martin Koch. They will tell you everything from tools to materials to design for building electric guitars.

Good luck, and make sure you post any progress. There are losts of people on the forum that are willing to give advise along the way.

Cheers,

Peter

There are so many references and debates about "Is this wood good for guitars" I wouldn't even know where to begin. The bottom line is that EVERY wood is suitable for lutherie. Heck, the first Fenders were made from pine - the cheapest wood in America. Now, if you're looking for tonal comparisons, that's a completely different topic.

If you're going to use a nartural finish, I strongly advise Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing". It's basically the bible for wood finishing.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

I really should of mentioned that I'm interested in building an acoustic for now haha..my bad. Thanks for the welcome though, when i start i will keep you guys posted, it's going to be a long winter with my girlfriend away and snow on the ground to keep me from riding my bike

I only build solid body basses and guitars and have the books mentioned by Peter above among others. However, the Cumpiano book deals solely with acoustic gutiars (nylon and steel string) and is a great resource. This topic has been raised before, so I would suggest searching previous posts for further information.

I'm at the beginer stage amassing the tools and knowledge as well.

I bought Melvyn Hiscock's "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" (which I really enjoyed reading due to his humorous language), Martin Koch's "Building Electric Guitars" (which covers the same material but from a different perspective so it fills some gaps), Dan Erlwine's Guitar Repairs, and Bob Flexner's book on wood finishing.

I also have some e-books on finishing and guitar repairs and wiring that I downloaded. So it is worth checking how useful the writer/style/info is to you. Library's are also great for resources to see what you need to purchase.

This was recommended to me when I started mine .I found it to be a kind of STEP by Step book and very easy to follow.

(Mind you I also got the others listed above too)

Greg

"The Steel String Guitar: Construction & Repair" by David Russell Young.
It's a bit old and probably not in print, but it's still available second hand.
It's brilliant; logical, sensible and easy to understand. My copy is tattered and worn, I lend it out to people and I still refer to it. I don't necessarily agree with everything he writes, but then again I don't agree with everything Cumpiano and Hiscock say either.
If you find it, it's worth buying.

I recommend something philosophical like the Tao Te Ching, cause your going to have lots of "learning experiences" and sometimes a bit of context is useful,

Originally Posted by avengers63

There are so many references and debates about "Is this wood good for guitars" I wouldn't even know where to begin. The bottom line is that EVERY wood is suitable for lutherie. .

I can't agree with this bold statement. While there's alot of leeway on wood used for building electrics the same cannot be said for acoustics. For a reasonable sounding acoustic top the wood must be light and stiff. Ask any experienced luthier and they will tell you the same thing.

For an acoustic guitar I would get both Cumpiano's book and Jonathon Kinkead's. They have very different approaches to how to do things. Kinkead's comes with a set of plans too. Cumpiano's show's you how to draw your own plans. To be honest, I think that reading up on electric guitar construction can only help with acoustic stuff as well.

Peter

I dont like Kinkead's method of holding the top and back on while glue sets. he uses a 3mm thick caul that he screws to the mold. I tried this method and found that it sucks big time....too much mucking around with screws. I went back to cam clamps and a thin caul that sits on the rim of the body.

Its still a good book though and the plans are handy.

Steel string or nylon ?

You don't need 50 books. If your just starting go take a look on amazon, read the reviews. Look on the mimf and here at the opinions on various books, then buy one. There are also DVD's if you like that approach.

The thing is you can build an accoustic all with hand tools or you can go the power tool route. Or anything in between. You can build all sorts of jigs and moulds or you can build freehand.

Ultimately you have to find the path that best suits you. Choosing the right book is a matter of finding an author who appeals to your personality. All the systems work, it's a matter of preference.

The user reviews on amazon give some good clues to the approach or philosophy of each author, and that may point you where you want to go.

Otherwise get Cumpiano/Natelson. It's as good a starting point as any and it's good value.

Campiano and co is a good start but make sure you check out Camipanos website for updated thoughts on some of the methods described in his book. His philosophy on the neck/body joint has changed 90 degrees since he wrote his book.

For the simplest method for building a steel string I'd go for Jim William's book. He builds using the Spanish method which means you dont have a neck joint to worry about. My first build (an OM) was made using this method. The only downside to this method is the more complicated procedure required for a neck set (back of guitar has to come off).