[rweezera]

I just finished putting together my first guitar (strat) and it's so satisfying. I've been talking about doing it for years and I finally went through with it and found the entire process so enjoyable.

About a week or two ago I read an interview with a luthier who was about 50 years old who said that he had never even worked with wood until about 14 years ago, and it motivated me. I want to learn to build acoustic guitars, but I don't want to rush in. So I'm thinking that it'd be best to start with a kit and I've heard that the ones on Stew-Mac are pretty good. I know it comes with full book of instructions and an hour and a half video showing exactly how to do it, so I'm confident that I would be able to. Does anyone have any experience with those kits? What exactly is involved with building? What is the quality when it's completed?


Any other advice for a potential builder?

[Porteiro]

I've never built anything, but Craig Miner of Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, a local musician out here, built his guitar from one. He had nothing but good to say about it.

[Joe Hard]

I say go for it, if you enjoyed the other guitar build you should enjoy an acoustic. It might be frustrating at times but dont rush it. Post pics if you can of the build!!

[rweezera]

Thanks, it's definitely the next task I'll take on. I just need to find the money for all the extra tools and supplies (which I'm not to worried about spending on seeing as I plan this to be a lifelong hobby) and time. I've been a long time member of this site and know how helpful everyone is, so when I get started I'm sure you'll all be hearing a lot from me.

[dadfad]

If you want to be a true luthier you need training (there are a number good programs in the US) or an apprenticeship with a luthier. If you just want to build yourself an acoustic guitar, the Stew-Mac kit is pretty decent. A friend of mine (good craftsy-type skills but no guitar-making experience) used Stew-Mac's kit to build himself a fairly good Martin-ish kind of guitar.


To him, by far the most difficult part was the neck-joint, where the slightest bit of angle-change translates into a fairly large change in neck-set angle. He actually re-did it two times before he got it right.

[matt_theripper]

I've never built anything, but Craig Miner of Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, a local musician out here, built his guitar from one. He had nothing but good to say about it.

Right on! Another Ryan Shupe fan. I saw them at Telluride this year and love them now.

[BByrdman]

DIY Channel has a Homemade Instrument series and in one episode, Lynn Dudenbostel builds an acoustic, and it was just facinating to watch. I had no idea of what was involved with the process. I highly recommend you watch it to get an idea of what you will be taking on. At the end of the program, Kentucky Thunder tries it out for the first time. I dont know anything about the kit your are asking about, but the guitar series was awesome....

You can go to www.diynetwork.com and do a search for homemade music.

[Porteiro]

I've never built anything, but Craig Miner of Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, a local musician out here, built his guitar from one. He had nothing but good to say about it.

Right on! Another Ryan Shupe fan. I saw them at Telluride this year and love them now.

Craig is one of my musical heroes.

[kurtlives]

I just finished putting together my first guitar (strat) and it's so satisfying. I've been talking about doing it for years and I finally went through with it and found the entire process so enjoyable.

About a week or two ago I read an interview with a luthier who was about 50 years old who said that he had never even worked with wood until about 14 years ago, and it motivated me. I want to learn to build acoustic guitars, but I don't want to rush in. So I'm thinking that it'd be best to start with a kit and I've heard that the ones on Stew-Mac are pretty good. I know it comes with full book of instructions and an hour and a half video showing exactly how to do it, so I'm confident that I would be able to. Does anyone have any experience with those kits? What exactly is involved with building? What is the quality when it's completed?


Any other advice for a potential builder?

hey where have you been

[rweezera]

hey kurtlives....for some reason this site stopped working for me with firefox (which is what i always use) so i dtopped checking it regularly. i only came on once or twice since, but I just updated firefox and it seems to be working fine now, so i should be around more.

thanks for the advice... i don't know how training is going to go over. i'm going into my last year of college and probably won't have a chance to afford it (time-wise or money-wise) until years from now. i guess i can't rush it... the only program i know of is the roberto-venn school of luthiery which is like almost $10,000 and takes like 4 months of 9-6 days of class, which is way too intense of anything that i could afford...