Best resource for learning how to make my own guitar?

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Permalink Reply by Ship of fools on February 17, 2009 at 7:27am

Here is a great place to get info on home building.http://www.kitguitarforum.com/
Let us know if you go ahead.louis

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Permalink Reply by Robbie O'Brien on February 17, 2009 at 8:44am

Jeff Williams said:

and HOLY COW .. Red Rocks Community College Guitar / violin building courses ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twrQCUjkJXY

Hi everyone. I am new to the forum here, having received an invitation to join from Jeff Williams. Robbie O'Brien is the name and I am the head of the lutherie department at Red Rocks Community College in Colorado. I have been teaching guitar building there for going on 6 years. In that time we have had approx. 250 guitars come out of the program.
I also have a series of instructional DVD's on classical, steel string and electric guitar building as well as one on guitar finishing. They are included in the guitar kits from Luthiers mercantile International in California. www.lmii.com
Recently I started a Youtube video series on guitar building called Luthier Tips du Jour. You can view these videos at http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/Video.asp

Happy Building!

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Permalink Reply by Robbie O'Brien on February 17, 2009 at 8:49am

Dan,

Where there is a will there is a way. I built my first 12 guitars or so while living in a studio apartment in Sao Paulo Brazil. My shop area was so small I could stand in the middle of the room and touch all 4 walls! I am still married too!! haha
I suggest you start with a serviced kit from www.lmii.com cause a lot of the work has been done for you. Get a good book or instructional dvd and go for it. There has never been more information available about guitar building than today. It ain't easy but it is a very rewarding experience. Happy Building!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Coplan on February 17, 2009 at 9:59pm

Hey everybody - this is great! Thanks for all the feedback! I'm following up on everything everyone has written and getting psyched about this project. Hopefully I'll have something to share with everyone.

Dan

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Permalink Reply by Jeroen Wenting on February 18, 2009 at 2:48am

When I saw those kits I got an itch, but then I remembered I've got 2 left hands here and no room for a workbench and an array of tools costing more than just buying a ready made instrument.

Maybe some day...

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Permalink Reply by Dan Coplan on February 22, 2009 at 11:55am

Coincidentally I just discovered that Acoustic Guitar magazine had an article dedicated to this topic in their September 2007 issue. But I had to read it online because the magazine is missing the last page of the article! Anyone else notice that?

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Permalink Reply by Von Luhmann at Pick Punch on April 20, 2009 at 12:43pm

One piece of advice for you.............
Become a member of FRETS.COM online community spend time in there and you will be able to handle anything.... The best resource I have found on luthiers
Von

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Permalink Reply by Steven A Bradford on June 5, 2009 at 12:31pm

Grizzly also sells kits and some of the tools and good instructions needed to build their kits, cheaper than others, Check their site @ www.grizzly.com . You can build a kit with minimum tools and in your apt. Martin is probably the best quality but also the most expensive. There are a lot of books on "building kit guitars", also look on the web. I've even seen dvds on how to build a kit guitar. It's out there, just go to Google and search.........Steve

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Permalink Reply by Dan Coplan on June 13, 2009 at 6:34pm

Interesting site - thanks for the tip! I actually ended up going with a Stewmac kit. Picked it up a few months ago which is as long as it has taken me to get halfway through the project. But I'm not in a rush. Very cool idea, building your own guitar. But the tools are going to end up costing me more than the kit!

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Permalink Reply by tom sifton on June 17, 2010 at 6:50pm

You will spend less money by a large margin to just buy an inexpensive quality guitar like the Antonio Hermosa classsicals. I have built many instruments here at my house in the garage and I could have bought a nice taylor or gibson for the amount of money I have spent on tools, maybe a couple of them. . My tools are basic, not the high priced stuff you see in the Stew Mcdonald cataloque. If you don't have a shop full of tools, you really need to consider buying a guitar. I build instruments for the fun of it, not to save money.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Coplan on June 18, 2010 at 3:35pm

How right you are! I didn't decide to build a guitar to save money but I had no idea it would cost more than twice the kit on tools. It's been a great process and I'm proud of my work but I'm not sure what my answer would be if I was asked if I would do it again just because of the great expense. If I was going to build multiple guitars, then absolutely yes, but to spend all that money on just one guitar is a bit much.

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