I thought I would briefly talk about the differences between my first guitar project and my next project.
My first project was based on a kit from US Guitar Kits which makes a decent selection of ready to build guitar kits made from good quality solid wood tops and good quality plywood sides and back. These kits come with much of the work done for you including rough shaping of the neck, the sides bent, the back attached to the side, the bracing installed on the back and top, fret board pre-slotted for frets and inlays. It is a great starter kit for a first time guitar project. I learned a lot from building this project and it gave me the confidence to tackle a more extensive guitar project. Here is a picture of the kit:
Sorry it’s not a very good picture but it’s from their website and it shows some of the points I made above.
My second guitar project is made from wood I am getting from Luthier Mercantile International (LMII) which sells wood and tools. They are different from Stewart-MacDonald in the way that they will put the wood needed for a guitar into a kit-form which makes it simpler for new guitar builders like me. LMII also offers services to do some of the work for you. For instance, I do not own a bending iron or bending/heating blanket so I had LMII bend the sides for me. I also let them rough finish the top and bottom (including glueing the book matched pieces and sanding to near finished thinkness) – not sure why I let them do that but I did. The fretboard also came pre-slotted but I don’t remember asking for that service.
I ordered a form for holding the sides in place (though I’m going to have to make some adjustments since I’m doing a cutaway) and I ordered a template to locate the bracing for the top.
As you can see, I have a lot of work ahead for this second guitar that I didn’t have to do for the first. Some of the items include:
- install decorative strip down the middle of the back
- install bracing on the back
- install decorative element around the sound hole on the top
- create the sound hole on the top
- install heal block to the sides
- install bracing on the top
- install top block to the sides (those 2 steps give the final shape of the guitar
- install glue supports on the top and bottom of the sides
- attach the back to the sides
- attach the top to the sides
- install binding and purfling on top and bottom of body
- make mortise in body for attaching neck
- create neck including angled headstock and a thick healstock
- shape the neck
- install headstock and healstock veneres
- install fretboard
- create tenon on neck healstock for attaching to the body
- …and it goes from there (lots of specifics left out but you should get the point that there is a lot of work)
It’s should be a very challenging project that should really test my skills.
