Building a guitar!

gypsystuff

hello there.
i'm thinking about building a GJ guitar. i have no experience at all. so i want to start with a really cheap materials.

so.. my question is: how can i make it as cheapest as possible, and how much will it cost me? (assuming that i have most of the mechanical equipment).

now, i don't want to build a cardboard guitar. i'm talking about "real" guitar woods, but the cheaper ones among them.

TNX

Elliot

My opinion: there are many more sources of help in terms of learning material available for just a normal guitar, so I'd say for that reason alone start by building one of those. Most artisan crafts like this have separate skills you need to develop. You didn't say if you have any woodshop in your background, so make a couple of necks first. if you don't use one you can always throw it on another guitar later. If you succeed with that, you'd probably realize that if you built a wooden thingamajig with nails sticking out of it to help you set the frets better it would have been much easier, ha-ha. So build one of those...multiply by 10,000 for everything you'll do better next time over the next few years to get a decent sounding guitar! Then decide if you want to build or play: you'll never master both.

Bob Holo might be able to give you an idea of what a small shop setup would run, but just from my person observations it can get close to what you'd pay if you hired Bob himself to make a guitar for you, so you'd be much better off befriending someone with a one and renting some time there, if you can swing something like that (which hopefully you've already done). Good luck.

Craig Bumgarner

A couple thoughts. Bob Benedetto once built an archtop out of shelving board and maple shipping pallets to show that it is what you do with the wood, not what you pay for it, that counts. Given the couple hundred hours you will spend, however, it is probably false economy to go so cheap that the materials are inappropriate, like top wood sawn out of a wet hemlock 2x8. Building a guitar takes commitment and that means not only time but money too. If you are looking for just one, cheap guitar, don't try to build it, just buy it. That being said, building can be rewarding and there are lots of ways to keep the cost down.

Most of the woods available for guitar making suppliers come in a variety of grades. The cheaper grades are often just as good tonally, but may not be as nice cosmetically. Some of the wood can be scrounged. Most guitar parts are small compared to a lot of other things made in wood, so scrap from other fabrications may provide wood for guitar parts. I get most of my mahogany neck and spruce bracing/lining material from the scrap barrel at the boatyard where I work. Shipping pallets do indeed have some nice maple in them sometimes. You might get a neck out of one assuming it is dry. Keep in mind, they are often built green and are left outdoors in all kinds of weather.

Have a long look at the Stewart Macdonald and Luthier Mercantile catalogs and you'll finder lower cost options. You can spend anywhere from $35 to $350 for tuners for instance.

Regards backs and sides, if you laminate, have a look at Certainly Wood and the Veneer Store. Rosewood veneers are nice, but there are lots of other options at a fifth the price. I like African Mahogany and American Quartered Walnut, both less than $2/sq. ft. If you go with solid backs and sides, cherry, maple and walnut are readily available and cheap if you resaw it yourself. Maple and walnut can be used for necks.

Anything you mill yourself rather than buying it made up will save you assuming you don't have to buy a lot of stock to start with. You can make your own bindings, linings, rosette, head plate, bracing, end blocks, bridge, etc and save big over buying these pre-made.

Costs? If you scrounge everything, all you'll have to buy is hardware; tuners, tailpiece and fret wire, say $100. If you buy a decent spruce top, decent veneer for backs and sides, neck wood, some nice bracing spruce, hardware and scrounge what you can, I'd figure $3-$400. I figure $500 on my own.

It is probably not realistic to think you can get away without buying some tools. You need a good set of hand tools. An electric drill, 1/4" router and band saw are pretty nice to have. I love my little Dremel router, table belt sander and drill press. One this to mention is Luither's Mercantile will mill some parts for you for a reasonable price. They will thickness sand a top, back and sides, cut fret slots, etc for a modest fee.

Then there are all the specialty tools. I made my first guitar as an out-of-work college drop out and I did it with non-electric hand tools only. I made my own binding cutters and a couple long reach cam clamps out of good old Vermont rock maple. Other than that though, I had no special guitar making tools at all. I have accumulated a lot of tools since then and would not want to go back, but it can be done. A couple special tools like a fret saw are hard to do without, but If you get hooked on the Stew Mac catalog, you can easily spend more on special tools than materials for that first guitar.

Experience? There is no substitute for actual experience but there are a number of books on the subject. Course they cost money too, but again, guitar building is not for the faint hearted or the uncommitted. Don't expect your first try to be perfect, but if you are careful and thoughtful, it will be playable. Suggest you follow good plans for the first go through. If you are building a Sel/Mac, Michael Collins book and the Francois Charle plans used in combination are excellent.

Just some ideas, there are probably a lot more out there. Hope this helps.

CB

Joli Gadjo

Down here in Maryland, DC, we have about a dozen of GJ guitarists who gravitate around Hot Club of DC. Craig plays with us, and always brings his own guitars. We are all admiring his skills and his craftsmanship, and would love to join the queue to get one from him.
I don't know much in guitar building, but I have played quite a few from the folks here, at Jacques Mazolenni's and in France... and I can tell you Craig has already built some guitars that can easily compete with the finest guitar makers we know.