Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Questions and answers for beginners. If you have a question, so do most other people.
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tippie53
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Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by tippie53 »

yes start the neck angle when truing sides it is all about the body geometry. So yes you can set the side up for this. I show that in my video on you tube preparing the rim
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Here's the link to John's video.

https://youtu.be/LrgRKKsxL-M
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
koolimy
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 3:59 pm

Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by koolimy »

Thanks everybody. It seems that the kit has shipped already. I am looking forward to building it.
koolimy
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 3:59 pm

Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by koolimy »

Kit has arrived!

Thank you Mr. Hall for providing me with a lot more servicing than I expected. The kit honestly looks pretty elegant and beautiful already! It's a pity it has come to me rather than someone who could make better use of the materials to make a beautiful guitar!

I did not know that the headstock would be pre shaped w/ headplate attached, truss rod inserted, and w/ bolts pre installed in neck block, so thank you for that!

One thing that took me by surprise was the look of Cherry. It honestly looked like a darker, redder piece of Spruce. Maybe because the lines were very straight? I am noticing how much of a noob I am with regards to this whole thing, but it sure is exciting.

I heard that I should let the wood acclimate to my environment for 1 week. Should I store the wood in any special way? Thanks.
rcnewcomb
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Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:04 pm
Location: San Jose, CA, USA

Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by rcnewcomb »

It's a pity it has come to me rather than someone who could make better use of the materials to make a beautiful guitar!
John will be your trusted guide along the way. I hope you are as pleased with your first build as I am with mine.
One thing that took me by surprise was the look of Cherry. It honestly looked like a darker, redder piece of Spruce.
Making a piece of wood darker is very easy. There is also something to be said for letting the natural colors come through. The cool thing is -- the choice is yours.
- Randall Newcomb
10 fingers in, 10 fingers out - another good day in the shop
koolimy
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 3:59 pm

Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by koolimy »

rcnewcomb wrote:
It's a pity it has come to me rather than someone who could make better use of the materials to make a beautiful guitar!
John will be your trusted guide along the way. I hope you are as pleased with your first build as I am with mine.
One thing that took me by surprise was the look of Cherry. It honestly looked like a darker, redder piece of Spruce.
Making a piece of wood darker is very easy. There is also something to be said for letting the natural colors come through. The cool thing is -- the choice is yours.
Thanks for your reply! I hope it turns out well.

In all honesty, the back probably looks nothing like Spruce, especially with the whiter part in the middle. I guess it goes to show how much I subconsciously expected the back and sides to be a bit darker, as that is what I am used to as a consumer (even though I ordered Cherry because it is something different LOL). I heard somewhere that luthiers don't build guitars out of domestic woods because people won't buy guitars with lighter back and sides, and I understand that sentiment now haha.

Nonetheless, I think the top and the back look very elegant and beautiful, especially in sunlight. The back has subtle streaks of pink going down the lines which makes it look so much more elegant (and which makes me feel unworthy of building the guitar!). My phone is quite crappy so I don't think it captured the subtle beauty.
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koolimy
Posts: 87
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Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by koolimy »

Hi, I just wanted to update you guys with regards to the long scale J-185 I got from Mr. Hall.
I'm in the final stretches of the build. I will be attaching the bridge once I get my bridge clamps from Harbor Freight and after that I'll be leveling the frets and doing some setup work.

I didn't upload any pictures or update my progress because I found that the build was MUCH harder than I anticipated and my quality of work was very subpar. I found that I lacked all the qualities needed to build an acoustic guitar, as I was impulsive, impatient, and lacked attention to detail LOL. Nonetheless, Mr. Hall held me together and helped me through my miriad mistakes and I am close to getting the strings onto the guitar. I can't thank him enough as I bugged him a million times with phone calls and emails.

The guitar is both the ugliest and most beautiful guitar I have ever laid my hands on. There are so many gouges and dings, and the binding work is quite atrocious with multiple visible gaps. I tried to fill the gaps with wood dust but to no avail. The finish is also very subpar, as I did not know how much the surface needed to be prepared. I also had to glue in multiple visible shims because of major errors in sanding the guitar while trying to get everything aligned.

Nonetheless, the materials Mr. Hall sent to me were beyond beautiful. I absolutely love this cherry wood and I think it is quite stunning. I'm a bit sad that I lost the subtle pink hue it had, but the golden color it has taken on after multiple coats of tru-oil is still incredibly beautiful. The binding and purfling and other appointments really match this guitar and add subtle beauty.

I will try to update once I glue on the bridge and am able to put strings onto it. Fingers crossed that it will not explode and it will be playable.
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koolimy
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Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by koolimy »

I wanted to list some of my mistakes I made for future reference and for any other beginners who might build their first guitar. It was an incredibly fun journey and I learned so much about the guitar and have developed an appreciation for those who build guitars well. Nonetheless, here are some of my mistakes that I made while building my first guitar:

1. Not caring too much about alignment when gluing in the neck block. Made for a very interesting time when I had to set the center line of the neck. I needed a shim (a/k/a popsicle stick) to get the neck to swing enough to have an acceptably centered neck.

2. Not checking the trueness of my sanding surfaces and tools before using them.

3. Not having a clean workspace. I have a lot of dings and scratches that I accumulated on the guitar unnecessarily because I left my guitar around my tools and sandpaper.

4. Not having something to hold the guitar parts while I built it. One of my biggest mistakes was that I didn't have something to hold the guitar in place. This was a recipe for numerous slips of the chisel and was also one of the main reasons why I wasn't able to sand straight for a while.

5. Not using (and not knowing what is) the correct tool for the job. I cut my binding channels using a gramil meant for violin purfling. A problem with that gramil was that it has a pointed tip and no straight surface. This caused my binding channels to not have straight edges, which gave me huge problems as I cut the channels with a chisel. Compounded with the fact that I did not have something to hold the guitar, it contributed to the mess that are my binding channels.

6. Not measuring for some steps. It seems like in almost every step one should measure twice and then cut. I did not take any measurements for some steps, such as when I was cutting my binding channels. I just relied on a eyeballing and thought the gramil would do everything for me.

7. Not having sharp enough tools. I let my tools go dull quite often and that lowered the precision of my cutting by an enormous amount. A lot of gouges in the guitar and my hands were the result of excessive force used to cut the wood.

8. Not understanding wood and humidity. My top cracked twice while I was building the guitar. That's because I didn't understand the importance of humidity and didn't care about storing and working in a space with proper humidity during the winter months.

9. Having somewhat of a miserly attitude regarding tools. This kit was the single biggest financial outlay I had ever made for a musical instrument. For example, my current acoustic guitar is a Yamaha FG800. This huge financial outlay made me want to penny pinch whenever I could, and that meant spending a minimum amount on tools and getting cheap tools whenever I could. I think it is possible to get creative and find cheap alternatives to tools, but having a miserly attitude and always trying to get by with the minimum is not conducive to a building a good guitar.

10. Sanding without thinking. I had major problems while sanding my neck. As stated above, I didn't find a straight sanding surface until I had done quite of sanding on the surface of the neck. That meant my truss rod channels were too shallow, and I also didn't think while trying to deepen the truss rod channel. Unfortunately, when I tried to deepen the channel I used sandpaper and was freehanding the sanding, and I ended up with a deeper and wider channel. I had to use a bunch of hacks (gluing on veneer to the truss rod itself) to get somewhat of an acceptable fit.

I also didn't find a good way to sand the top of the neck. The multiple problems compounded upon themselves. Without a straight sanding surface, and without something to hold the neck in place, I constantly had problems at the ends of the neck. I had to glue veneers to the top of the neck as I took too much material off the neck.

One of my biggest failures was sanding without thinking while trying to align the front bout of the body with the neck. I inadvertently created a substantial dip in one of the most sensitive areas of the guitar, which already had a crack! I should have trued the neck before doing any sanding. I glued some veneer to create a shim/brace in that area. I will have to see if it will hold up structurally.

11. Not knowing how to fix gouges and dings. I didn't know how to fix gouges and dings on the faces of the guitar. I just moved on because I wanted to progress to the next steps just to have a finished guitar, but the guitar suffered due to my ignorance.

12. Not sanding enough prior to finishing. I just gave the guitar a light sand, somewhat freehand, prior to finishing. I did not know that I needed a much more thorough sanding with a block to get a good surface. My finish suffered tremendously because the prep work was subpar.

Hope this info can be of some help to future builders.
MaineGeezer
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Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by MaineGeezer »

Been there, done that....sometimes still do it.....

Only rich people can afford poor quality tools. As you found out, you'll eventually need to buy good ones anyway, so skip buying the cheap ones and save the money. You may be able to find good used tools at a decent price, if the seller is selling them as tools to use and not as "rare antique collectibles."

A guitar cradle is a huge help in holding onto a guitar.

LMI is selling a guitar-making gramil again:

https://www.lmii.com/binding-tools/2624 ... blade.html

It's amazing how much a change in humidity can affect a guitar.

It's possible to steam dents out of a top. As long as the wood isn't crushed, it's amazing how much it will come back. Take a damp rag, put it on the dent, and put a hot soldering iron on the rag.

There are no shortcuts in finishing. A perfect glossy finish is insanely hard to achieve.
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
koolimy
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 3:59 pm

Re: Acoustic guitar kit recommendation

Post by koolimy »

MaineGeezer wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:37 pm Been there, done that....sometimes still do it.....

Only rich people can afford poor quality tools. As you found out, you'll eventually need to buy good ones anyway, so skip buying the cheap ones and save the money. You may be able to find good used tools at a decent price, if the seller is selling them as tools to use and not as "rare antique collectibles."

A guitar cradle is a huge help in holding onto a guitar.

LMI is selling a guitar-making gramil again:

https://www.lmii.com/binding-tools/2624 ... blade.html

It's amazing how much a change in humidity can affect a guitar.

It's possible to steam dents out of a top. As long as the wood isn't crushed, it's amazing how much it will come back. Take a damp rag, put it on the dent, and put a hot soldering iron on the rag.

There are no shortcuts in finishing. A perfect glossy finish is insanely hard to achieve.
Thanks for the reply. It is honestly a bit comforting to know that a pretty great builder like you has also been there! One thing I found about guitar building is that you don't know until you actually do it. You don't know how hard it is, you don't know what you need to do, and you don't know what steps way before you needed to get right so that you have less trouble in the few steps ahead. That's why so many people have encouraged me and other beginners to just build a guitar and not worry about the other stuff. I also can see why most people don't build only 1 guitar haha.
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