On kit instructions & tech support
Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:10 pm
Put your feet up. This could take a while. I'm working on a StewMac Pre-war OM 18 kit and have encountered some stumbling blocks that I thought I'd bring to the attention of this group, especially beginners like me.
Before ordering, I'd read that StewMac had very good instructions and offered very timely support and decided that was just what I needed. Since this is my first guitar I didn't want to mess it up so decided to follow instruction to the "T". The kit included a 70 minute DVD and a 44 page manual.
I've read that in building a guitar, one needs to pick an approach and just follow it...don't mix methods. That made sense to me and, after all, I did have instruction straight from the maker so I'd go with that.
I watched the video, but being on the older end of the age spectrum, my memory isn't what it used to be, and since it would be very time consuming to keep referring back to the DVD, I decided to rely mainly on the printed book, and when I felt stuck, I'd go to the DVD, call SM or search YouTube.
Sadly, on the 1st page, I had 3 questions so I went to the DVD and found different instructions on how to deal with them, as follows:
1) Both book & DVD say the neck block outside edge is curved and needs a curved clamping caul. Mine is flat as can be.
2) Book says to use wax paper to prevent glueing wood parts to the cardboard. What cardboard? This is the only mention of cardboard. The DVD explains that the "back" side of the neckblock is angled 1 1/2 deg, and needs to be smashed into the cardboard to accommodate the angle. My neckblock is perfectly square to the faces.
3) Book says to install a tailblock reinforcement strip, but the instruction are too vague to understand. The DVD doen't even mention this reinforcement strip.
So I called SM and discovered that with Covid in process, technicians were working from home and I had to submit my questions via email. I did this and it took a full week to get brief responses to my questions. To wit: Yes, the block should be flat, not curved. The cardboard is not necessary as the bottom of the neckblock IS square and no longer made with the 1 1/2 deg. angle. The tailblock strip should be installed, but I still couldn't understand the explanation or the attached photo and there's no mention of it on the DVD.
Other conflicts, some, really big, popped up as I progressed.
1) When the cardboard mold is made according to instruction in both book & DVD, it's too deep for the OM body, so once you glue in the kerfing on one side as I did, there's not enough room for the kerfing on the other side. I had to yank it out and rebuild it to fit. I found out later, that the dimensions are for a dread body, but are still furnished for the OM kits.
2) Once the mold is in place, the instructions say to install fabric side reinforcing strips, which is, of course, impossible. Had to remove the mold again.
3) Then it says to install the fabric side strips as per the drawings, which show 3 strips on each side. Later on, the instructions say there should be 8 on each side but give no indications of where they should be. Now I have 3 on each side with kerfing glued over. Now what?
4) The book says the sanding block should have a 5 deg wedge on one side and be flat on the other. The DVD says 5 deg on one side and 1 1/2 deg wedge on the other. StewMac says this is an obsolete method, but it's still there.
I am stumbling by, but only by the grace of my previous woodworking experience. And I'm only to the 7th page of instructions.
Since instrument making is completely new to me, I'm really afraid of making a fatal error and not discovering it till much later.
Have others encountered these kind of discrepancies? If so, how do you deal with them...especially when Covid has disrupted SM's regular customer service?
And how is it that there are so many discrepancies between the manual and the DVD? How difficult could it be to make the corrections and send out a 1 or 2 page addendum with the kit? Isn't this an avoidable problem.
BTW, I have looked at many, many videos on guitar building but find that most have different, conflicting ways of dealing with the same problems or use tools that I don't have and can't justify buying for only one guitar.
Looking for any input on these issues.
Before ordering, I'd read that StewMac had very good instructions and offered very timely support and decided that was just what I needed. Since this is my first guitar I didn't want to mess it up so decided to follow instruction to the "T". The kit included a 70 minute DVD and a 44 page manual.
I've read that in building a guitar, one needs to pick an approach and just follow it...don't mix methods. That made sense to me and, after all, I did have instruction straight from the maker so I'd go with that.
I watched the video, but being on the older end of the age spectrum, my memory isn't what it used to be, and since it would be very time consuming to keep referring back to the DVD, I decided to rely mainly on the printed book, and when I felt stuck, I'd go to the DVD, call SM or search YouTube.
Sadly, on the 1st page, I had 3 questions so I went to the DVD and found different instructions on how to deal with them, as follows:
1) Both book & DVD say the neck block outside edge is curved and needs a curved clamping caul. Mine is flat as can be.
2) Book says to use wax paper to prevent glueing wood parts to the cardboard. What cardboard? This is the only mention of cardboard. The DVD explains that the "back" side of the neckblock is angled 1 1/2 deg, and needs to be smashed into the cardboard to accommodate the angle. My neckblock is perfectly square to the faces.
3) Book says to install a tailblock reinforcement strip, but the instruction are too vague to understand. The DVD doen't even mention this reinforcement strip.
So I called SM and discovered that with Covid in process, technicians were working from home and I had to submit my questions via email. I did this and it took a full week to get brief responses to my questions. To wit: Yes, the block should be flat, not curved. The cardboard is not necessary as the bottom of the neckblock IS square and no longer made with the 1 1/2 deg. angle. The tailblock strip should be installed, but I still couldn't understand the explanation or the attached photo and there's no mention of it on the DVD.
Other conflicts, some, really big, popped up as I progressed.
1) When the cardboard mold is made according to instruction in both book & DVD, it's too deep for the OM body, so once you glue in the kerfing on one side as I did, there's not enough room for the kerfing on the other side. I had to yank it out and rebuild it to fit. I found out later, that the dimensions are for a dread body, but are still furnished for the OM kits.
2) Once the mold is in place, the instructions say to install fabric side reinforcing strips, which is, of course, impossible. Had to remove the mold again.
3) Then it says to install the fabric side strips as per the drawings, which show 3 strips on each side. Later on, the instructions say there should be 8 on each side but give no indications of where they should be. Now I have 3 on each side with kerfing glued over. Now what?
4) The book says the sanding block should have a 5 deg wedge on one side and be flat on the other. The DVD says 5 deg on one side and 1 1/2 deg wedge on the other. StewMac says this is an obsolete method, but it's still there.
I am stumbling by, but only by the grace of my previous woodworking experience. And I'm only to the 7th page of instructions.
Since instrument making is completely new to me, I'm really afraid of making a fatal error and not discovering it till much later.
Have others encountered these kind of discrepancies? If so, how do you deal with them...especially when Covid has disrupted SM's regular customer service?
And how is it that there are so many discrepancies between the manual and the DVD? How difficult could it be to make the corrections and send out a 1 or 2 page addendum with the kit? Isn't this an avoidable problem.
BTW, I have looked at many, many videos on guitar building but find that most have different, conflicting ways of dealing with the same problems or use tools that I don't have and can't justify buying for only one guitar.
Looking for any input on these issues.