Very first time building a kit acoustic. So many questions.

[phavriluk]

(You don't need to tell your friends about those times when you're showing them thew guitar!)_

It's an illness all we see are the faults.

And boyoboy does it ever take me a long time to list the faults of any project of mine!

[phavriluk]

You may be assured that whatever mistakes you may make, we've all done things equally as stupid, if not more so. Don't be embarrassed about asking anything.

NOT STUPID! Maybe a logical dead end or two....

[sixesandsevens]

Thanks for the support all! And @Diane - beautiful guitar there with the figured mahogany!

I'm finally back from travel and getting started on my kit this week. Is it preferred to start new threads per issue I encounter, or some other mechanism for asking for help?

[BlindBo]

Hey Sixes. Lots of folks here enjoy following members builds under the “Blog Your Project” thread(and expect plenty of pictures😂). That may be a good way for you to get advice and address any questions you have all in one spot and in real time. Most of us enjoy trying to help.

One thought. You were asking about tonewoods, etc. More experienced builders like to have several projects going at the same time to take advantage of down time on one project by working on the other. While the Body Build is an easier way to get your feet wet, you are likely to encounter lots of questions and learn a lot. I’d suggest not worrying about the next project yet and focus 100% of your attention on getting this one finished as well as you can. Hopefully you’ll get an excellent guitar and then you’re off to the races!
Most importantly, have fun! Wishing you the best.

[MaineGeezer]

Yeah, "Blog Your Project" is a good place to have an ongoing description of your progress, any problems you run into, etc. Then when you're done you have a record of everything you did, assuming you were diligent about keeping it up-to-date.

[scamp]

Good luck with your first project.

Just wanted to let you know that I started my first guitar ( an OM kit from John Hall ) with very little wood working experience about 2 years ago ( March 2022 or so ). It took about 4 months to complete it but in the end I was very happy with the results and I play it almost every day.

Since then I built my second guitar from scratch ( an 000-12 fret ) this past winter and while a challenge with mistakes etc. it came out well and I'm very happy with it. Again, it took about 4 months.

I put some pictures up on the "Show it Off" post.

So... from my limited experience, you don't need to build a lot of guitars ( as everyone seems to have already told you) to build a nice guitar.

I would, however... recommend...

1) Take your time. Don't rush anything. Dry fit and rehearse all your moves before you do the real thing.
2) Measure everything at least twice or three or four times.
3) Ask the experts on this forum if your not sure about anything. I have learned about everything I know about guitar building from these great people and from John Hall's videos. I couldn't have done it without them.
4) if you are frustrated because things are not working out or you made a mistake put it down. Don't dry pushing ahead when your tied or frustrated. I found you do much better fixing things the next day when your rested and many times come up with ideas on how to fix things when you give it some time.
5) Practice if possible on cheap wood vs the real thing. I made many modifications to how I went about doing something by learning how not to do it on scarp wood ( drilling headstock holes etc. )
6) If you can afford it, get a real mold from John Hall vs using a cardboard mold from Stew Mac. I can't see how you can make a decent guitar doing it the way Stew Mac suggests.


Anyway... my two cents. Have fun and try to enjoy the journey and good luck.

[sixesandsevens]

Thank you all for the great advice!

I realized I needed a dehumidifier, so it set me back a few days but I'm going to dig in this weekend and get started for real.

[Diane Kauffmds]

Hey, we LOVE questions (as you can tell). There are a few stupid questions though. They're the ones unasked. You absolutely won't make a mistake that any of us haven't encountered at one time or another. I boogered up my 2nd guitar to the point that I bought new wood and started from scratch scratch.

Mistakes are the best teachers, as much as we abhor them...

[rcnewcomb]

Mistakes are the best teachers, as much as we abhor them...

A friend of mine says:
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience, well, that comes from bad judgement.