Advice before building...

[cclark335]

Hello, I am new to the forum and to building. I am very interested in building an acoustic and have been doing some research before i make any decisions. i have looked around the forum quite a bit and found some great information. I have little experience with woodwork so I am a bit hesitant to start. I want to build a nice kit but am worried that being my first kit I will make too many mistakes and wind up wasting the money. would it be smarter to start with a less expensive kit for practice? Any advice before getting into building would be greatly appreciated! thank you very much.

[tippie53]

At this point you are probably more confused than educated . There are many ways to do this profession . There are many vids on you tube here is my list of vids on You tube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... 55l0.1l1l0
What you want to make , do you want to be traditional or contemporary in your building is your choice. Your first guitar is wise to go with a kit . If you email me I can help . We at Blues Creek are here to help . good luck and we hope you enjoy KGF.

[Ken Hundley]

Most of us (except the pros) started with no wood experience, or very little that had anything to do with these instruments, anyway. You are in good company there....don't let it get to you. You are not going to grab a chisel and make a guitar. You will make each component step by step, and there are plenty of resources here to help you along the way. Turn it into a series of little decisions, and before you know it, you'll be tuning it up for the first time. Almost up there with the day your kid is born.....have at it, and take photos for us!

[David L]

Welcome to the forum. Don't try to overthink it! Most of the kits available are very builder friendly and coupled with your woodworking experience you shouldn't have any problems being mostly successful. This forum is a great resource, you almost can't get yourself into so much trouble that the folks around here can't help you out of. I would encourage you to purchase your kit from one of the forum sponsors, click on thier websites on the left hand side of this page.

David L

[johnnparchem]

Welcome to the forum.

As you go through the posts you will find a lot of great looking first time guitars from non wood workers. I would give it a go if you have an interest.

[Jim_H]

I too had almost zero wood working experience when I started.

I would strongly consider taking advantage of one of the kits from our sponsors. They sell excellent products and can pre-service them (i.e. provide already bent sides) to make it considerably easier. Not to mention, they provide excellent support via thier websites, this board, and via email.

Alternatively, if you can find a local pro who provides building classes, I think that getting hands on TLC from someone who already has established processes is by far the best way to get exposure to what is involved with guitar making without the risks, and without having to buy and build a bunch of tools, jigs and forms, that you might end up never using again.

In my humble opinion, buying the really cheap kits like the grizzly, while cheaper, is not going to provide much value in terms of experience, and the end result will probably not be worth what it costs to buy and ship to you.

[Tim R]

Go for it. Follow the advise above. I was in your place not long ago without woodworking experience. I have made some mistakes but still my OOO first guitar is coming along nicely. I got a martin kit from john at blues creek. Highly recommend him or one of the other kit suppliers.

Only thing is, in retrospect, I probably should have gone with the mahogany instead of rosewood to save some money for the first one. It is easy to envision building a perfect guitar the first time but not as easy to achieve it. Relax and think of it as a learning experience. Be patient, read, and you probably will end up with a good one.

Well, I'm not really qualified to give advice since I'm really a beginner too, but there it is anyway.

enjoy!

Tim

[tippie53]

take your time and study things. It it doesn't make sense ask questions . You have much to learn and discover , enjoy the journey .

[Darryl Young]

I didn't read all the responses so hope I'm not repeating advice. Even with no woodworking experience, I would buy a good quality kit. It might make sense to use less exotic woods for your first one. Mahogany is a traditional tonewood that isnt expensive. And domestic woods like walnut or maple or cherry or myrtle make nice sounding guitars and canbe replaced easily if you mess up. I would recommend you buy from John or Ken and you will be setup for success.

[cclark335]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and great advice! I feel a lot better about building my first kit and am even more excited to begin! I will hopefully be getting a kit soon, but until then ill be doing some studying and preparing. im sure ill be posting a lot in the near future. i will definitely have more questions about tools and the building process.

John: I will most likely be taking you up on your offer and emailing you soon about your kits.

Thanks again