Next Step Recommendations

Questions and answers for beginners. If you have a question, so do most other people.
MaineGeezer
Posts: 1711
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Next Step Recommendations

Post by MaineGeezer »

I do have the advantage of having a friend, Carter Ruff, who is a professional luthier, about a 15-minute drive from me. He's willing to do things like bend a set of sides for me if i ask, in exchange for various machine shop jobs I can do for him, so that reduces my need for a lot of the more expensive and specialized stuff. It *is* nice to have your own tools though.

I've never built a kit; all my instruments have been built from materials I collected. I think that choice has given me more freedom to experiment.
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
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Next Step Recommendations

Post by scamp »

MaineGeezer wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:02 pm I do have the advantage of having a friend, Carter Ruff, who is a professional luthier, about a 15-minute drive from me. He's willing to do things like bend a set of sides for me if i ask, in exchange for various machine shop jobs I can do for him, so that reduces my need for a lot of the more expensive and specialized stuff. It *is* nice to have your own tools though.

I've never built a kit; all my instruments have been built from materials I collected. I think that choice has given me more freedom to experiment.
I think I need a professional luthier friend!!
Amazing you never built a kit and just started out with materials you collected.
I'm impressed.
MaineGeezer
Posts: 1711
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Next Step Recommendations

Post by MaineGeezer »

Knowing Carter helped a lot. He provided guidance on what I needed to get for the first guitar. Now that you've built a kit, you probably could assemble what you need to build a second one without too much trouble. After doing one, you know you need back, sides, and top, kerfing, a neck blank, a fingerboard, head and tail blocks, bracing, fretwire, binding/purfling, tuners,....probably a few other minor details, but that's essentially it. I think a kit mostly saves you the trouble of rounding up everything.

This forum is about as close to having a luthier friend as you're likely to find, I think. Not as good as having somebody standing next you actively demonstrating how to do something, but John's videos come close.
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
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