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Hi, I was hoping to gather your thoughts on buying a kit and just storing it, not building it, for a semi-long time, such as 6 months or even a year.

Would it be a bad idea? Would the wood twist and turn in undesirable ways?

I ask this question because I've been hankering to order another kit but I know that I don't have much time to build, so I'm guessing the guitar will not be touched for a long time.

Is it generally better to build a kit soon after you receive it?

Thanks.

The sides, if they are bent, will 'un-bend' if left in a free state for very long.

I have an orphan set of mahogany dread sides that came prebent. They are slowly flattening out.

If you have a mold or form to clamp the sides into, that would keep them from relaxing.

That's the only detriment to putting a kit on the shelf I can think of.

A friend sent me a kit he wasn't going to build, and it's in my 'to-do' someday pile. I expect to have to deal with the sides, ie, re-bend them.

I see, thank you for that information!
I do not have the tools or space necessary to re-bend sides if they flatten out, so that would be a huge problem for me.

I guess I should hold off on a kit for now until I have the time to actually dedicate to building.

koolimy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:17 pm

I guess I should hold off on a kit for now until I have the time to actually dedicate to building.

Good idea. But when you finally get it, don't be in a rush to get started. Give the wood a few days to acclimate to your workshop. (And if possible, try to build it at a time of year when your humidity is lower.)

Frankly, I think that if you are doing this as a hobby that there is a certain pleasure in going slowly and aiming for heights as yet unexplored in your finished product. It's different if you are 'in the biz' I guess... there dilly-dallying around would probably be sen as a problem to be avoided.

But as a pure hobbyist, I can't see for the life of me any problem with buying a kit and looking at it for a while before building. Dreaming of how good its going to be is part of the fun, isn't it?

I assume you have a body mold, or plan to get one. As long as you've got that, just clamp the sides in that until you're ready to build, and they will be fine. Keep the top and back flat by putting weight on them, otherwise they will probably tend to curl a bit.

No matter how long somebody has a kit, the sides will not fit any mold the builder has. There's always some dimensional mismatch between Smith's sides and Jonses's mold. Nothing will ever be a drop-in, no-pressure fit to the mold. The need for some 'fettling' comes with the kit, any kit. And builders can reasonably expected to adjust things till they're right. Nobody builds a guitar without stretching his knowledge and experience.

Nobody builds a guitar without stretching his knowledge and experience.

^^^^ Truth!