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Now that my shop is a bit larger, I can work on more than one thing at a time - SO. I'm starting a Ditson kit from KMG on Monday morning, and will try to organize steps in such a way as to be finished with the construction in one month.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure something or a combination of some things will ensue in such a way that one year from now I will be saying "Almost done!!" or something similar. :-)

New procedures this time: I'll be using hot hide glue for some steps; slo-glue and twill binding tape for bindings. I also have the japanese water stones and blade guide that Brian Burns taught me to use, so I will have much better edges on my hand tools.

This should be a lot of fun and I will try to post progress pix often.

Sounds cool, what size will it be? I've played all 3 ditson sizes, and my favorite was the 11, then the 111, and my least favorite was the baby ditson style 45. I liked them all, but the 0 size 11 was my favorite. I've never built a kit, but my last build, the OM I showed in my thread took about a month, including finishing. A few luthiers, Wayne Henderson, Laurent Brondel, etc. can tun a stack of wood into a fully finished strung up guitar in 2 weeks, so I still feel slow :(

I'm not in a big hurry - the mistakes I do make are inevitably due to either lack of attention or rushing things.

From a well equipped shop 80-100 hours for a moderately ornate guitar, plus drying/curing time is about right -- but I have to say hanging out at Elderly's on a busy day not once did I ever hear "Wow --- how could this not be a great guitar it only took 60 hours to construct."

Ken - just for my edification, what would a well-equipped shop consist of? In the way of tooling, jigs, finishing capabilities etc?

bathroom
first aid kit
beer fridge
stereo
paper towel
coffee pot
cookies
candy bar
glenlivit
royal crown

You forgot coffee???? And you call yourself a luthier!!

Access to coffee for sure!

No booze and power tools for me -- I love my fingers!

The well equipped shop depends on the level of processing -- are you starting from a log or a kit?

Beyond that -- mind you I am an Industrial Engineer by trade so for me the equation is simple -- set-up = equals lost time = multi- purpose fixtures and machines

So the closer you get to "zero fixture adjustments" -- "zero change overs" the quicker you can complete a project. Routers are the prime example -- the well equipped shop will have one set up for all necessary operations -- fiddling with height, depth, bit selection is very time consuming --- and worse set-up is where most errors are made!!

Bet you were expecting a different answer?

Actually, the 'one setup for each operation' principle makes a whole lot of sense and sums it up better than just a long list of tools. Thanks.

yes to no booze with machines as we were making fun
Shop tools
In seriousness
Lighting is so important
A good bench
tooling is so individual but lets see what would be most important
I would be lost without my belt sanders and oscillating drum sanders .
I thing a good band saw
table saw
sanders and good sanding blocks
scrapers
building molds and spreaders
When it comes to it Clamps and more Clamps
a good method for joining and thicknessing .

there is no one answer to this question but learning what tooling you need will depend on your building techniques and styles.