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After just over a year into my first feel like I just got the ball rolling. Still, I can't help but entertain the thought of doing another and trying to streamline the process somehow. Was it any easier for those of you who've done a few builds? Heck, I'd curious to hear if there's anybody out there who's just done this once without desire to do it again.

So my question is "how soon is too soon" - or should it be the Glass Half Full version of "how soon is soon enough"? Is it advisable to finish the first and just stockpile materials for future build or is it OK to start the early steps on #2 since the lessons learned on #1 are still fresh?

Finish the first, first.

There may be mistakes made that are not uncovered until the very end of #1, or you may just want to do something differently on #2.

It helps to keep a written record or a journal on your computer. I would finish #1, recording everything you can remember of challenges and solutions.

#2 will be easier in that you have better control over your tools and materials, but new difficulties will arise. I suggest that you nail down, as best you can, any step that you know is going to be repeated in future projects. Make your brace ends exactly the same height - find a way to do that. Notches for brace ends - same every time - find a way to do that. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel with each build. It is worth the time to build the jig or buy the tool, whatever it takes to standardize as many steps as you can. Example: I use a popsicle stick to gauge my brace end height. Each brace, every time. Things like that. Simple and repeatable. On this last build, I made a jig to hold the slothead for drilling for tuners. I took a picture of it, made a note of it, will do it exactly the same next time. The more standardized steps you have, the stronger your foundation for building skill in those processes that are unique to each instrument - and the truth is that there are skills that cannot be reduced to mere method .

Have fun!

Definitely finish the first one first, as stated above. The second one I built went much easier, and then I decided to get cute and build multiples. Still have some of them lyin around. Yes Kev, the Maca is one of them....slowly but surley. And yes, I did spell surley right.

Shirley, you don't feel surley, surely?
Or worse - surly..

OK, message received: wait until later. My wife will be happy to hear that! I'll put some good wood on my Christmas list though. I'm just hoping to delay the day when she suspects that I've finally and fully cracked - but I think that day has come and gone for her! *LOL*

Seriously though, I've got some bits and pieces already and hopefully this potential build would go a LOT differently. I'm looking to simplify the process. This first time I basically just started with blueprints and have made almost everything from scratch. This time I'm going to buy semi-finished parts and I don't even have to make all the molds and such like I did this first time. It wouldn't be quite like a kit but I'm hoping to make much LESS sawdust and scrap.

I hear you guys though, it would be better to nail down how to properly do the finer point of assembly that have thrown me for a loop during this first build. In the meantime, I'll still be planning and dreaming but not to the point that my first build suffers.

Often the 2nd one is a disaster , I know when I started there wasn't an internet and info was scarce. Sometimes you are more lucky than good. My 2nd went south and I finally destroyed it . I had the grain on the neck in the wrong direction . I was free building at the time and my symmetry was horrid. Fit and finish was fair but what I thought I learned from the kit was not the case . As I built more and more I started making jigs and fixtures and that is how I got into the jig business .
I think it would be interesting to see how many had to put on out of it misery , so lets see how many that built that monster . I can say that I learned more from that guitar than any other I built . Sometimes mistakes are great learning experiences .

I gotta agree with John about the second guitar. Mine has mistakes galore... didn't account for the soundboard on the neck block, see through binding in spots, had to tear out a third of my abalone purfling and redo, inlayed and tore out the headstock emblem three times, installed the tuners upside down, put the soundport in the wrong place.... so now I have a guitar with very high action(but playable), goofy looking binding, a wavy headstock emblem, a soundport that only works a little, and tuners that always get turned the wrong way!

BUT it still sounds great, it's my "go to" guitar!, and three instruments later I have yet to repeat these mistakes. It is the project that taught me the most.

mjmeehan wrote:put the soundport in the wrong place.... a soundport that only works a little

How do you go about deciding what the right place is? Apart from taking a guitar, assuming the playing position and looking straight down? :)

I did just that. However, with no neck on the guitar the position I assumed was tilted down. So when I looked down I thought the best spot was between the waist and the upper bout it kinda points toward my right shoulder, not towards my head.. and it's on the small side, like a medium sized egg.
When all was said and done I wished it was bigger and closer to the neck.

Lesson learned- slap the neck on when assuming the position!