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Greetings from North Carolina. I’m Bryan and I’ve just been admitted to this forum by the admins. I have a new 12 string dread kit that just arrived from Martin and a body mold from Blues Creek Guitars. It seems to me like a bit ambitious to start with this one, but I’ve played my Martin D-35 since it was new in 1977 and have wanted a 12 string most of that time. I belong to Backstage, the former Martin Owner’s Club and got an ad in email a couple of weeks ago for a huge discount on their kits. I went online to order a ukulele kit my wife wanted and realized after log in that after both the sale discount and the Backstage discount that I could get the 12 string for $409.00 with free shipping I jumped on it along with her soprano uke. This will be my first build, although not my first start. My son builds folk instruments and has built several guitars, and suggested a few years back he’d like to build one with me, so I bought 2 Martin dread kits then. We got them in the molds and started them, then he became a dad and life got in the way. Both of those kits are still sitting in his shop, probably until his kids hit high school from the looks of things. So I’m flying solo on this one. Wish me luck.

You can do it. You’ll be happy with it. Welcome.

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

Hi Bryan
Welcome to the forum.
You will find lots of help here along your way on your build so don't hesitate to ask questions.
Sounds like your son might be able to help some!!

Kevin

use the you tube blues creek channel and ask a lot of questions we are here to help

Proceed with an air of total confidence, act as though you know what you're doing, and you'll be fine. The reason
master luthiers never seem to make mistakes is that they are skilled at recovery and coverup...and keep quiet
about it.

Except on this forum: everybody admits to their less-than-stellar "learning experiences" because we've all done something equally stupid, if not more so. So don't worry about asking questions.

Welcome aboard, “You can do it”! Thus forum is fantastic and you are wise to join. When I started here I spent hours just reading through different builds and boy you learn something. Lots of knowledgeable and generous folks here to help with any possible questions who will have. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your project as you go along.

MaineGeezer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 4:04 pm Except on this forum: everybody admits to their less-than-stellar "learning experiences" because we've all done something equally stupid, if not more so. So don't worry about asking questions.

Maine is right. I don't think I've ever met a luthier/builder that thinks their builds are as good as they truly are. All we see are the faults. I think that's the nature of the game. We're always trying to overcome them and it's hard to see anything but the mistakes. But when the final guitar plays great, sounds great, and looks great, what else is there?

A thought: Retrieve one of those dreadnought projects and complete it first. Yes, that will delay the 12-string the best part of a year, but I'm on the backside of two scratchbuilt and completed 12-strings and I found them damn near twice the effort of six-strings and about twice as much trouble to set up and get them playable. I needed all the experience I could remember and a whole lot of patience to get those 12-strings built. Even get one of those Asian 'kits' will give hands-on experience.

Hey Bryan. Welcome also. I think Peter may have a good suggestion there. First builds can be tough. A dred might be a good starting step since you already have the kits.
We live in GA but spend a lot of time in Charlotte visiting grandkids. If you ever want to grab a cup of coffee and talk about this journey you’ve started, I’d be glad to meet you. Just PM me if you like.