Hello from Idaho!

[DAVGROOM]

Greeting from southwestern Idaho! My name is Dave Groom. I'm in the process of preparing for a Martin Dreadnought guitar kit build. Looking forward to reviewing the forum topics which I'm sure will cover some of the questions I'll have.

Building an acoustic has been a longtime coming. Fourteen years ago, I attended a Charles Fox weeklong seminar at his shop in Portland, OR. Those lectures were a real eye-opener not only to the world of Luthiery, but also the ease with which Charles could keep an audience engaged for hours on end. I'll try and do Charles proud with my build.

I do have one question/request. I began reading Bill Cory's "Building Martin-style Acoustic Guitar Kits" last week. In the book, there's reference to a PDF version of the book compliments of the author. I sent a request to the email address indicated ("kitguitar@gmail.com"), but haven't heard back yet. It may just be that the author is on extended summer vacation. If anyone has a recommendation on an alternate way of contacting of Bill, I'd be all ears.

Sincerely,
Dave

[Diane Kauffmds]

Bill has been ill. I'm not sure you'll receive an answer. We're here to help you in any way. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

[DAVGROOM]

Thanks for the update, Diane!

[DAVGROOM]

Thanks for the update, Diane!

[jread]

I started out with the Bill Cory books as well. They are excellent. You'll find many of us know the book and can help you along the way. There's 2 small pieces of advice that differ from that book I'd give if you are following it to the letter.

1) Make or obtain a real guitar mold in the proper size for the guitar you are building. There's no substitute or short cuts in my opinion using cardboard molds or other means. I made my own at 1st but found that they weren't nearly as well designed and usable at the one's from Blues Creek Guitars but there are other vendors too. John Hall's stuff is very well designed and made. They are an investment but well worth every penny and will likely sell on ebay if you decide you are done making guitars.

2) The book shows how you cut notches into the kerfing to fit the top and back onto the sides and has you cut all the way through the side. I'd suggest to not cut through the side. Only cut a notch into the kerfing and trim your brace length to fit into it so it does not protrude though the side. If you cut all the way through the side, you have a good chance of your binding not being tall enough to cover that hole and you'll be in trouble needing wider binding or filling missing side material. Ask if you are confused when you start to fit the top and back into the kerfing. There's a picture in that book and I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

Welcome and good luck. Post pics and progress!

[DAVGROOM]

Good to hear, JREAD. Sounds like I’m on the right track.

1) I had been prevaricating about acquiring a guitar mold when I came across some publicly available comments in this forum. Decided I’d better start off right and contacted John (who responded immediately to my email). Happily, my guitar mold - and spreaders - arrived just a couple days ago!

2) I’ll be sure to compare your suggestions with the relevant section in the Cory book.

Appreciate the warm welcome!

Best,
Dave

[MaineGeezer]

Hello! You've come to the right place. You're right -- this forum has a LOT of information. Reading through it in your spare moments would not be a waste of time. You will quickly see that collectively, we've made nearly every possible error. Therefore, don't be hesitant about asking "dumb" questions.

I'll second (or third) the recommendation to get a good guitar mold. Though it's possible to make one, it's a lot of work and by the time you buy the materials, clamps, etc. John's molds @ $140 look like a bargain. At some point you may want to make one just so you can say you did it, or because as commercial mold isn't available for what you're building, but not for your first guitar. (You do know that nobody builds just one guitar, don't you?)

[DAVGROOM]

Thanks, MaineGeezer. I came to the same conclusion on the guitar mold. John helped me identify the correct mold for my guitar project. Luckily, I now have it in hand. Look forward to learning from the forum's experience!

Regards,
Dave

[tippie53]

He started this to help kit builders and when he retired from KGF I bought it so I could keep his idea of helping builders. In all the years I have owned this I am happy that people were always self policing and we have never had a big issue.
I am happy that this forum is going as well as it does , thanks to people like Diane and John. Its here to help share information. I think that is the idea Bill had , and I want to keep that the main part of this place.

share and respect you can't ask for more
thanks to all the members that is what makes this place special