Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build Books

[scamp]

I'm interested in trying to take my guitar building to the next level.

I built a few guitars that I like but I must admit that I didn't feel like I knew what I was doing in terms for optimizing their acoustic performance. I more or less followed basic suggestions on the thickness of the sound board, some crude flex testing and tap testing etc. Bottom line is.... I feel like I need to improve my knowledge in this area before embarking on my next build.

That said, I recently came across the books "Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build Books" by Trevor Gore with Gerard Gilet and thought that the information in these books would potentially help fill in my knowledge gap.
I'm a retired engineer so the idea of a more scientific approach to guitar building really appealed to me. So.. I thought it would be good idea to get the books and give it a try. That said, the books are rather expensive and there aren't a lot of independent reviews of the books out there.

So I thought I would post this to see if anyone had purchased these books and had any opinions on the books they could share with me.

Thanks

[Skarsaune]

I've got them.

As an engineer myself, I also appreciate the scientific vs the touchy-feely approach. I've always enjoyed researching / reading about anything I'm taking on, so buying these was right up my alley. Having said that - the part where they derive their equations makes my eyes blur nowadays. Skip ahead, just tell me what to measure and where to plug it in to the equation.

The books are good, the methodology is solid, there are any number of tidbits to be gleaned and adopted for your build process. However, I find myself actually using less scientific / more hands-on techniques for my builds (particularly voicing tops). If I'm not at work, I try to stay off spreadsheets. I've taken a top voicing class with Robbie O'Brien, both the recorded online version and a zoom workshop, that I found suited me very well and gave me good results.

Previously, the Stew Mac membership gave you 50% off on books - which on a set of $300 books was well worth it by itself, plus you got free shipping for the year. Checking just now, they have now knocked that down to 10%, and they no longer list these as available. I've considered selling mine, but I do like having a nice reference library.

[mmusician]

I've got them.

As an engineer myself, I also appreciate the scientific vs the touchy-feely approach. I've always enjoyed researching / reading about anything I'm taking on, so buying these was right up my alley. Having said that - the part where they derive their equations makes my eyes blur nowadays. Skip ahead, just tell me what to measure and where to plug it in to the equation.

The books are good, the methodology is solid, there are any number of tidbits to be gleaned and adopted for your build process. However, I find myself actually using less scientific / more hands-on techniques for my builds (particularly voicing tops). If I'm not at work, I try to stay off spreadsheets. I've taken a top voicing class with Robbie O'Brien, both the recorded online version and a zoom workshop, that I found suited me very well and gave me good results.

Previously, the Stew Mac membership gave you 50% off on books - which on a set of $300 books was well worth it by itself, plus you got free shipping for the year. Checking just now, they have now knocked that down to 10%, and they no longer list these as available. I've considered selling mine, but I do like having a nice reference library.

Hi, I'm so sorry for the 'necroposting', but I was wondering if you could develop a bit more on how their methodology works.
I'm ever so confused, as altough it seems to be based on a lot of testing and math/spreadsheets, It seems that you still need some 'basic parameters' derived from experimentation and previous builds in order to use these as a target... If they were a bit cheaper (currency exchange and import duties also works against me, unfortunatelly) I'd have ordered them already, but...)



on the other hand, I've also considered the recorded O'Brien voicing online course, but the neck jig plan he sells was such a let down on quality (it's all there, of course, but what a mess of a drawing!!) that I'm a bit concerned over the quality of the course (it seems to be an old recording) and I'm not sure if the record one it's good enough over how to understand the subjective part of these thing...

[Diane Kauffmds]

IMO, building is as much art as science. It's always good to start with the basics of builds that are mostly tried and true. I started out with solid plans. However, although the plans gave me a solid foundation, I found my own way of building.

There are no steadfast rules when building guitars. You can be as precise as possible in all measurements, including bracing placement, and even woods feom the same billet, yet the guitars will sound slightly different. I suppose if you make everything on a cnc, and use a template for bracing placement, you'll get as close as possible (but, where's the fun in that?).

I still tap my backs and tops while chiseling the bracing. Some folks don't see the reason, I can hear it. That's just my approach to building.

I built a neck tenon dovetail jig and a separate body jig for the matching mortise. It's loosely based on what Robby demonstrated on YouTube. I didn't use his plans. I made plans based on what I saw on YouTube, with some minor adjustments for my needs and templates. My templates didn't come from LMII.

[Skarsaune]

Hi, I'm so sorry for the 'necroposting', but I was wondering if you could develop a bit more on how their methodology works.
I'm ever so confused, as altough it seems to be based on a lot of testing and math/spreadsheets, It seems that you still need some 'basic parameters' derived from experimentation and previous builds in order to use these as a target... If they were a bit cheaper (currency exchange and import duties also works against me, unfortunatelly) I'd have ordered them already, but...)



on the other hand, I've also considered the recorded O'Brien voicing online course, but the neck jig plan he sells was such a let down on quality (it's all there, of course, but what a mess of a drawing!!) that I'm a bit concerned over the quality of the course (it seems to be an old recording) and I'm not sure if the record one it's good enough over how to understand the subjective part of these thing...

You do need some 'base' parameters / guidelines, but they are included in the books.

I was well pleased with the recorded content from Robbie's site on a number of topics. Recommended.