Day One: Baby Steps.

The first guitar has been officially started. Sort of.

I guess I should say that the preliminary steps have been taken. As a first step, I went to Kinko's to have my plan printed out at full size. The plans are nice and detailed, and... in metric. As much as I hate multiples of ten, I decided that it wasn't a big deal since the plans were drawn at a 1:1 ratio. I probably will end up converting the units to Imperial measurements, just because I love America.

In my online research, I found a company that sells templates for several popular guitar models. Like this:

They also want 63 bucks for a guitar-shaped clipboard. I do really like the idea, though - so that in case any of you readers like the way this turns out, you can pay me to build you one (Ha). So, the first task was to build some of these suckers.

The easiest way to do that would be to just cut out the plan and trace around it - but obviously, I'll be needing the plan later. So, the first step was to trace out the guitar using a lightbox and some newsprint:

That part wasn't too difficult. I can draw a little bit. Here's a terrible picture of the finished tracing, glued up to a piece of plywood:


Incidentally, the board is a piece of an old show booth Keith had named "Santa's Workshop." Maybe this isn't quite as amusing to you, but the idea that I destroyed a piece of Santa's Workshop to make a guitar is pretty funny.

So. Traced, glued, and ready to be sawed. I am not proficient at using a bandsaw (yet), so Keith was kind enough to do the cutting. I took the cut pieces and sanded up the edges real nice like:

I've found that a certain amount of finesse is needed for sanding. I did a much better job with the second pattern (the one you see in the picture), so maybe there is hope for me learning how to do this woodworking stuff after all. Here's a picture of the finished body templates - we didn't have time to get the neck portion finished up.

Next week, I'll be finishing the neck template and beginning work on the body.

Spinning the wheels.

Manufacture and building are not the same thing.

I'll let that sink in... it took me a while, but I'm over the shell shock.

Ready?

"Manufactured" is everything you've bought.
"Built" is that antique table you got from your grandparents in the will.

See, that little distinction was tripping me up. I've been researching every little scrap of information on building instruments, and trying desperately to outline the process of guitar making, just so I'd know where to start.

Here's what I figured out:

There is no clear starting point beyond a block of wood. Sure, there are things that need to be done for each instrument... but the method is up to me.

Woodworking seems to operate that way. You figure out how you want to do it, and if it doesn't work then you try something else. If it DOES work, you remember how to do it so you can do it again later.

I like this idea. A lot. It's hard to reconcile this trial-and-error way of doing things with math, though - shapes are just geometry with the math done for you.

Still no contact from my maybe-a-mentor, by the way. I tried to call him, but he was out playing music - which seems like an appropriately objectivist sort of a hobby. This is looking great already, and I still haven't even touched a piece of wood.

Silver lining.

So, yesterday was a pretty rotten day for Keith. His dog, Scout, had to be put down. She was an old dog, and she was maybe the nicest dog I've ever met. I'm gonna miss that puppy.

Keith has one employee. He's not really even technically "employed" by Quality Woodcrafts, since he doesn't actually want to get paid. Robert (I think) is his name. He just comes over while his wife is at work so he can get out of the house and do something he likes doing.

Well, Robert (I think) noticed that Keith was in a foul mood, which is understandable. He managed to convince Keith to get out of the house for a while, so they went to visit some family member of Robert (I think)'s.

This gentleman, as it turns out, is a luthier. His name is Bill - that one I'm sure of. He builds acoustics, electrics, mandolins... all by hand, from start to finish.

So, I guess this one does have a silver lining. For me, at least.

Bill and Keith started talking, and the subject turned to guitars. Keith mentioned my interest in learning to build instruments, and Bill told him that he would be happy to speak with me and answer questions, and also invited Keith and I to come visit his workshop. He even volunteered to work with me in Keith's shop.

Long story short - I may actually have a mentor. Effing Awesome.

Meat and potatoes.

So, that's enough exposition and sappy stuff. Let's talk about where I'm going with my plans.

I initially planned to build a classic Les Paul style guitar (like the one pictured below ) - which has a body constructed of mahogany with a carved (or arched) maple top and a set (or glued-in) neck.

I went to a few luthier supply websites and priced out all the parts, hardware, materials, and electronics. It came to a grand total of around eight hundred dollars (although, I found a much cheaper place to buy wood, so I could probably drop a hundred or so off that estimate) which sounds bad... until you consider that buying a Gibson Les Paul costs around two grand.

I've decided to change my plan, though. I'm going to hold off on the Les Paul for a while and build a Stratocaster-style instrument first, like this one:

There are a couple of good reasons. First, the Strat is still a damned fine guitar. Secondly, it's a much simpler design. Stratocasters have a one-layer body with no arch-top, and most of them have a bolt-on neck. Bolt-ons are the easiest kind of neck joint to deal with. Third, most Fender guitars were designed with easy manufacture in mind - which also means cheaper to manufacture, particularly compared to Les Pauls.

Also, Strats are usually made from Alder or Poplar wood bodies with a one-piece maple neck. Keith works pretty much exclusively in poplar for his toys, so trying to find a "deal" on more exotic woods won't be a concern.

Lastly, even though I've decided to go in first on a "practice" build, I'm still going to end up buying a lot of tools for the project... tools which I will keep and re-use.

There are trade-offs, sure. Poplar is, as far as most luthiers are concerned, an "ugly" wood, at least based on what I've read. All that means is that I'll likely end up choosing an opaque finish that doesn't show much grain. I won't get much practice with inlays or bindings (decoration) on this kind of instrument. Same goes for routing. But because the materials for this project are much cheaper than the stuff for the Les Paul, I'll get to dive right in. And I won't be nearly so worried about making mistakes.

My initial impressions are these: Body work will likely be the easiest. Everything I've read on neck design, construction, and joining make me cringe a little bit - but I'm sure it'll make more sense when I have the neck blank in my hand. Wiring electronics is something I've never really done before, but I don't think it'll be too difficult. Decorating is going to test my patience.

So... why guitars?

I don't know why I picked guitars, exactly. There are more lucrative ways to do woodworking, I think. Like cabinets. Everybody needs a place to put groceries... but not everybody needs a wood box that makes noise.

I've been playing music since the seventh grade (bass, mostly), but I'm not what any of you would call a good musician. I enjoy it, but I'm not really very good at it. I've only ever been in one band, and I've never been on stage... unless you count Orchestra classes in middle and high school.

I've always liked the way guitars look, though. They fascinate me. There's something about the way the sides of an acoustic guitar are shaped that seems mysterious to me. Going into a music store just to stare at the instruments is still one of my favorite things to do. I usually won't even attempt to try them out at the store. I'll admit that I've wanted to own almost every decent guitar I've ever seen.

Dad used to play one for my brothers and I at night before bed (though I seem to remember him slapping it like a drum more often than playing chords), and I think that's part of it. I also have what seems like a disproportionately large number of friends and family who play music, and the idea of being able to build an instrument for them appeals to me a lot. Maybe I still feel bad about throwing one of my brothers into that Stratocaster Dad used to have with the ridiculous spiderweb motif.

So, there you have it. A few of the reasons for my mad schemes to become the next Leo Fender or Orville Gibson. I have a lot of friends who play, but I have even more who want to see me succeed in my venture. I appreciate all the enthusiasm and advice you have given me so far, and this journal is as much for you as it is for me.

Up to speed.

So, first things first. To get you all caught up:

A few years ago, I moved from Spartanburg, SC to the Raleigh, NC area because I wanted to learn to do something for a living that wasn't working at Target. To be more precise - I wanted to become a luthier (for those of you who don't know, a luthier is someone who builds stringed instruments).

I chose Raleigh because of it's proximity to Clayton, NC, where my mother lives with a fine gentleman named Keith who crafts wood toys for a living. Keith has a well equipped woodshop and plenty of experience with woodworking (and machining, and plumbing, and welding... seriously, the list goes on), some contacts with craftsmen organizations, and an eye for quality and detail that I relate to well.

So, I've been here three years and haven't built a guitar yet. Or even really taken steps toward building one. So far, I've constructed a nice cutting board for my brother and a shelf for my girlfriend... and both of those projects were completed well over a year ago - and I still work for Target.

Now, though, I've gotten my enthusiasm about the thing back. I don't know what happened - maybe I got tired of playing video games all the time, maybe seeing Angela (my woman) go back to school for something she was excited about got me thinking, or maybe it was something else entirely. Regardless, I'm glad it happened.

Amateur Luthier.

Well, here I am again with another blog. I find myself wondering why I always choose the same layout, but I like the black one. It's classy.

Anyway, I actually have a purpose for creating this one. I hope any of you who find your way here will follow me while I try to figure out how to build guitars. It's something I've always wanted to do, and now that I've (finally) decided to just get of my ass and DO it, I'm really excited about the idea.

Bottom line: Rather than clog up Facebook with posts about this whole process (which most of my contacts really won't care about), I'll invite anyone who is interested here and go into a lot more detail, a lot more frequently.