How did you get into Guitarmaking?

[Bob Connor]

In 1981, after four liver destroying years at Uni, I received a teaching post in a school at one of the far flung corners of north East Tasmania. This venerable village was Winnaleah. Population of around 25 with a general store, butcher shop and a pub which was graced with the latest technology of the day - a black and white table top space invaders game. it also sold beer, very good cold beer which is essential for any keen space invaders addict keen to ascend to the heady heights of the top ten players in the village.

As you may have deduced there was little else to do in one's liesure time in this idyllic hamlet except to get pissed and play space invaders.

I had been playing guitar and singing professionally for a few years but there weren't many gigs going at the Winnaleah Pub and besides "The Gambler" and "Coward of the County" weren't exactly part of my repertoire. I could struggle through "Folsom Prison Blues" but I couldn't play one song all bloody night and so the Winnaleah locals were deprived of my dulcet vocal abilities.

The teaching staff at the school included a bunch of hippies living on a commune on the road out to Pioneer and the woodwork teacher happened to be a guitarist so I said to him "maybe we can build some instruments in the schools woodwork room at night". This was to save my wallet and liver though it was to be to the detriment of my burgeoning reputation of Jedi warrior.

This bloke was also a tight arse so he decided to run an adult education course so he'd get paid for his efforts and duly half a dozen locals were signed up building a variety of guitars on Wednesday evenings.

At the time the only publication we could get our hands on was Irving Sloanes Classical Guitar Construction. (which i still have)

I ordered some tonewood wood from Perfectus Airscrew in Melbourne. Sitka Spruce, Honduras Mahogany back, sides and neck with an ebony fingerboard and bridge. The neck was a Spanish Heel due to Irving's influence but the guitar ended up sounding quite good. Didn't look too flash but I persevered and built another half a dozen instruments through the early 80's.

Fast forward to 2005 and I'd moved to Victoria, hadn't picked up a chisel in anger for years but had become mates with an extremely thirsty Weshman, Dave Mainwaring, a carpenter/joiner, who also played the guitar.

One Friday evening after only 8 or 9 pints of the black stuff I casually slurred at him that I had built musical instruments in a previous life and with his skills and equipment it should be too difficult to knock ouselves together a couple of acoustics.

Five years on and a heap of money later we have a workshop and have just turned the first divot on guitar 40.

So I can honestly say that on both occasions the demon drink drove me luthiery.

The forum that we have now came as a result of the luthiery and the fact that my day job is an IT lecturer. In fact it was a phone conversation with Craig Lawrence that started the ANZLF. We felt that instrument builders in our region would be well served by our own forum where we could share local resources and leverage some group buys and share postal costs from OS.

And regardless of the interest in luthiery I'm still a very thirsty human.

[Stephen Kinnaird]

Interesting stuff, this!
My story is fairly simple--my bro and meself visited a luthier in Atlanta, GA, where the discovery came that guitars do not HAVE to come from factories. Turns out that magicians can make 'em too.
Seemed like magic to me, anyway. This was early '70's.

No clue how to start--no internet--very few books--no one in my area doing this. So I was at the mercy of my bro who kept visiting that luthier in Atlanta. After numerous chats, scraped up enough nerve to get started and built my first in 1980, on the kitchen table of course.
It was a lefty, so I couldn't play it, but it was an addicting experience nonetheless.

Steve

[DarwinStrings]

Stephen Kinnaird wrote:
magicians

When I first started mentioning to local musos that I was going to make a guitar my words were greeted with some chortles or more bluntly, scoffs. I have to admit I was probably a little smug when I then put that first guitar in their hands and watched the amazed looks on their faces. Maybe I should have whipped it our from up my sleeve and said "hey presto"

Jim

[jeffhigh]

I started playing guitar at about 12 and by 16 was modding my first Aria electic with a paint job and a hand rewound pickup after I broke the wire on the original. did a few other repairs and refrets.
When I was around 20 in the mid 70's I started to build a classical guitar working from a book which I can no longer recall. I think I got as far as making a mould, and purchasing an unsuitable piece of blackbean which I then had no means of processing.
Unfortunately I had a father who coud join two pieces of wood together only if he had a suitable metal bracket.
Anyhow, got to 50 and had been building drums, Xylophones and Native American Flutes, decided I wanted a telecaster and that I would build a '55 replica for my birthday... long slippery slope from there.

[Lillian]

Reply by "Hank Mauel"

Here's an excerpt from an article on 000/OM instruments that I wrote for issue #49 of Guitarmaker. It gives some ancient history on how I got started. Being a 6 year old article, needless to say some things have changed...especially the part about "investments" Wink... but I'm still making sawdust at a reduced rate.

My introduction to the world of 000/OM bodied instruments took place in the mid 1960’s, long before I built my first guitar. For the purpose of this article, I will be referring to the 14 fret OM body configuration. My high school years from 1960-63 coincided with the folk boom phase of the American music scene. In those years the instrument of choice was predominantly the large bodied flat tops from Martin, Gibson and Guild, with an occasional entry from some of the lower level instruments builders such as Harmony. Japan had not yet become a significant contributor to the guitar scene, at least not with any models we thought worthy of ownership. The first really upscale guitar I owned was a Guild D-40 that I purchased in my senior year of high school and still own after all these years. It is a wonderful sounding instrument and my continued ownership of it constitutes one of the smarter decisions I have made in my life. Just thinking about the cars (1967 Mustang, 1960 Lotus Elite) and the guitars (1963 D-21, Martin 0-16 New Yorker, a circa 1950’s Gretsch) that have passed through my hands makes me weep. But I digress.

In 1965 I stumbled onto the OM bodied guitar in the form of a Harmony 14-fret OM shaped guitar, probably dating from the 1950’s. Back in that time frame Harmony instruments were still built in the United States and were solid wood instruments. This OM had a nice golden brown sitka top with a mahogany body and it was extremely comfortable to hold and play… more on the comfort issue later. I found it in a pawnshop in San Jose, California only a couple blocks from
San Jose State University during a class break. Just for the heck of it, I bought it. Cleaned up and with a new set of strings, it produced a very pleasant, well-balanced tone. Not as loud as the Guild dreadnought, but a sound all it’s own. It became my finger style guitar while the Guild was relegated to more of the flat picking duties.

Over the next several years, before starting my first hand built instrument, I began to experiment with modifying braces, etc. on several low priced instruments. A cruise through more pawnshops turned up some of the inexpensive Harmony OM bodied instruments. These became the cadavers on which I practiced the evil arts of back removal, brace reshaping, bridge plate modification and various cosmetic changes such as converting to slotted peg heads. (Photo 1) Surprisingly, these instruments respond quite favorably to being hotrodded, with increased volume, sustain and overall improved tonal qualities. I tucked these learning experiences away for future reference when I would build my own OM style instruments.

Roll up to 1970. I had finally decided to build, from scratch a six string flat top guitar. At the urging of a close friend, I began with a dreadnought body sized 12-string built for him. He bought the woods; I built the guitar for free as a hobby project. Talk about your alternative woods movement…this instrument featured a black walnut body! Next up was a straightforward 6-string dreadnought with East Indian rosewood and Sitka top. All totaled I built 6 instruments between 1970 and 1976…3 dreadnought, using my Guild as the template and 3 parlor guitars, modeled from the Martin 0-16 New Yorker I had owned.

Next came the 20 year hiatus from guitar building to raise the family, build a new home, be soccer coach, etc, etc. But I did not lose track of the activities and developments in the guitar building world. And I continued to examine any instruments I could get my hands on with the goal of doing my lutherie in my retirement years.

Fast forward to 1996. With nearly 30 years in corporate America under my belt I decided it was time to get into full-time guitar building. Blessed with several nice retirements, some successful investments, the kid’s through college and on their own I decide to go to the shop and start making sawdust. And what do I build first? My own personal OM. Why? The tone, the comfort, the overall ambiance of the instrument. This gave me the opportunity to incorporate many of the ideas I had been thinking about since I took apart the first Harmony many years before. Drawing from the engineering environment, I had decided to go with top and back braces that were tall and thin, utilizing the concept of the I beam: maximum strength with minimum mass. I finally settled on top braces that were .300” thick at the base and .750” tall at the intersection of the X with back braces that measured .250” at the base and .625” tall at the center. The intent here was to have a sufficiently strong top to withstand the string tension, yet light and responsive to the string energy input and a back that would have life of it’s own. Along with those ideas, I eliminated the “popsicle” brace under the fingerboard extension and placed a single finger brace running off the lower legs of the X brace. Additionally, I only tucked the ends of the X brace and the transverse brace into the kerfed lining, leaving the ends of the tone bars and finger braces clear of the linings to allow the top to move more like a speaker cone. I also experimented with different bridge plate woods other than the time-tested maple: Brazilian, Madagascar and Honduran rosewoods, Macassar ebony and Ziricote (photos 2 & 3).

You may have guessed by now that I was not seeking to replicate the sound of the traditional OM, but to utilize it’s comfortable shape to develop my design ideas. Martin Guitars has the traditional OM sound down pat and Collings is the closest clone to that. I had other sounds rolling around in my head that I wanted to hear in a guitar…don’t most of us…and pursued those with my build style.

[Luke]

I have not made a proper guitar as yet but have dabbled in a few odd creations. Its been fun sharing them with you all I consider the fun ideas as a sort of apprenticeship before i build an all timber instrument.

I may rave on a bit as I am full of drugs pain killers broke my collar bone a week ago can't do much for awhile .

I am firstly a singer and blues harmonica player, guitar, never going to be that flash but always improving.
I have a metal trade background and played in bands in my 20's gave music away and went to the dark side in the nineties kind of lost the plot around 2000 got back into playing music and it saved me from the black dog.
I started around 2007 to do some set up sort of work on my guitars repaired a bass that i broke the truss rod in and got the confidence to have a go myself.
Improved my cheap acoustic etc etc

I brought my first tea tin as many have seen, and it sat in the shed for awhile I new it was cool but not sure what to do. Than read about cigar box guitars and figured the tin will work cause I don't have a cigar box.
My new hobby had began the thrill of putting strings on objects and hearing what sounds come out is fantastic.
I always wanted a resonator guitar but couldn't afford a good one so decided to make one. It was different but sounded amazing I now have several instruments that I use to perform with they are all unconventional and have interesting sounds.
Thanks to the net I have learnt heaps, sites like this are an inspiration to many.
I also have become obsessed now with customising my harmonicas, that's another story.
I am almost 47 got so many things I want to make, its great.

[P Bill]

My "light bulb moment" came when I replaced a plastic nut and saddle with bone and adjusted the trussrod. Although I had a woodworking background I considered this a rarified specialist activity. I was happy enough doing this until about 10 yrs.ago, when I started playing mandolin. It was a nasty entry level mando, set up the best I could manage. Two mos. later I built an A style archtop. I knew I could get lost in the detail if I tried for perfection so I just got stuck into it, assuming I was right till proven wrong . After the first mando I'd then make the" good one". It worked out acoustically and I haven't built another. With the mando I started playing music with other people and got serious about music and having fun. Fiddle playing came next and a series of electric fiddles and my idea of an electric double bass. My first bass customer saw one of my fiddles and asked for an eub. "Sure, what is an eub ?"

Eubs are the only inst. I make for sale. I've started down the acoustic path and am a beginner once again. My method is to hoe in and find out how to do it, using common materials. This gives me a freedom I don't feel with more expensive materials. I have to say I'm mightily impressed with the level of craft and artistry shown here.

Alan, I never knew the trials of the lefty till I made a left handed bass and tried to play it.

[liam_fnq]

I only started about 18 months ago and I can tell you everything in my life has started getting in the way of ukulele building. Everyone keeps asking when I'm going to build a guitar. I always say soon but I've got too many uke ideas in my head to even start a guitar.

About 18 months ago I mentioned to a workmate that I'd like to build a guitar but didn't have any woodwork tools or machines. He told me about his mate who was a member at the local woodwork club. He also said that there was a bloke down there who made guitars. Around this time I stumbled on this site. So between this site, the local library and mining Allen's brain of anything useful I got started.

18months later and I've got a bench at the back of my carport where most of the action happens, Two ukes on the bench and tonewood and other crap littered throughout the house. I've also just bought my first house. wait for it. NO SHED! The misses has been informed that I'll be building in the laundry til I get a shed. she'll crack sooner I hope............

[Allen]

You crack me up Liam. I reckon Jacinta's got more staying power than you.

[liam_fnq]

only one of us is suffering a raging case of a horrible, disfiguring disease known a Ukulele Building Syndrome

[Allen]

bob wrote:

And regardless of the interest in luthiery I'm still a very thirsty human.

Your my kind of luthier.

[xray]

im yet to own a japenese water stone but i like the look of the 12000 grit verson on japenese woodworker. very xy though

[kiwigeo]

xray wrote:
im yet to own a japenese water stone but i like the look of the 12000 grit verson on japenese woodworker. very xy though

You can get the King brand stones from Carbatec. They're not cheap but if you keep them flat they last for ages.

[WaddyT]

In 1979 or so, my son decided to take up guitar playing. He bought a Hondo Classical guitar, $39.95 at the music store, where he signed up for lessons. This was during the summer of that year. By Christmas, he was no longer interested in Classical Guitar, and was switching over to Electric, and was getting his first electric for Christmas - Ibanez Iceman! Way cool at the time. He still has it, but hasn't played it in years. He's now a Strat and Tele player. Anyway, that Christmas, his present to me was the plywood classical and a Roy Clark Big Note Guitar Book. Well, that got me playing, or trying to, but I realized quickly that I wasn't learning much. I decided to take lessons. My teacher had a father who was into guitar building, and he got me interested by suggesting Sloane's book. I was hooked, and bought some stuff, joined GAL, etc. However, I still had my boys, and those responsibilities, and a job, etc. Continued to maintain my interest over the years, but never pulled the trigger - family, elderly parents, yard, house, roadie for my son's band, etc, etc. Anyway, in 2006, I looked up and realized that all that stuff, except the house and yard, were all either moved away and happily married or gone, and I had some time. I bought some more books, found a few forums on line, and studied the subject for a year more before actually cutting some wood. I think there was a bit of trepidation there, and I was afraid of making mistakes and messing up expensive wood. Anyway, I bought Dave Schramm's, Hauser CD, and his first act was cutting a scarf joint, which he buggered severely, on purpose, I'm sure, but then proceeded to fix the bugger job into a perfectly good scarf joint. It was the one thing that kicked me into the "cut some wood" mode. Started my first in 2007, and finished it in 2008. I'm trying now to finish up #5, but just trashed my top, so I'm in the process of learning to re-top a classical. All is good!

[rocket]

Waddy, absolutely fantatic vid of your first guitar, i'm blown away by the skill you've displayed, i might have been watching a master luthier at work. Well done . Cheers Rod

[liam_fnq]

I'll also say that Waddy your work is very inspiring for a novice like me. I hope that by my tenth that I'm looking close to your 3rd. well done mate.




This is the final re-constructed message of this topic posted by the ANZLF help team.

[Kim]

Glad we managed to save this thread, its a beaut...thanks for giving this one a bit of CPR Lillian

Cheers

Kim

[ProfChris]

Anyone else come into the area via aviation?

For fun I fly gliders. One day a friend gave me a ukulele, saying it was small enough to fit in the cockpit. Started playing, got hooked.

About a year ago I wondered if I could make one from scratch, so I read up on the subject, bought some wood (not tonewood, just wood) and had a go. It worked, sort of. The uke is heavy enough to double as a warclub and has a neck which is both thick and nearly square, but sounds surprisingly good and is fairly playable. Since then I've made two more, each different.

I doubt I'll ever rival a "proper" uke maker, and what I seem to have fallen into is using salvage wood. No. 3 was made from a wardrobe frame which turned out to be mahogany (the 4-piece front and back probably explains why it's rather quiet), and I have a piece of grand piano soundboard and a rescued mahogany shelf for the next projects.

Much of the fun has been discovering techniques - I'm fairly proficient with hot hide glue but still can't sharpen my cabinet scraper properly. I think I've worked out how to avoid a square neck next time round - may log in to boast if I succeeed.

[Dave]

How did this madness start......

I started as an apprentice cabinet maker many moons ago. I have also been playing the guitar since I was 10 - I'm still playing at the same level lol

I decided that I would combine the two loves of my life (The wife will never know about this post - I hope) making sawdust and plunking strings.

I have yet to finish my first but have just got my dehumidifier so I can now get the top and back on (about bloody time -the other love of my life told me)

I have orders for 5 already - all non paying but I will own their souls for all eternity

I love working with wood and I'm constantly amazed and humbled by the quality of the instruments I see on this forum and the others I visit. Hopefully one day my offerings might just start to achieve a small midgin of extremely high standards that many of builders here obtain in every build.

I have learnt so much by the kind generosity of everyone who gives their knowledge so freely.

Dave

[Pete Howlett]

I fell into it from a great height... gave up guitar making 7 years ago to concentrate on the superior ukulele