Luthiers...

[Rufus]

Are there any luthiers here? Or guitar builders from kits?

 

[thetyreman]

I know a bit about it but don't claim to be a pro luthier, what do you need to know?

 

[D_W]

I am a guitar builder -but I'm a maker of all kinds of rubbish, so I don't have the same thoughts about making guitars that a pure luthier would. I haven't built any acoustic or hollowbody guitars yet, either, but that's coming this year.

i've put together two kits and have thoughts about that vs. scratch building if you have the skills to scratch build.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I've built half a dozen electrics, all from lumps of timber, no kits.

 

[Jacob]

I'm a lute builder - from a kit. Was a long time ago before I was into woodwork. That's my excuse anyway.
I recently dug it out with the intention of playing it again.
I'd like to do another sometime - the kit proved the possibility of doing it at all and the next one will be a lot better!.
I've mended guitars and other instruments, fretless banjo next on the list.

 

[BillK]

Full-time builder/painter/repair/restore etc etc.

If you were looking to get started with something you might be better going the partscaster route; get a body & neck from known good sources, and the hardware you buy is almost certainly going to be better than the cheap kits. Although, that is more assembly/paint/finish than build, you'd still figure out a lot on the way. And it'd cost more. But there's a lot of pretty poor kits out there.

 

[Orraloon]

Not a real luthier but dabble at making things that play. Like DW said we that do the occasional build likely see things different than a professional luthier. A kit is a good cheap way to get started. It likely wont be very high quality but you should end up with something that plays. Takes the mystery out of how a guitar goes together. Putting a kit together is pretty easy but you should study up on how to set up a guitar to get it playing right. You will never be a luthier just making kits but if it gets you hankering to go further then its a start.
Regards
John

 

[Keith 66]

I started building cigar box guitars about 8 years ago, they can be as simple as you like & there are no rules which is part of the attraction! One string, two,three, four or more if you want.
This morphed into building other instruments the most recent a hurdy gurdy, not perfect but its playable, next one will be better!
I am not a luthier but my trade as a boatbuilder helps especially as everything is a lot smaller & lighter!

 

[Ollie78]

I built an electric one, just to see if I could, my brother was suggesting that it was too hard to cut the frets right and it wouldn't work etc.
It did work and actually sounded nice, it was made of 2 sheets of exterior hardwood plywood glued together, integrated neck, trussrod under the sapele fretboard. In the end it fell off something and the plywood delaminated by the head. I have a bit of flame maple hanging about for round 2 now I know it's possible.

Ollie

 

[Orraloon]

Looking like we could do with a musical instrument section on the forum.
Regards
John

 

[user 29368]

I've assembled a couple of Telly style guitars, both of which I eventually successfully sprayed with nitro from rattle cans over several months.
Currently mid project making a Telly from scratch using crappy wood to practice with, before investing in more exocity timbers.

 

[profchris]

I've made around 50 acoustic instruments - ukuleles, tenor guitars and 6 string guitars. Not as a business though. I'll post a few samples later.

The hard part is walking the line between too heavily built to sound good, and too lightly built to hold together!

 

[Kicked Back]

The hard part is walking the line between too heavily built to sound good, and too lightly built to hold together!

*waves from electric land*

 

[profchris]

These sort of things ...

 

[bohngy]

I’ve made 3 acoustic guitars. The first was from old wood I had in the wood shed. It sure looked the part, but that was about it.
since then, I’ve made a dreadnought and a parlour guitar, one was surprisingly good. It sounded great, but I cut the fret slots inaccurately and the intonation drifted out up the neck!
third one’s the charm, though.

 

[TRITON]

I like your banjo. Had one many moons ago which i needed to repair by crafting about 25 of the brass fittings that hold the skin on. hooks made from rod, threaded at one end, the nuts for them(made from hex brass) and the bits the hooks go through that fix to the side body of the banjo. All in all at the time quite a challenge as i'd no tools or experience in making multiple brass fittings.

Recently I'd the idea for a banjo with a double body and necks. Mad sounding i know , inspired by the double guitars of the 60/70's 5 string and 4 string in the same instrument.

 

[Exluthier]

I trained as a luthier in Germany, with a further 'Wanderjahr' in a studio in The Netherlands; hand-work only, with no machines in the (German) workshop other than heavy presses for sheets of veneer (for making purfling) and a large, but tiny-bladed bandsaw in another room for cutting the purfling into strips; the Dutch workshop was entirely free of machinery. With little demand in those days, the German workshop had been reduced to making square section organ pipes (using the veneer presses for glueing-up) as well as hand-made decorative marquetry strips for restoring antique sewing machines, again using the veneers and presses, but with the early music revival in the early 1970s, the moulds came down from where they'd been hanging on the workshop walls and the making of lutes and viols began again. I still have my big frame saws and the Ulmia wooden planes, all of which I had to buy for myself. I've also still got (somewhere!) some of the beautiful purflings, stringings, and bandings.

 

[Jacob]

I trained as a luthier in Germany, with a further 'Wanderjahr' in a studio in The Netherlands; hand-work only, with no machines in the (German) workshop other than heavy presses for sheets of veneer (for making purfling) and a large, but tiny-bladed bandsaw in another room for cutting the purfling into strips; the Dutch workshop was entirely free of machinery. With little demand in those days, the German workshop had been reduced to making square section organ pipes (using the veneer presses for glueing-up) as well as hand-made decorative marquetry strips for restoring antique sewing machines, again using the veneers and presses, but with the early music revival in the early 1970s, the moulds came down from where they'd been hanging on the workshop walls and the making of lutes and viols began again. I still have my big frame saws and the Ulmia wooden planes, all of which I had to buy for myself. I've also still got (somewhere!) some of the beautiful purflings, stringings, and bandings.

Luthier - just what we need!
I have this kit-made lute which has been around for years and the edge of the very thin cedar soundboard is a bit battered. I seem to recall some idea about binding it with a parchment ribbon but can't see a source. Haven't phoned the Early Music Shop yet.
Is it a good idea? Where can I buy it? How to stick it? Is it available with a scalloped edge or similar, for decorative effect? though I could do that myself I guess.

 

[Exluthier]

What you're writing about is referred to as a lace, but I'm not sure that the EMS stocks anything like that, or ever has. It was a feature of many earlier instruments, and I don't know if anyone does it now, other than in restoring historical instruments, To answer your questions: 1. Yes, it's a good idea if you've a problem with a battered edge. 2. You can buy high quality parchment from William Cowley's, in Newport Pagnell (and see it being made). I think they are now the UK's only source, and they supply all the stuff for government use; awards, etc., and diplomas. It is a wonderful (though messy) skill; they are craftsmen in their own right. I buy the parchment I use (not much, as I'm technically retired, and demonstrably arthritic) for cittern and early lute rosettes there. If you want to buy a lot if it it won't be cheap. 3. Stick it with hide glue, in case the table ever needs to come off for repair. You can thin it down a bit, but not quite to the extent you would for glueing the table itself in place. 4. You would need to decorate it yourself. A simple scalloped edge is fine, which you can perforate with a reasonably strong leather punch or a hole punch (it's thin dried leather, in essence, and good and stiff) of a size to match the scalloping. Of the historical examples I've seen, most were a plain strip of parchment, though.

 

[Rufus]

Great to know there are other guitar minded people here. I like building from scratch (bought in necks, though) and also have a couple of "quick" kits from Harley Benton that I'll be building/customising. At some point, I'll brave having a go at a neck from scratch.