Acoustic Guitar Construction

My luthier friend in Michigan used to be a repairman for Elderly Instruments in Lansing, MI, an old high-end vintage guitar shop. He told me once that Elderly gets inundated with amateur luthiers wanting Elderly to sell their guitars. He said they were mostly all splendidly crafted, exquisitely lacq...

Ah, Herman, This one is just beyond belief - simply exquisite! Agree, mustache bridges were/are ill-conceived excrescences, you made the right choice. Also like your rosette and the vintage tuners. And as much as I try to avoid lacquer in my old age, that was, I know, a lot of work but in this case ...

Oh! Oh! I love it! LOCAL LUMBER, wunnerful, wunnerful... Outstanding craftsmanship and fixtures. Pine soundboard grain is pretty wide, but I think it'll work fine. I built my #7 with white pine, similar big grain. It was ladder braced so couldn't actually compare the pine top with my other guitars, ...

Sound Files: C,B, & Q.mp3 Jesse James T 324e.mp3 Jesse James #12.mp3 The Taylor 324e arrived about a week before Kjell mailed me my completed #12 guitar. I'd never owned a guitar with a mahogany soundboard before, only played one a year or more ago at Sweetwater that sounded wonderful, when ...

Numero Doce, the Last Go-Round : the All-Scrap Special 10/25/25 Will Reyer When my Pam died in February, 11 days short of 81, I had just about completed a prototype for a 14 fret OM guitar with a wider X brace like my two prior “Norman Blake” long-scale 12 fret builds, #9 and #11. The incomplete gui...

Ah, Herman, exquisite as usual. I admire your glue-up for a neck blank. I always use a center, contrasting color stripe a quarter-inch wide. The groove I need to rout for a double-action truss rod is this width, and it makes for easy centering. I do like the thin grace of yours, though. I expect you...

Hey, Kevin, this thing looks totally splendid. No need to apologize about not wanting to build another. I've had Benedetto's book for maybe 30 years, bought it when I lived in Texas and I've been out of there 21 years now. They're exquisite things, as is yours. I've a friend up at Interlochen who bu...