Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar -- Jonathan Kinkead

[ken cierp]

I'd say that this publication is one of the best out there today. Illustrations, photography and sequencing are outstanding. I like the fact that he gives the maker options relative to tools, molds, finishing techniques etc. Several of our KMG products are similar in design to what Johnathan uses in his methodology. However, the way he trims the rim back profile and addresses the neck set are not exactly geometrically correct, but will certainly match of results of other common practices. To me this is a must read -- must have book.

[GuitarWhisperer]

I thought this was a great book as well.

[peter havriluk]

Did I miss the part where Kinkead discussed fitting the top so as to mate to the neck at the correct angle?

[ken cierp]

Actually you caught him -- that's where he drops the ball. His concept is close but incorrect, instead of sanding slope on the rim to get the straight line requirement -- to my surprise he actually tells the reader to make a hump in the finger-board extension by bending it down to the sound-board. Plus you may have also noticed that his method for trimming the back side of the rim is a "flat plane" and that geometry cannot possibly match up corectly to the domed back he constructed --- fit is no doubt trial and error. Unfortunately we see a lot of this accepted in the craft, ultimately/(wrongly) viewed as normal

[peter havriluk]

Ken, thanks for articulating what I saw - - - but it made no organized sense to me when I read the book, either the part about the back attachment or the soundboard attachment. I didn't have the words to define my discomfort, but when I read his comments they just seemed insufficient for the tasks. I also noticed him slide from building a separate neck to a permanently attached one, and then confine his workalong text to shaping and finishing the attached neck and fretboard in situ. And I can't see myself building a truss rod.

But the book does contain some beautiful illustrations and a dense scatter of "here's why" comments.

[ken cierp]

You should pat yourself on the back --- seems you have a good undestanding of the required geometery, and this points out that many in the craft (even the good ones) fail to make the links --- Good for you!!!

[Herman]

I agree on the above. Several things I do differently from Kinkead, but he has great pics that explain a lot. For a firsttimer the book is a must have.
Herman