Members voneville Posted November 30, 2006 Members Share Posted November 30, 2006 I've been getting ready to take the plunge and build a guitar from scratch. I've got plenty of woodworking and shop experience so I know my way around that aspect, but the fretboard side of Lutherie intimidates me a bit. I guess because as a player I know that fine details make a huge difference. I'm on a super tight budget however. I know stewmac offers a basic start-up kit for a descent price, but I also know that many of those tools are a lot like the common tools I can find locally for less. I'm not just talking harbor freight (although some are found there as well). My question for the guys that actually do this stuff as a hobby in their spare time (where time isn't money) is that how specialized are those tools? I realise things may take a little bit longer with common tools that aren't specifically designed for the task. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bowlingshirt Posted November 30, 2006 Members Share Posted November 30, 2006 Originally posted by voneville I've been getting ready to take the plunge and build a guitar from scratch. I've got plenty of woodworking and shop experience so I know my way around that aspect, but the fretboard side of Lutherie intimidates me a bit. I guess because as a player I know that fine details make a huge difference. You could get a pre-made neck/fretboard and focus your woodworking on the body of the guitar, especially if this is your first build. I don't think the specialized tools are 100% necessary; they may be a bit of a convenience, however. I don't think I'd spend the money on tools unless you see yourself making several guitars in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigdan Posted November 30, 2006 Members Share Posted November 30, 2006 ultimately, no....a lot of what you see as specialty tools can be pretty easily improvised with normal tools (which is how a lot of them go their start anyway). Most of what i've done over the years has been with tools i already had that got macgyvered into something similar to what you'd see in stew-mac, so i'd say they're definitely not 100% necessary to build a good guitar. on the other hand....having something specialized will save some work and effort, plus so many of them are just cool as hell. if i had the funds, id' still call up stew-mac and tell them i want one of everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daveski Posted November 30, 2006 Members Share Posted November 30, 2006 If you really have plenty of experience and some decent tools, you can probably get by with what you have. It ain't rocket science. If you have the experience you talk about you've probably had to invent/fab your own jigs/fixtures/tools before, so building a guitar shouldn't be a big deal. Worst comes to worse, you could start out with what you have: if you reach a roadblock that you can't overcome with your present inventory, then buy what you think you may need. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members voneville Posted December 1, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2006 Cool, thanks for the advice. I've built a couple of guitar bodies in the past, which was fun, but I really want to graduate to the next level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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