So the journey begins

[Matt Wolboldt]

Hey all,

I received my copy of Cumpiano's book and boy is it dense. I'm also looking through Kinkade's book as well. Which aspect of the guitar would be best to start with? I've resawn the sides and back so I could get started on bending the sides, or should I get the neck started? I'm still waiting for the spruce top to come in from Stew Mac.

Thanks

[John Coloccia]

You're going to want to make some practice sides to work on your bending. The neck isn't a bad place to start. It's pretty straight forward to make. You'll get it roughed out and then be ready to move on. I forget the order Cumpiano goes in, but it seemed pretty logical to me.

In practice, I usually work on both the neck and the body at the same time. It's the practical matter of having something to do while waiting for glue to dry. When I've run out of things to do there, I'll spend time making a headstock veneer, cutting binding, etc...

[Chris Fournier]

Don't worry about starting on this or that - YOU'VE GOT JIGS, FIXTURES AND TEMPLATES TO BUILD!

On your first guitar it seems that you spend more time making stuff that'll never play a note or be seen by anyone not in your shop.

As John says, you'll be working on the neck and body simultaneously given the gluing schedules.

I hope that you have a lot of fun!

[Anthony Scira]

I really liked Kinkade's book. Lots of great pictures and seemed to bring it down to a reasonable less intimidating process of building a instrument.

[Mike OMelia]

Don't worry about starting on this or that - YOU'VE GOT JIGS, FIXTURES AND TEMPLATES TO BUILD!

On your first guitar it seems that you spend more time making stuff that'll never play a note or be seen by anyone not in your shop.

As John says, you'll be working on the neck and body simultaneously given the gluing schedules.

I hope that you have a lot of fun!

So true. You need a jig for bending. A jig for binding. A mold for shaping. Radius dishes. Go-bar deck. Rosette channel cutter jig. But, start with the bending jig. Build each jig as you progress to the next step. You have decisions to make. You can make a oneoff bending jig with light bulbs to heat it. Or get a blanket. (or use a heat pipe)

Mike