Product Description

Every guitarist dreams of owning a handmade instrument, but for most, the cost is likely to be prohibitive. The alternative - building your own fine guitar - is not as difficult as you might imagine, given some skill, patience, and the expert guidance of a master luthier. Every step of construction is fully covered, from choice, selection, and preparation of woods, to consideration of size, bracing, and tonal qualities. Each step of the building sequence is clearly photographed in color, with variations to the standard design shown to enable you to personalize your instrument as you make it. Briston, England-based Jonathan Kinkead has been building guitars for nearly 30 years. His craft is born out of experience and intuition rather than a strict following of technical detail. The resulting beauty of form and distinctive tone have earned him his reputation as one of the world's most respected independent luthiers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168329 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

Superb
It doesn't get any better than this. It even provides metric measurements for we aussies. If you're struggling to build a guitar from this book then go back and read it again 'cause you've missed something

Not recommended
Just got the book and about 55 pages into it and felt I needed to vent. This author may know his subject very well but has no idea how to convey it to the newbie builder. The point of a book like this should be to explain the material in such a way to help someone who has never built a guitar to do so. His explanation of making a mold starts out with you the reader coming up with a design based on looking at pretty color pictures. Huh? He tries to explain about a shooting board and go-bar press assuming you already know something about it. Next he tries to explain a curved template in a way that I just don't get. Is this for an arched top guitar and if so why not say so? I think I am wasting my time trying to read this book. I got suckered into thinking this was a good book to own by the abundant color pictures. This is a coffee table book-"oh look at the lovely pics"- not to be confused with a how to on building a guitar. Anybody want to buy a used book?

Great closeup photography of the subject matter
Great overview of the project and tools required, with wonderful color photography. But it leaves quite a few open spaces for a beginning guitar builder to actually accomplish this momentous task, without a lot of additional information. Still, I'd say it's a very good resource for the serious new builder and a great sequential look at guitar construction for any player who wants a broader knowledge and perspective of his or her instrument.