Classical,  Steel-String, 12 String or Dobro

We offer:

• Use of my shop and tools, we go through the building process from design to finish

• We cover the safe use of hand , and power tools

• We can use local, exotic or recycled woods

• This also includes bending the sides mother of pearl cutting and inlay

• Different options in the use of finishes

• I build a guitar with you , as you follow the steps and work on yours

• In the end you walk  away with a beautiful  instrument

• We take lots of pictures or video from your progress

• The PRICE  for the complete course is $ 1600 for a guitar that you build your self

This price does not include the case and the tuners or  exotic woods used for back and sides, there will be a price adjustment.

The requirement is half down payment , we can work out a payment plan that will work for both of us

What it takes from you:

• Some basic woodworking skills would be helpful but I will go over the basic uses of the tools required with you keeping safety in mind

• Average commitment  of 24 lessons at the shop for about 4 hours ea.

• And don’t forget to bring your  enthusiasm !

Still curious  and have questions ? Stop by at the shop for a chat  and come  play a few nice guitars!

Call me 303 543 0146 or my cell is 720 999-1223

Related posts

• Bad Tuners, Low Batteries and Old Strings (0)

The U.S. handmade-guitar industry has exploded over the past 30 years. Here’s how to find a craftsman to build your ideal custom instrument.

As far out as it may seem, a generation ago it was virtually impossible to lay your hands on an acoustic guitar hand-made in the U.S. But now, while other artisan industries have been automated out of existence (or exported to countries with cheaper labor), American guitar making flourishes.

Peace, love and lutherie

The group responsible for the custom-made industry, which includes more than 3,000 luthiers in North America who make about 150,000 guitars a year, can be described in one word: Hippies.

Until the 1960s, most acoustic guitars in the U.S. were made in factories owned by Martin, Gibson and a handful of other companies, explains Tim Olson, the founding editor of The Guild of American Luthiers’ American Lutherie.

Then hippies came along, who, Olson says, weren’t concerned with making a lot of money. Instead, they saw making guitars as a way of life. “They didn’t come at it from an angle of ambition. It was more of a free-spirited curiosity,” he says.

Lucky for the fledgling handmade guitar industry, Gibson and Martin made some of their worst guitars in the 1970s (both have had major comebacks since then). That, combined with the folk music revival, increased demand for good acoustic guitars, and allowed the handmade guitar industry to put down roots.

And the industry continues to grow robustly thanks to one trait from its hippie past — cooperation — a trait that remains the driving force behind the industry’s culture. Leaf through a copy of the industry Bible, Acoustic Guitar magazine, and you’ll find ads for workshops taught by the top luthiers. Guitar makers swap techniques, which shores up the entire industry, creating more demand and more opportunities for more luthiers.

Cooperation extends to big manufactures as well, says Rick Davis, a guitar builder who is the head of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans. The manufacturers have recently started hiring custom builders to help design new models, he says.

The case for custom

Custom-made guitars fall into two general categories: Those made as art for art’s sake (check out Beyondthetrees.com for examples from luthier/artisan Fred Carlson), and those made to suit an individual musician. Davis says guitar players often choose to commission a handmade instrument as “a matter of feel. A customer might say, ‘gosh I love the way Martins sound, but I hate their neck. I love way Taylors play, but I don’t like the sound very much. So I want a Martin with a Taylor neck. A custom maker can do that.’”

A custom maker also cherry picks from a woodpile to select only the best pieces. And, Davis says, a custom maker can take advantage of the wood’s individual qualities. Factory-made guitar tops (the most crucial piece of wood for a guitar’s tone) all have the same thickness, Davis says. But “every one of my tops is probably a little different, because I’m shaving off a couple of thousandths at a time, looking for that absolute moment when it just lights up and says, I’m there.”

A custom maker can also add inlays that you choose or design.

The cost of a custom-made guitar starts at around $2,000 — though the average price falls between $3,000 and $5,000 — and runs up to $50,000.

Meet your maker

But there’s more to buying a custom guitar than just price. It is a major commitment of time. Craftsmen often have a backlog of months or years. The more in-demand their skills, the longer you’ll have to wait. Small shops and few, if any, employees mean productivity is often limited to 12 to 20 instruments a year.

Your first step as a potential buyer should be to learn about guitar making yourself. Find out what goes into building a guitar so can better communicate your needs, and understand the luthier’s questions. Also be ready to describe your playing style — do you prefer flat picking, open tunings, what string gauge do you prefer?

Next, attend a guitar show where you have the best opportunity to look, listen to and play a variety of custom guitars. Take the opportunity to meet and speak with the builders. Some upcoming events include:

• The Newport Guitar Festival, August 6-8 in Newport, R.I. (www.newportguitarfestival.com).
• The Guild of American Luthiers’ annual convention and exhibition, July 7-11 in Tacoma, Washington (www.luth.org).
• Healdsburg, Calif., guitar festival, August, 2005 (www.lmii.com).

You can also browse the Web to find luthiers near you. You’ll find lists of guitar makers on both the Guild of American Luthiers and the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans Web sites.

Look for craftsmen who specialize in the type of guitar you want. Then ask for references. Talk to the musicians who play the instruments to make sure they’re satisfied with the workmanship.

Confirm the price and methods of payment. Most custom guitar makers typically expect half up front and the rest on delivery.

And finally, find out what happens if you’re not satisfied. With most makers you’re stuck, but some may offer a limited money-back guarantee.

Related posts

• How Does The finish on an Acoustic Guitar Affect the Sound of the Guitar? (0)
• What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar that Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1. (0)
• The Acoustic Guitar – Hand Built (0)
• Preparation before ordering a custom built electric guitar. (0)
• Jonas Guitars | Hand Built Acoustic and Bass Guitars (0)

How does an acoustic guitar produce sound?  Quite simply, when a guitar player hits a guitar string, the string absorbs energy and begins to vibrate.  However, this alone is not enough to create sound waves that can be heard.  In order to be heard, the energy must come into contact with a mass of lower density.  The guitar’s hollow body enables this to happen.  In a nutshell, the body of the guitar acts as a soundbox.  The energy from the vibrating strings travels through the saddle and bridge over which the strings pass, and eventually to the soundbox.  The soundbox amplifies the vibration of the strings, so that the sound can be heard.  The guitar’s volume and projection are a result of the soundbox.
How is the soundbox assembled?  The front of the guitar is called the “soundboard,” while the sides of the guitar are called the “ribs.”  There are small strips of wood that allow the front, sides, and back to be glued together, and these are called “linings.”  Once the pieces are glued together, the joints are hidden by “edging.”  The inside of both the soundboard and the back of the guitar will have something called “strutting” or “bracing.”  Basically, these are strips of wood that are laid across the surface in a pattern.  The struts serve to strengthen the wood and prevent it from warping, but they also allow the soundbox to vibrate and produce the best possible tone.

Tone, simply put, is what the guitar sounds like.  Even high-quality guitars will differ in tone.  The design of the soundbox will affect the sound characteristics of a guitar; as a result, many guitar makers, known as “luthiers,” will change the design of each guitar slightly to produce varied tonal qualities.  The goal of every luthier is to ensure that their guitars have even tonal gradations, with no areas where the tone or volume changes abruptly, and no areas where there is over-accentuated harmony.  Different designs mean that some types of guitars are better suited to particular styles of music.  For example, Martin flat-top guitars are popular with fingerstyle guitarists because of their clarity and defined bass pattern, while Gibson flat-tops are frequently used by country musicians because of the rhythmic sounds they produce when chords are strummed.

Guitar Shape and Size

Most acoustic guitars share the same basic shape.  The body looks like a figure-eight made up of an upper bout, a thin waist, and a lower bout.  However, the dimensions of these three parts of the guitar will determine what it sounds like.  Guitars with smaller upper bouts have enhanced treble frequencies, while guitars with larger upper bouts have enhanced bass frequencies.  Acoustic guitar sizes vary as well.  Flat-top, steel-string acoustic guitars come in standard, jumbo, and dreadnought sizes.  Today, there are a wide variety of steel-string and nylon-string guitars available on the market.

Browse this website, AcousticGuitars.us, to learn more about acoustic guitars and the people and companies that make them.

Related posts

• The Acoustic Guitar – Hand Built (0)
• What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar that Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1. (0)
• Jonas Guitars | Hand Built Acoustic and Bass Guitars (0)
• How to Pick a Custom Guitar Maker (0)
• How Does The finish on an Acoustic Guitar Affect the Sound of the Guitar? (0)

Related posts

• Build YOUR OWN GUITAR Classes (0)

Related posts

• What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar that Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1. (0)
• Jonas Guitars | Hand Built Acoustic and Bass Guitars (0)
• Every musician is particular about instrument set up. (0)

What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar that Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1.

Many factors come together into the puzzling and complex issue; what goes into a custom acoustic guitar to make it sound great? To answer this question is very complex and I’ll suggest to you step by step. Articles will follow this one that will encompass the details of each of the factors involved.

THIS ARTICLE IS INTEND TO BRIEFLY TOUCH UPON SOME OF THE BASICS OF THIS SUBJECT – Great sound in Custom Guitars

First of all, the sound that comes out of any guitar is just what it is, as you hear it. Our Judgment of it is based on what we come to judge throughout history and what we have come to accept as todays standards set by others to what a Good or Bad Sounding guitar for should sound like.

In other words, in nature there is no such thing as a good or bad sound in a strict sense. It’s only what we have come to accept as standards to what a guitar should sound like. Developing this idea further, hopefully, in the future we can learn to set higher standards and maybe the custom guitars at that time would even sound better than todays guitars. Woudn’t that be awesome?

The standards were achieved by ground breaking companies such as Martin Guitars and Gibson, who spent money and research to allow standards to exist within the ’sound’ of a custom acoustic guitar, or any custom guitar for that matter.

OK, let’s get to it.

When you pluck a string, this produces an energy wave that we know as sound. What this guitar must do is transfer the energy introduced by plucking the strings. This is what I call the ‘final common denominator’.

The guitar string energy in motion is transferring through the whole thing (glue and everything, with a dependance also as to the current temperature), how this perceived sound being generated by a complex system, finally producing that resulting factor we call ‘resonance’.

In other words, everything combined about this “Complete Unit” and all its complexity called a “Guitar”, contributes to the sound you are hearing at the moment the strings are put into action.

Therefor the sound depends on:

• The Design of the guitar, it’s shape.
• The construction, the manner in which the guitar is constructed.
• The types of woods used in the guitar making process
• The types of bracing inside on the soundboard.
• The materials used for nut and sandal, including the bridge pins.
• The finnish used on the outside of the guitar.

There’s more on this later. Ideally a guitar should sound like, what? It’s only limited to our imagination. Therefore a custom guitar builder of any size has the same ability to further advance the sound quality of any custom built guitar.
What I’m going to share with you over the course of several articles, are some secrets about this and how do we go about constructing a great sounding guitar in practice.

This article will concern itself with the Construction in general and we’ll touch upon the woods and others stuff in a later article. After I built my first Martin Guitar, many years ago with the guidance of my Father a Master craftsman himself during my youth;
I discovered that:

As a general rule, a lighter built guitar would bring out tones more clearly, and with the right construction technique, a louder response.

The energy brought forward by plucking the strings had less mass to hide in, less places to get lost or trapped. The energy had less ‘knee jerk’ obstacles to overcome hence forth, due to fine shaped braces, more on that later. In other words as a direct result, the guitar became more alive and responsive.

The advantage of that is that the whole guitar becomes more flexible and at the same time more producing a likeable and even louder sound. The thinner I made, the back, sides and top, (up to a point, more later) the more sound was able to transfer through the woods. The wonderful advantage of this is that the player can feel the sound transferring into his ear, guts, and body while playing my guitars. As a result, a better and direct connection and relationship with the musician. The guitars simply talk better to the players.

This has to be done within it’s own limitations for obvious reasons, the overall strength of the guitar must be maintained we’ll discuss it in a later chapter.

THE INSIDE GUTS

When you look at the basic Martin Cross bracing pattern for the sound board, you’ll feel the representation of a water reservoir or lake. The idea is that if you throw a rock into a calm lake, it produces wave patterns, getting smaller the farther they travel until they disappear back to the balanced state of the water surface or to its original neutrality.

Because the waves of water are essentially the same as the waves in the air, slower because of a thick medium; the idea is to construct the soundboard bracing pattern in such a way that the wave energy generated by the strings, is gently and ’smoothly’ transferred into the guitar’s soundboard. To help transfer this energy wave back to a state of natural balance of the sound board shape, just like it’s counter example in nature, the rock thrown into the water.

These are the kinds of revelations one receives as a master guitar craftsman, like myself. This way we can create the sound waves the way that I want. This is the doorway to understanding a bit more on creating even better sounds in the future, like the sounds that are produced in the Peace Guitar.

In the case of making a guitar sound good, or Great, on this one point:

It is the individual shapes of the braces that represent water waves. And, the idea is to help the energy waves return to their original balance of rest.

But the fun of all this is, that I get to surf the waves right in my guitar building shop. I am proud to say that the more attention I pay to this phenomena, the better the guitars turn out and come to sound.

My favorite quote: “better sound is a concept that may be in perpetual changing mode due to human perception.”

Related posts

• How Does The finish on an Acoustic Guitar Affect the Sound of the Guitar? (0)
• Preparation before ordering a custom built electric guitar. (0)
• My Process for My Cherrywood Acoustic Guitar (0)
• Jonas Guitars | Hand Built Acoustic and Bass Guitars (0)
• How to Pick a Custom Guitar Maker (0)

What the luthier (fancy name for guitar builder) has to do first is create templates of both the neck and body of the guitar. These are made out of plywood or sometimes perspex, kind of like a flat version of the guitar that’s going to be created.

2.) You need to know beforehand exactly what parts you want on the guitar, as those measurements are crucial to the design of the guitar. An electric guitar builder can’t even think about starting on a guitar before all the parts are right there with him or her.
Acoustic guitar builders have less of a problem with that, seeing as there are less parts to worry about.

3.) Find a guitar neck that you like the feel of and try find out the measurements, like fretboard radius, neck thickness and scale length.

The best electric guitar construction method

There are three basic electric guitar building methods to consider. Mostly a good luthier will have this pretty much figured out, but surprisingly enough, there are some differing opinions.

The three methods that are most commonly referred to are bolt on neck, glued in or set neck, and neck through body construction.

In my opinion there is only one choice, and that’s neck through body construction.
This means that the neck runs all the way through the body, and the sides are glued on.
Second choice is a set neck.

Some luthiers will do something called a deep set neck tenon, which is half way between a set neck and a neck through. Not a bad compromise at all.

Good wood equals good tone

There are many good woods to use on a guitar, my favorite is African Mahogany.
A good idea is to do some proper research, the best kind being to listen to some of your favorite guitars and see what wood they used on them.

Guitar tone is a very personal thing, so no-one can tell you what to do there.
An experienced luthier will have a good grasp of the tonal character of various woods, so tell them what you want and they should know what to do.

The value of a personalized custom electric guitar is something that’s difficult to quantify. I’ve always said that any good guitar is worth more than the money you pay for it.

Related posts

• What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar that Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1. (0)
• My Process for My Cherrywood Acoustic Guitar (0)
• How to Pick a Custom Guitar Maker (0)
• How Does The finish on an Acoustic Guitar Affect the Sound of the Guitar? (0)
• Here’s the One Of A Kind Tear Drop 5 String Bass (1)

Related posts

• What Gives a Custom Acoustic Guitar that Exceptionally Great Sound? Part 1. (0)
• Jonas Guitars | Hand Built Acoustic and Bass Guitars (0)
• Here’s the One Of A Kind Tear Drop 5 String Bass (1)
• handmade acoustic guitars | the instrument of your dreams (0)