Luthier

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Dedicated to the craft of lutherie, the making of string instruments, and all those who practice it, admire it, or wish to learn about it.

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For the first post, sharing again my first ever build (Corvus) (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Welcome! I am looking to re-grow my absolute favorite community here on Lemmy - to kick it off, I'm sharing my first build that I finished in April.

It was a dream come true to finally be able to build up a workshop and try my hands at this. It took 4 months of weekends and the occasional lunch breaks, and I had so much fun, I can't wait to get going on #2 and dive deep into this craft and all it's secrets.

I could just post pics on one of the 'guitars' communities, I'm hoping this community can become a forum for people who really want to discuss the techniques and the process, not just the final product. Please comment or post if you'd like to see the same thing!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

man, that is beautiful. did you do the inlay work too?

I'm hoping one day to build from scratch, but so far I've built a kit and am now working on a 'partscaster.'

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you! I did the headstock inlay from scratch, for the fingerboard I bought a set of the trapezoids and just laid them in

That's awesome, you'll get there! I never completed a full project like a kit but I had purchased a scrap heap that was one a guitar from eBay to practice on trying to fix it up, it definitely helps you get ready.

Definitely share some pics here when you finish the partscaster!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That looks beautiful....I'm dying to do a similar project...Care to give me some tips?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Holy cow I didn't expect someone to find my new community so fast lol. I'm just learning Lemmy, so I'm curious - did you search for luthier or did it show up on a all-communities type page?

A from-scratch build is a big (and can easily be expensive) project. But it is very manageable in small steps. To get something 'playable' at the end for a first guitar, really only a few critical parts have to be correct - for example, the nut to bridge distance, the fret spacing, and the neck angle and bridge height (and thus string height), mainly. The color/finish can be a disaster, the shape of the body pieces can be all wrong, you can have a huge dent/chip - basically you can (and you will) mess up a ton of things, but you can always keep going. It's harder than you would think to mess up to the point of having to stop. IMO motivation to see it all the way through over what can be weeks/months is the hardest thing, and understanding the previous point makes it much less daunting.

I'd love to answer more specific questions or give different kinds of tips if you'd like - thanks for commenting!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Just stumbled on it, trying to figure out lemmy before I lose reddit Is fun for good. I build pedals and my wife almost boutique me a kit but they all looked cheap and if making something I'd like to do it right!

I'll gladly ask as I figure it out. I was going to cheat with a real neck, currently don't have the space to attempt to properly make one.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Awesome, same boat - took RIF off my phone home screen and took an evening to try to figure out what's going on over here.

A bigger community will always recommend to start with a kit first so that's definitely not a bad route, but there are more ways to shake that tree. The biggest part is to get some practice with the tools and techniques before you cut/stain/etc your best wood, but you can always do that with scrap wood as you go, doesn't have to be a kit.

A pre made neck is an great compromise, it has the most fidgety and slow bits to make.

Good luck! I hope you get the time to try it out, very rewarding and worth the time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If I'm being honest, the neck was always going to be premade. Off to the races.