After years of making guitars of all types, classical, steelstring,electric,bass, harp etc, I found that there are many more types of instruments out there that are just as exciting to make. I have just completed a banjo ukelele, made entirely of wood, including the head. The power of this small instrument with nylon strings is amazing.People that hear it for the first time burst out into laughter, not because it is comical, but because it takes them by surprise. This instrument has a scale length of 17″, and my next effort will have a scale length of 18″, only because of my customer’s preference. I used spruce for the soundboard and hoop pine for the body and neck. The fingerboard is ringed gidyee. The strings tie on to small brads in the tail of the neck, and rock maple is the wood used for the bridge. I used banjo style friction machine heads for the tuners.

I have made several all wood banjos with nylon strings. They too are a great tool for a musician to have in their arsenal. They can be useful for having as a practise instrument if their ‘real’ banjo is too loud in certain situations.They are much lighter than their counterparts and are very comfortable to hold. Their quality of sound allows it to hold its own in a small ensemble. A contact pickup in under the soundboard would be a good way to amplify this instrument.

Once you get the bug, it stays with you for life.Doing some skill with your hands provides some inner peace and satisfaction that escapes lots of people. Guitar making can cement your life and give it a direction. There are so many facets to building an instrument, that perhaps you will become an expert in one of the offshoots.For example, you will need to know something about all the woods available in your area as well as offshore.The search for wood of a particular species can take you all over the state, country or globe.The study of wood is a full time occupation on its own, and is a facinating journey.The people you will meet along this road will keep your interest alive.

Another area you will visit many times is that of woodwork machinery. This is another facet which will keep your brain ticking. The scope of woodworking tools is immense, and if you are not careful, it will drain your resources.You will always be thinking, I’ve got to have one of those gizmoes to complete a particular task more efficiently.Sometimes, speed is of the essence, but if your style is more laid back, you will choose the tool that’s right for you.

Once an instrument has been completed and fully sanded, then it should be covered in lacquer, oil or varnish.The application of these finishes is another complete study on its own. There are some entertaining books available on lacquer finishing by people who spent their whole lives doing just that. George Frank is one that comes to mind.

As a professional guitar maker of many years, I credit my early education for teaching me many things that I would love to pass on to others wanting to learn to make a guitar. In the start of my career, there were not any good books out that covered the craft of making a guitar. I was getting interested in learning how to repair an old guitar I had found. I was going through a magazine and found an ad for the Earthworks Guitar School in America. It was started by Charles Fox and based in the state of Vermont and the school is still going strong today, with a second location in California. I decided to go through the two month course and ended the class having made a nice steel string guitar.

First and foremost, the school was a disciplined environment. Everyone in the class had to always be at the same point in the process. If it meant staying up until 3 o’clock in the morning to finish, then that is what you had to do. Another aspect of the discipline that is a key to making guitars is the importance of doing the process in a certain order. Steps cannot be completed haphazardly. In order for all of the individual parts to fit together, everything must be worked on in an orderly fashion. Going through the Earthworks Guitar Making School has also given me insight into the art of teaching other people how to make guitars.

The school also taught me the importance of techniques of the craft of making a custom guitar. Most importantly, I think I find one lesson as the most important and I couldn’t have learned it anywhere else. I believe what I learned about preparing the wood before applying lacquer is one of the most valuable things I took away from the school besides the discipline. I also learned that in order to be good at guitar making, you need to possess patience.

Today, there is a larger selection of how-to books on hand making guitars but they still may not be as valuable as a hands-on, taught course like at Earthworks.

I look forward to passing on the things I learnt at Earthworks to others wanting to learn to make a guitar.

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