Introduction

Building a Herringbone Style Acoustic Guitar

It's my first experience regarding the construction of an acoustic guitar. Therefore, I took the decision to buy a guitar kit. I found on the Internet a few guitar shop suppliers who sell guitar kits. These places are:

Martin Guitar Company
Stewart MacDonald (Stewmac) Guitar Shop Supply
Luthiers Mercantile International (Boxed Materials only)

I stopped my decision on the Stewart MacDonald (stewmac) guitar kit. The customer support is pretty good at Stewmac. The delivery delays are around 2 to 4 weeks in Montreal Canada. The main goal of this WEB site is not to replace the thorough set of instructions that comes with the kit, but it is rather to share my experience. For any comments or questions, send me an Email : Richard (E-mail)

The following references have been very useful during the assembly of my guitar kit :

1. Guitarmaking Tradition And Technology by William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Natelson
2. A Guitar Maker's Manual by Jim Williams
3. Making An Archtop Guitar by Robert Benedetto
4. Classic Guitar Construction by Irving Sloan
5. Guitar Repair : A Manual of Repair for Guitars and Fretted Instruments by Dan Erlwine

Here is a picture of the kit :

Click image to enlarge

Click on one of the following links to hear some strumming of my guitar in mp3 format :

Recorded with an SM58 microphone

Recorded with an SM58 and a Fishman Matrix Natural II Pick Up

INDEX
Page 2- Installing Soundhole Purflings Page 3- Installing Kerfed Linings Page 4- Installing Soundboard Bracing Page 5- Attaching the Soundboard Page 6- Installing Back Bracing Page 7- Inside View of the Guitar Page 8- Attaching The Back Page 9- Channeling Guitar's Back & Soundboard Page 10- Installing Body Bindings Page 11- Exposing the Neck Dovetail Joint Page 12- Installing the Truss Rod	Page 13- Gluing the Rosewood Headstock Veneer Page 14- Attaching the Neck Page 15- Attaching the Plastic Neck Heel Cap Page 16- Attaching the Fingerboard Page 17- Installing The String Nut Page 18- Attaching the Bridge Page 19- Applying the finish Page 20- Close-up view and conclusion Come back to introduction page