Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar: Complete Instructions and Full-Size Plans

This in my opinion is simply the best book on steel string guitar construction available. It differs from all others in that it's led by photographs and not by text, similar to a Dorling Kindersley book. There's more text than just figure captions, but it's sparse and absolutely economical: there's not an unnecessary word or digression (the author's editor was a genius and/or a total brute). Examining the photos is incredibly instructive: after a full 'read' of the book you feel almost like you've built your first guitar already, as you can see exactly what's involved with every step. This gave me enormous confidence before starting and also gave me an idea of what processes to think more about (e.g. alternatives) and what things to follow to the letter. The full size plans are excellent too- but I choose not to use them and nevertheless had no problem applying the methods to a different set of plans.The coverage is superb as well- from selecting woods to hand and power tools, to post-build set-up and pick-up installation. The author is also encouraging in that he argues that relatively few specialised tools are absolutely required, which is one of the reasons many people with the desire never even start.It's both instructional and inspirational and I return to it for both of those reasons more often than I turn to any other book on the subject (and as there aren't that many, I've got all of them on my shelf for comparison).I think it's an unsung classic - a truly under-appreciated book on the subject that quite literally shows you how it's done.

As a left handed acoustic player good instrument choices are somewhat limited so my main aim in buying this book was to get a better understanding of how acoustic guitars function and are constructed to ensure a considered purchase later.Having read through the book several times i may now even consider constructing one myself at some time in the future.The book is well written for the laymen and starts with a summary of guitar design then goes on to talk about materials - all important in obtaining the sound. A chapter on tools follows then a summary of practices necessary to produce a guitar.The process is illustrated throughout and tips are included along the way.I have a few books on this subject and this is by far the best practical book on guitar construction for the average person to understand i have read.i recently met the author at his workshop and he kindly spent some time with me talking about guitar construction. I was also lucky enough to get to see some of his guitars. He is clearly a very knowledgeable and skilled Luthier and one of life's gentlemen. If you are ever in the Bristol area and are into guitars i recommend you seek him out.

I bought this second hand out of curiosity. Such a fascinating book with many, many clear photos and plenty of instruction. There's also a sleeved full-size plan inside the back cover to build the exact guitar featured, but Jonathan Kinkead encourages you to think about designing your own.Just one word of warning, to build your own guitar does require a lot of specialised tools, (some of which you could make yourself - also detailed in the book), and fairly expensive materials to do the job right. I think if you'd like to make your guitar you'd be best to consider it a long term hobby and buy the stuff as and when you need them.

Set about making a guitar, proved to be an awesome task, but i managed it, guitar works and sounds great. Thanks. Would recommend, but be aware takes a lot of skills to get a usable end product.

I've been messing about with guitar kits over the last six months or so, built an archtop and am about to start on a dreadnought so this book has been an absolute godsend. Of course there's a huge difference between kits amd starting from scratch but this book is absolutely full of useful information. I'm no woodworker but with this book even I might be able to make a reasonable effort. Lovely clear pictures throughout make it easy to understand the process and the author's love of the instrument comes through. Excellent value.

Good quality colour photos (unlike other books), covers all the main aspects of acoustic guitar making. Of course there are always other ways to do things but generally a great book that I have referred back to whilst making my first guitar. Reccomended

I've read the book from cover to cover on more than one occassion! It contains the complete plans for building an acoustic guitar.The book covers all aspects of acoustic guitar building in great detail, leaving no stone unturned.If you are like me and only build electric guitars the book is still very useful as it encompasses the same principles required for any guitar construction and setup.Kinkade guitars are amongst the most valued handcrafted instruments available in the UK and this book demonstrates the passion that the instruments are made with.I own several books on the same subject but this one is by far the best.

Excellent book if you intend building an acoustic guitar for the first time. I would thoroughly recommend it. It’s just a pity the publisher couldn’t spell the author’s name correctly despite it being on Mr Kinkade’s sweatshirt and on the headstock of most of the guitars pictured throughout!

Gostei muito, o livro é bem ilustrado!!!

Manuale in lingua inglese ma con molte foto dettagliate. Con il libro viene fornito un piano per la costruzione di una OM. Molto dettagliata la lista degli utensili con foto. La traduzione non è difficile ed il fatto che sia in lingua inglese ti fa conoscere i termini tecnici dei liutai di oltreoceano. Consiglio.

I am nearly done building my first guitar with these plans (about to attach the neck to the body!) and have not had to look elsewhere for additional information.The book starts with lots of great information about different types of guitars, materials, tools, what tools you can make, what you can do without, etc. this first bit is worth the price of the book.Once the guitar building portion starts you will find many well lit pictures to accompany the instructions which leaves little to no concern about each step. At this point the only thing that I have looked up elsewhere is how to build a jig for my router to cut the binding channel. Everything else has been abundantly clear.He makes it clear when you are performing a task that requires extra attention to detail, when you have multiple options, and when you can get creative.I decided to build my guitar using his plans that came with the book which is an OM size guitar. I used a high grade sitka spruce for the top which I was able to pick out in person and knew what to look and listen for because of the book. I have black walnut for the back and sides (ordered online), walnut for the neck, ebony for the saddle and fingerboard, curly maple binding plus a lot of B/W/B, etc for decoration. I used mahogany for the end blocks and used a little bit of that to decorate the tailpiece too. I also decided to make my guitar a little thicker with a modified Florentine cutaway that I could not have gotten without making the guitar myself.I will likely build another after I finish this one because I know that I made little mistakes that come with a first woodworking project like this plus I want to try some different materials with the same body to see how the sound changes. First I will build a travel guitar using his book again but with a set of plans for a smaller traveling guitar

The very best!!! I have built several guitars according this book. All sounded great. Highly recommmending!!!!

J'ai acheté deux livres sur la fabrication de guitares acoustiques.Celui-ci qui ne traite que des guitares Folk, et celui de Cumpiano, qui traite à la fois les folk et les classiques.En fait j'ai d'abord acheté celui de Cumpiano, mais il est assez difficile à suivre, notamment avec les mesures en pouces.De plus il est assez volumineux et toutes les photos sont en noir et blanc, et d'une qualité très moyenne.J'ai donc cherché un autre livre, et trouvé celui de Kinkead.Et là c'est autre chose, certes il est un moins détaillé que celui de Cumpiano, mais tellement plus lisible et compréhensible.La mise en page aérée, l'anglais facile à comprendre, les photos couleur de très bonne qualité, même les schémas sont très bien réalisés et permettent de bien comprendre le thème traité.De plus les mesures sont également données en mm, ce qui facilite énormément le travail, et dispense de faire des conversions à n'en plus finir.Le livre présente la fabrication d'un modèle OM pas à pas.Un plan en taille réelle est également fourni, avec toutes les cotes.Vraiment un très bon livre que je recommande pour ceux qui souhaitent fabriquer leur propre guitare folk.