 The seeds for this project were
planted in the early 70's when I bought steel string guitar construction books by Irving Sloane and
David Russell Young, and a Bluegrass Mandolin construction book by Roger Siminoff. During the fall
and winter of 1994/1995, I fell in love with and began lusting after a couple of Taylor guitars, in particular
the 812C and 912C. I liked the small size (smaller than my Guild F-50R Jumbo), and the punchy,
mid-rangey tone which I feel is perfect for fingerstyle work.
I was about $2400-$3000 short of
what it would take to buy the guitar, and The Budget Director didn't seem to view a four-figure guitar as
a valid expense for the household to incur. At that point I began considering the feasibility of building
one. I hauled my old books out of the basement, and also bought and devoured the fabulous treatise "Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology" by William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Natelson.
The phase of the project that seemed most daunting to me was the carving of the heel and some of the jointery required to construct and fit the neck, so I began by
building a prototype neck from pieces of Poplar bought at a local Builder's Square. Fingerboard was made of walnut from the local hobby shop. I fashioned
a truss rod following Cumpiano's instructions. The scarf joint was cut, the blocks were glued up, truss rod bedded, fingerboard attached, arched and fretted,
and the carving of the heel and shaping of the peghead was done. Last came shaping of the back of the neck itself. The whole prototype neck took three or four
evenings to complete, and the finished neck would have been playable had it not been constructed of
lousy woods. This gave the the confidence to press forward.
Woods were
purchased from Luthier's Mercantile International (800-477-4437), most hardware from
Stewart-Macdonald (800-848-2273);
tools came from both these companies and also from The 1833 Shop: Guitarmaker's
Connection, a part of the Martin factory (800-247-6931). Pearl, abalone and
eventually the hardshell case were purchased from Elderly Instruments (517-372-7890).
All of these suppliers were fabulous to deal with and very helpful and
responsive. LMI, in particular, sent me abolutely lovely woods for every
phase of construction.
For more information and
photographs of the construction of the guitar, follow the links below.
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