Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having done some reading previously, this book was a pleasant discovery. The aforementioned Cumpiano and others certainly get high marks for exploring the intricacies of the craft but always made it seem formidible. This one in contrast isn't quite as complete, but manages to cut the project down to size to a considerable degree.

Some things to like:
* It has all color illustrations, pretty, but also useful for comparing wood and inlay types.
* Since classical and steel strings differ quite a bit in design and methods, it sensibly doesn't try to deliver both in the same book.
* Very well organized in steps from start to finish.
* The best guide to power tools and their use that I've seen.
* Includes detailed 1:1 blueprint style plans for a pleasing OM style instrument. (Much preferable to having to sketch out your own design on graph paper!)

On the minus side, it only gives a basic list of materials suppliers, not many suggestions for other reading or websites, and, if you want to build something other than the OM, you're kind of on your own. ("Guitarmaking" is still a good idea as others have said; also the web, magazines, catalogs...)

Still, it's more than enough for one book and will give you the confidence to actually build your own beautiful instrument with success.

The best things about this recent book on guitarmaking are the extensive use of color photography to document the steps, and the exploration of multiple ways to accomplish a given task, such as making a mold or attaching the neck to the body. Readers who are more visually-oriented would likely find this to be a helpful adjunct to Cumpiano's and Nattleson's seminal book GUITARMAKING: TRADITION AND TECHNOLOGY.

While a book on lutherie, like a cookbook, is primarily judged on its ability to help the reader successfully accomplish the task in question, I must take the author to task here for his shameless self-promotion throughout the work. The author's name conspicuously appears on almost every single page. For example, helpful tips in an aside are titled "Kinkead Tips," and in almost every photo featuring a luthier at work [presumably the author himself], he is wearing a T shirt bearing the words KINKEAD GUITARS, with the logo strategically placed to be in full view. It is distracting, tiresome and even a little insulting to endure this narcissistic self-promotion page after page. Every book on lutherie is a sort of calling card for the luthier-author, and the quality of the book should speak of the quality of the luthier's own work. Kinkead would score more points with discerning guitarmakers and guitarists with a little more discretion, instead of coming off as something of a carnival barker.

That said, the book is nevertheless useful for the above-mentioned reasons, but I doubt that it will ever be a beloved book that I enjoy leafing through over and over like some of my other favorite books on guitarmaking.

I've had the opportunity to look at quite a few books on the construction of acoustic guitars. If I had to choose one book to build my first acoustic guitar, it would be "Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology" by Campiano/Natelson. However, like any book it has its limitations. I found Jonathan Kinkead's book, "Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar", an **outstanding** compliment to Campiano's book. Kinkead's book is clear, logical, and contains a very generous amount of visually informative high quality photos (vs. Campiano's somewhat low rez b/w photos). When questions arose with one book, I was generally able to find the answer in the other. With only 6 months of serious woodworking experience behind me (building primarily dressers), I was able to use these two books to successfully (and proudly) build two steel string acoustic guitars with a minimal amount of outside assistance.

This is a terrific step by step book with great detail on how to build a OM style acoustic guitar. For many years, I've wanted to get into guitar building and this book has really excited & motivated me to give it a try. Maybe the best part of the book is the full size plans folded into the back cover! Kinkead has written a very comprehensive book. I would suggest to buy the Cumpiano "Guitarmaking" book which is considered by many to be the bible of guitar building. If you have woodworking skills and experience and can make the considerable investment in the nessesary tools, then this book is a great starting point.

"Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar" is the 2nd book you should read and is a great layout or outline for you while building your guitar. However, "Guitar Making" by Cumpiano & Natelson is still the most detailed, fact filled book on guitar making. I keep both on the shelf side by side.

Mr. Kinkead has written an excellent book. Great pictures and, for the most part, clear explanations. A few places leave you scratching your head for awhile. The most serious problem with this book is that he gives no directions on how to make any of the templates or jigs he uses during the various stages of construction, with the exception of the body mold. The plans for the dovetail jig for the neck/body joint would have been extremely helpful.

The weakest area of the book, probably because it's the most complex, is the neck construction.

But for these shortcomings, I would have given the book 5 stars. I would advise buying other books, such as Cumpiano's, to suplement Kinkead's.

Good book. Author build a guitar almost from scratch using many hand tools. Author is even a bit motivational- telling the reader to have faith, focus on the task, and it will all go together. I wish it had more detail on building the various jigs and fixtures. I felt that I would likely need additional text to build a guitar, but this is a good book none the less. I was impressed by the authors extensive use of simple hand tools.

One of the reviewers downgraded this book because Kincaid is in every picture with his "Kincaid Guitars" T-shirt, and his useful recommendations are under a large heading that reads, "Kincaid Tip". This may bother some readers, but it had absolutely no effect on me. I bought the book for the content, and it is worth its weight in gold. Here are the highlights:
1. Big, detailed color photos and diagrams
2. Every phase is given equal length treatment
3. Perhaps most importantly, Kincaid gives not one, but several methods to complete any operation.

This is very important to me, as I want options, and Kincaid gives them to you. The Cumpiano book is comprehensive, but it is written in an authoritative style, as in, 'this is the way, the only way, to do this correctly'. And if you want small, grainy, black & white photos and illustrations, then get the Cumpiano book. The Kincaid book works perfectly for me, and includes a full-size fold-out blueprint in every book.

I built one guitar in a class, and learned a lot from that experience. This book is my main reference for the second guitar I am now building, in addtion to a wealth of resources online.

This is a brilliant book on how to build a steelstring guitar; the best I have seen so far. It has very clear relevant colour photos, drawn diagrams and sound instructions and reasons for doing things the way they should be done. Not only is the book great, but the full size plans are really professional and provide the opportunity to see the complete instrument rather than just small plan sections used in other publications. I fully recommend this book.
One small point. The version I bought was intended for the American market and as such the list of recommended suppliers are all stateside. Apparently there is a UK version that contains supplier information relevant to the UK - just somthing to watch when you put in an order.

Very simply put, if you're a hobbyist that wants to build a guitar, this book won't be much help.

The book isn't bad because it has a lot of pictures and good explanations, the problem is that unless you have a large amount of professional power tools at your disposal, you won't be able to do anything. If you're already into woodworking, or if you're a shop teacher, then this may not be a problem, but an average person will not have access to all the tools required in this book.

Now, besides the drill press, wood router, power sander and countless other power tools you will need in order to build a guitar using this book, the author promotes himself WAY too much. He mentions his own name so many times in this book, and in so many different ways that after reading this book, you'd be more likely to forget your own name than his. Don't get me wrong, the information in this book is valuable, but after reading this book, I almost feel brainwashed, and it's not a comfortable feeling. On average, he mentions his name about three times per page, and in my opinion, it's dishonorable and unnecessary.

All in all, this book has a good amount of information in it and it has some good explanations, but the presentation of the information is purely obnoxious. In the end, the decision is up to you, but if you don't have a garage bursting at the seams with power tools, don't expect to be able to build an acoustic guitar after reading this book. ***If you are just starting with woodworking and want to build an instrument, an electric guitar is much, MUCH easier to make. If you'd rather build an electric guitar or electric bass guitar, I thought that "Make Your Own Electric Guitar & Bass" by Dennis Waring & David Raymond was a very good book. Have fun!