Customer Reviews

Constructing a Solid-Body Guitar: A Complete Technical Guide

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In search for information on my hobby, guitar construction, I have run into this book. Compaired to other literature on the subject, this book is very shallow when it comes to variations in construction techniques, explinations on wood selection for bodies and necks, and techniques in finishing. The book basically explains how to build one guitar, which happens to be a generic undersized version of a Les Paul. As for the construction of the neck and body, there is only one technique shown with no suggestions for verying the technique. In other words, if you are new to guitar construction and don't have tools like a table saw, bench top belt sander, router, horizontal drill press, etc..., you will probably construct a poorly sounding guitar. When the subject of wiring comes up, all you have is information on two wiring circuits, a single coil circuit and a double coil circuit. On a possitive note, the book does explain a little about every aspect of guitar construction, it tells you one way how, but not why.

I'm starting my second electric guitar project, and so recently re-read my copy of this book.

Roger Siminoff gives a fine overview of solidbody electric guitar building, but glosses over some of the issues. For example, while much time is spent on showing how to do a handrubbed sunburst finish, the entire wiring and pickup installation steps take up merely a few paragraphs, and little if any space is given to instrument setup or adjustment - Tasks that some of Dan Erlewine's wonderful books take *entire chapters* to describe.

Also, it's clear that Roger's shop contains all of the heavy-duty tools (large drill press, planer-joiner, bench-mounted buffing wheel, etc) that a guitar or woodworking pro might have, but little or no explanation is given on how one without a shop full of industrial-strength woodworking gear might accomplish the same tasks. It's almost as if Siminoff knows how to build instruments so well that much of what a beginning instrument builder might like to know is second nature to him, and so got left out of the work.

Even with those caveats, this is a good overview of "from scratch" guitar construction - Siminoff writes in a simple, clear style, there are plenty of black-and-white photos of the crucial steps, and an added bonus are the full size plans for a Les Paul style guitar - Siminoff says in the book that he deliberately designed the body to be slightly narrower than a Gibson Les Paul so that the plan could be drawn to fit the book.

A book which contains nice plans and outline for a single guitar project, but does not explain things well enough to allow the inexperienced reader to design their own guitar, except as a slight variation of the project included. Good to add to a wwodworking/guitar building library, but not the place to start if you are building your first guitar (I strongly recommend Hiscock's book for the neophyte electric lutier.)

As with all of these guitar-building books, this is limited in the information provided. When it comes down to the construction, you will notice just how limited. I have read all of the Amazon and Stew Mac books listed for building an electric guitar, and I believe that Tom Hirst's book is the best because it provides the most detail. However, I cannot say that Siminoff's book is unhelpful. As with all of these books, there is useful instruction, but it is in the form of an overview. In any case, it provides more information than Koch's book. If you are looking for a single book that will tell you 80% of what you need to know, I cannot recommend one.

Of three books I purchased that were recommended for solid body guitar construction, this was the least helpful. I recommend Hiscock's book instead. This book seems a bit dated in techniques compared with others and assumes wood is only available locally and tools are hard to come by. I was hoping for something more closely tied to constructing a guitar purchased from common components available at Luthier supply stores.

I first got this book on Christmas Eve of 1989 and learned how to build guitars like Roger H. Siminoff shows. I kept with the instructions given in this book at first, then later I came up with my own variations. I'm advancing my skills with other books and improving on things but I always refer back to this book. If you don't want to buy a zillion tools but still want to build a guitar from scratch, follow what Roger shows step-by-step. Later as you make more guitars, you can add more tools to your collection. This book is where great guitar making starts. Where you go from there is up to you!

I have just finished reading "Constructing a Solid Body Guitar". If you are wanting a step by step book to teach you how to build an electric guitar, this is probably not the book you are looking for. There are plans in the book, but the body was resized to allow it to fit on the page. The information contained in the book is good, but not near complete enough to allow the average person that has never built an instrument to construct a nice guitar.

Having said this, I have a great deal of respect for Roger Siminoff. I recently purchased and finished reading his book, The Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual. I seriously doubt you could find a better book on building a Mandolin.

I expected "Constructing a Solid Body Guitar" to be the same quality. I really don't know what happened when this book was written.

This book by Roger SIminoff is one of his best. Through reading the book, I was able to build a guitar, something that I had no knowledge of previous to this reading. I would reccomend this to anyone who would like to builod something themselves, as this book brings you from A-Z