Customer Reviews

Electric Guitar Construction: A Guide for the First-Time Builder

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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This book is a glossy well illustrated guide to building an electric guitar.
It has lots of wonderful tips and great pictures of guitar making.The book has terrific information on tone woods,Pickups,and guitar wiring.
The one critism I have of this book is that it reads in parts like a commercial for STEWMAC I agree that they are great suppliers of guitar parts and and and all the tools anyone would ever need to build a guitar.Does the author really have to appear wearing one of their branded aprons.
Do your self a favour buy the Melvyn Hiscock book it is a little more comprehensive and is written with a bit of humour and style.

This book certainly is useful for an aspiring luthier to have on one's bookshelf as it walks one through building a solid body guitar. I'd recommend buying a discounted or used copy though, since other books in a comparable price range tend to give more information. The price probably has to do more with being a Hal Leonard book with glossy cover and color photography, then being a comprehensive guitar building grimoire. Martin Koch's book may be a better buy though the difficulty curve may be a bit higher.

However to Hirst's credit, his book is geared toward the aspiring luthier with limited woodworking experience.

Tom Hirst has a a very good book on guitar instruction and finishing. If you are building a guitar for the first time, this is a great way to get started. I also recommend getting Oakham's book Building Your Own Electric Guitar. Why do I recommend getting 2 books? Well I am an avid woodworker and turner (lathe). I found in my experience that it is good to have complimentary references and these are great ones to have. If you don't have the money to buy both, start with Oakham's first and then get this one.

I was looking for a book that would explain step-by-step the procedures for putting together my own guitars and this book certainly fit the bill. Easy to read and follow, the author has taken his time to make sure anyone that can read English can understand the text. I highly recommend this book.