Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology: A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar (Guitar Reference) [Paperback]

Jonathan Natelson (Author), William Cumpiano (Author)

Book Description

Series: Guitar Reference | Publication Date: August 1, 1994

Hailed by Guitar Player magazine as "perhaps the finest book on guitars ever produced," and by Booklist as "a Rolls Royce of construction guidebooks," this impressive volume is the first book of its kind to describe in depth how both steel-string and classical guitars are actually designed and built. Over 450 photographs, drawings, and diagrams reveal in exquisite detail the hows, whys, and how-to's of the traditional craft of guitarmaking, all accompanied by fascinating historical and technical notes. A comprehensive bibliography; a list of tools, materials, and supply sources; and a full index complete this uniquely authoritative reference -- and essential acquisition -- for guitar and craft enthusiasts, woodworkers, and students of instrument making everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jonathan D. Natelson builds and repairs classical guitars and is a national supplier of tone woods for constructing stringed instruments. He lives in Philadephia.

William R. Cumpiano is a master guitarmaker and teacher of instrument building and repair in Amherst, Massachusetts, serving professional musicians across the country.

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (August 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811806405
• ISBN-13: 978-0811806404
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Reference
  • #43 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Songbooks
  • #94 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Instruments & Performers

More About the Author

Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology's first edition is dated 1985 and at this writing, it is now well into its fourteenth or fifteenth edition. The book is a detailed description of the two author's techniques--mine and luthier/lawyer Jon Natelson's--at the time of it's composition. It was motivated by our dismay at the inadequacy and incompleteness of contemporary texts on the subject. While it still remains a perennial best-seller due to the fact that it is still the most exhaustive and complete manual of its kind, it nonetheless can be correctly faulted for not being up to date. It has not been possible to easily update the book because it was originally produced before personal computers on analog media (composed with pencil on paper, typeset galleys rubber-cemented to full-size page boards, etc.) so updating would require it to be produced anew, almost from scratch.

Over the years, I have done the next best thing to actually producing an updated edition by assiduously posting updates and technique improvements online on my website at www.cumpiano.com/textbook.html as well as creating a luthier's blog with answers to my reader's questions at http://dolcecano.blogspot.com

Jon Natelson and I are creating an online webpage for guitar-making enthusiasts at www.guitarmaking.com, which is currently under construction and which will be an adjunct resource to Guitarmaking. In 2012 I and my long-time shop partner Harry Becker intend to create at this site a step by step video instruction course following the sequence and standards of Guitarmaking, available to enthusiasts and career-minded aspirants on a subscription basis.

I currently live and work in Northeastern Massachusetts, where I and my shop-partner Harry Becker construct and repair fretted instruments on an ongoing basis, as we have for over thirty years. I offer individual guitar-making tutorials on an extremely limited basis--four or five sessions per year--out of my studio when my other commitments permit. I can be contacted at [e-mail], where I respond to inquiries and guitar-making questions as promptly as I am able to.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book for all beginning and intermediate luthiers, April 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology: A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar (Guitar Reference) (Paperback)

In the research stage of my luthier career I bought quite a few books. Without a doubt my favorites would be this book and Robert Benedetto's "Building an Archtop Guitar". What makes this book so outstanding is that it actually breaks the process down into unique steps. Most books will tell you to "Plane the top plate to the correct thickness". This book tells you how to do it, not just what to do. This is also the only book on guitar building where the author anticipates the areas where the beginning luthier might have problems. There are several areas where you're told to do such and such a step (which may not be obvious) in order to avoid such -and-such a problem. There's also several times when the author tells you how to escape from common mistakes. I own a lot of guitar building books but this is the one that sits in the top of my tool chest.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Direct and Informative, September 29, 2003

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology: A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar (Guitar Reference) (Paperback)

All woodworkers are perfectionists, but those who make musical instruments live in a special place in hell. For them, each step, no matter how small can have a huge, and unexpected effect on the final result. Even if they follow the same plans and use the same materials, two guitarmakers can have significantly different results.

Developing the techniques that will give the craftsman both consistency and control over the final result can often take a lifetime of experimentation. This excellent book, by Cumpiano and Natelson, helps to bridge the gap between novice and journeyman. It will enable most aspiring luthiers to produce something special.

The writers focus on the practicalities of guitarmaking - the tools and techniques used. The arrangement is functional and step-wise, the explanations clear, with a sufficiency of illustrations and photographs. Little attention is paid to the more exotic equipment that appears in professional workshops. This is a book for the hand-craftsman, not someone intent on starting a business.

I confess that I did not by the book with the intent of making a guitar. Instead, I was on the verge of having one made for me, and I wanted to understand the process enough to talk intelligently with the makers (in my case, the luthier, the tuning machine maker, and the inlayer). As such, this book bridged an important gap.

What is missing from the book is any detailed discussion about material choice and the effect of certain design decisions (materials, bracing, etc.). Since these are the things that can make the difference between an OK instrument and a work of the luthier's art, I would have liked to see much more information. For that, unfortunately, one must seek elsewhere. But for everything else, this volume will do.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "if you had to have just one book on guitar building.....", March 29, 2000

By 

Mark Krebs (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology: A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar (Guitar Reference) (Paperback)

This book is worthy of placing on your coffee table as well as on the workbench! It will carefully guide you through the entire, daunting process of building a guitar. I am half-way through building my first and so far, so good.

I have found that, for myself, some of the cautions and warnings in carrying out some of the operations in the book were a little overstated - but better safe than sorry. However, there is an IMMENSE amount of detail presented in each procedure and it MUST be read and re-read very carefully (especially the section on neck construction). Also, pay attention to size of the material ordered from places like LMI (Luthiers Mercantile Incorporated). The neck blank comes thicker than needed and you need to thin it down. I found myself thinking information was left out of several sections, but discovered that I had overlooked it in my haste.

Several parts used in the process are hard to find, such as the truss-rod nut. You need to be resourceful in locating things (at times, it feels like I'm on a scavenger hunt driving around town for stuff).

Finally, I recommend also purchasing Irving Sloane's book on steel-string construction. It will help you clarify some aspects of building by approaching things from a slightly different angle. It is not as detailed, but it gives a slightly better overview of the process than the subject book. It shows how to make some tools - fun!

Good luck!