Customer Reviews

Making a Laminated HollowBody Electric Guitar

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This is a decidedly "home made" production. It reminds me of Arthur Overholzer's classic guitar construction book. The pacing is a little disjointed, and I can't imagine a first time builder managing to produce an instrument from these instructions. Critical design elements are left out completely! -Pickup cavities magically appear at one point without any instruction on their placement or fabrication. Wiring is glossed over in two paragraphs.

The top and back arching procedure relies on having a well-made factory guitar to take castings from. Which leads to a fundamental question - Why? Why attempt to duplicate at home the construction method put in place to mass produce instruments? You can't possibly better the factory in terms of speed or economy. In this case it would actually be *easier* to employ hand carving methods.

I don't know if Mr. English managed to secure a patent on his neck assembly technique as is mentioned in the text. After repeated reading, I still can't figure out what makes the joint special. The assembly instructions are that vague.

I suppose my biggest beef is that he continually directs you to other books to flesh out the building process. Robert Benedetto and Hideo Kamimoto are mentioned repeatedly and those are indeed excellent resources. For those interested in building any form of arched top instrument, the Benedetto book is the one to buy. This book is for those who have to own every book ever published on the subject. Having read it it now, I'll put it on the shelf and likely never open it again.

I bought this book mainly learn how to make an arched veneer back. The author's method of making a plaster mold from an extant guitar (what happens if you don't have one ?), cutting a section out afterwards with a handsaw so it will fit in a case, and then gluing it all back together , then using your van as a veneer press leaves a bit to be desired, although it must work for him. He does tell you to buy your top and back from StewMac if you don't like his methods. To be fair, there is some good information and the cost is reasonable.
The author says"Tablesaws are notorious for cutting off fingers"- PLEASE don't say things like that!!! Such a statement would be taboo in any shop that I have worked in- like telling someone on a ladder "not to break their neck", you just don't do it. The usual warning about the danger of power tools would be sufficient, IMO.

Great book though I had to return the first one because only half the pages were printed. Return process was seamless however, and Amazon shipped out a new one right away. They let me print out a return form and mailing label. I had the new one in a couple days and a confirmation of reciept of the defective book. This was the most efficient return process that I've seen. It's good business. Thanks Amazon :)

This is a very studied and detailed craftsman, and a conscientious writer. I would highly recomend this book. I just wish I could afford one of his guitars.