The Steel String Guitar: Construction & Repair, Updated Edition [Paperback]

David Russell Young (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: The Bold Strummer, Ltd; Updated edition (December 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933224087
• ISBN-13: 978-0933224087
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,550,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed and Comprehensive, June 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Steel String Guitar: Construction & Repair, Updated Edition (Paperback)

This book is a detailed and thorough text that offers the reader not only guitar construction techniques, but the reasonings behind each decision. Young's writing style is simple and easy to follow, and I found his methods quite comfortable. And you don't have to have the world's greatest workshop to get the job done! The only drawbacks would be the illustrations and photographs, which are black and white and, at times, not as detailed as I would have preferred. But otherwise, this is a solid book with all the info you need to make that first acoustic six- or twelve-string guitar.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a very good, older book on guitar construction, March 5, 2005

By 

Alexanderplatz (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Steel String Guitar: Construction & Repair, Updated Edition (Paperback)

Unfortunately this book is out of print. Used copies are for sale at very high prices (over $100!) that are really not worth paying. That said, if you could find this book at reasonable prices it would be worth owning. In many ways, David Russell Young's book is the predecessor of Jonathan Kinkead's recently published book on guitar construction, especially in that it is extensively illustrated with photos showing the step-by-step process of making the guitar. Like Irving Sloane, Young's method involves constructing the rim with the aid of a mold, followed by attachement of the back and sides. Young, too, has his own unusual method of attaching the neck to the body: the flat heel of the neck is apparently glued directly to the body without a dovetail or tenon joint. This point is not extensively documented, which is a shortcoming, but on the other hand I wouldn't really consider the technique in the first place so who cares.

In conclusion, I don't recommend that anyone pay high prices for this out-of print-book, but it may be worthwhile to look for it in your public library if you want to get another point of view on guitar construction. If David Russell Young were to publish another updated version of his book, perhaps with color photographs and more in-depth coverage of neck-to-body joining, I would probably buy it. On the other hand, Jonathan Kinkead seems to have picked up Young's torch with his recent book BUILD YOUR OWN ACOUSTIC GUITAR: COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS AND FULL-SIZE PLANS.