Official Luthiers Forum!

Title says it all. I've gone through William Cumpiano's book and will use it as my primary reference as I work on my first acoustic (the first batch of wood comes in tomorrow!) but I was wondering what books you veterans turn to on a regular basis?

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Adam

I'm no veteran but The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Vol. 1 through 5 (all volumes) are the other reference books I have on my shelf right next to Cumpiano's book. The Somogyi books are a good read but not essential for the beginner in my opinion. I also like the Martin Guitar history books. They have some nice pics of vintage Martin's.

I think I read more than I build.

Make an Archtop Guitar Robert Bendetto
Classical Guitar making John S. Bogdanovich
Building Martin-Style Acoustic Guitar Kits Bill Cory
guitarmaking Tradition and Technology William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Natelson
Making Master Guitars Roy Coutnall
Guitar Finishing Step by Step 2nd Edition Dan Erlewine and Don MacRostie
Understanding Wood Finishing Bob Flexner
Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build Trevor Gore with Gerard Gilet
Antonio Stadivari - His Life and Work W. Henry Hill, Arther F. Hill, Alfred E. Hill
Hand-Applied Finishes Jeff Jewitt
Spray Finishing Made Simple Jeff Jewitt
Building Your Own Acoustic Guitar Jonathan Kinkead
Violin Making - A guide for the Amateur Bruce Ossman
Pearl Inlay James E. Patterson
Luthierie Tools Guild of American Luthiers
The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Vol 1-5 Guild of American Luthiers
The Art and Craft of Making Classical Guitars Manuel Rodriguez
The Luthier's Handbook Roger H. Siminoff
The Art of Tap Tuning Roger H. Siminoff
Classical Guitar Construction Irving Sloane
Guitar Repair Manual Irving Sloane
The Responsive Guitar Ervin Somogyi
Making the Responsive Guitar Ervin Somogyi
Violin Making - Step by Step Henry A. Srobel
Useful Measurements for Violin Makers Henry A. Srobel
Art & Method of the Violin Maker Priciples /& Practices Henry A. Srobel
Fretwork Step by Step Steward-MacDonald
Acoustic Guitar Adjustment, Care, Maintenance and Repair Don E. Teeter
Step by Step Guitar making Alex Willis
A Guitar Maker's Manual Jim Williams

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Geeminy.... I've got stuff going back to the 70's.... I think Cumpiano's book was the last one I bought.
Since my thing is mostly repair, both volumes of Don Teeter's offerings have a lot of wear.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

John: Wow. I usually buy my books in used books stores . . . I somehow doubt I can find those in a used store . . .

Thanks for the reading list. I've been looking at the Big Red Books. Besides those--what you would say would be the most valuable for a newb?

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Adam

I never did get around to buying Bill's book but the Romanillos building sequence in "Guitars From The Renaissance to Rock" by Tom and Mary Ann Evans was quite influential for me as was Irving Sloane's "Classic Guitar Construction".
Factory shots from lots of the old Martin catalogs were very illustrative and instructive for me as was the Sloane "Guitar Repair" book.
Of course later books such as Romanillos' "Antonio de Torres his life and work" have been extremely valuable to me in recent years.

cumpiano
bogdanovich
courtnall
"Making Musical Instruments", edited by C. Ford, with a chapter on classical guitar making by J.L. Romanillos
A local university book on all things acoustics (the physics), by a portuguese foundation - quite thorough, but only available in Portuguese
Acoustics for violin and guitar makers., by E. Jansen - grab it here, if you haven´t already: http://www.speech.kth.se/music/acviguit4/
Gore / Gillet books on Contemporary Guitar Building
Engineering the Guitar, by R.M. French
Several Sharpening Guides
Being and Time, by M. Heidegger - which i plan never to read...

cheers,
miguel.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Do you mean the Tocqueville book? (sorry for the OT)

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

it´s a classic. i have gone through the 1st part, but somehow lost momentum to go through the 2nd. great book, though!

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

[/quote]Do you mean the Tocqueville book? (sorry for the OT)[/quote]

Yes. I draw inspiration from many sources.[/quote]it´s a classic. i have gone through the 1st part, but somehow lost momentum to go through the 2nd. great book, though![/quote]

Most of the hands on , guitar building stuff is in volume II.

Cumpiano
Understanding Wood by Hoadley
Somogyi books
Don Teeter
Kamamoto Repair Book
Overholtzer (mostly for nostalgia's sake)
Torres book by Romanillos
Free Plate Tuning by Carruth

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Do you mean the Tocqueville book? (sorry for the OT)[/quote]

Yes. I draw inspiration from many sources.[/quote]it´s a classic. i have gone through the 1st part, but somehow lost momentum to go through the 2nd. great book, though![/quote]

Most of the hands on , guitar building stuff is in volume II.[/quote]

hah! no surprise my guitars end up such a mess... democracy at work

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Irving Sloane's books
Cumpiano
Am I the only one to buy David Russell Young's book ??

For inspiration: Inyat Khan-Complete Works

Almost forgot. I had for a long time, my very first price list and info catalog
from Bill Lewis Luthier Supply (1972 ?) Can't seem to find it lately.

I have David Russel Youngs book too

I don't really use any of them as reference anymore, it's either all in my head at this point or in the plans I have drawn up. But I to have Youngs book, Sloans classic and steel string, Cumpiano, Collins Selmer Book (just got hat one), Somogyi book is in the mail, then various electronic and repair book, oh and a few classical guitar books, Jose Fernandez III's book and some other I can't remember, Clapton's Guitar too. I also have the old 3 ring binder LMI catalog that used to have lots of good reference material in it.

Reference books? I just read this forum everyday. Seems like more than enough information. I have Roger Siminoffs How to Build a Bluegrass Mandolin. For my first guitar, I'm going to rely on this forum.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Haaaaa-lle-lu-jah!!!



Haaaaa-lle-lu-jah!!!



Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Halle-e-lu...



...whaaa??!



Fresh from down under, just got these today. Super excited, but that Design volume is gonna melt my brain. I don't do equations. Hoping this Gore & Gilet set will be my generation's Cumpiano & Natelson. That's right, I said Natelson. Everyone always leaves out poor Natelson!

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Dan Greene
Greene Guitars & Custom Strings
(currently just a pipe dream)

D.R. Young's was my first,been with me since the 70's. Have about 90% of what I know is available on the market. My latest is Gore's work and if it is not the best it is very close to the top.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

+1 Gore/Gilet.

Hey Dan,
Does the Gore & Gilet book come with a bag of Fish Glue ???

+2 on Gore and Gilet ...and a mouse pointed to the OLF!!!

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MK5acoustics.com

Martin Bracing Library

This forum, and

Haha, I wish! Would've been a nice add-on, considering the price tag.

David Russell Young
Cumpiano
You Guys

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker