Great book! Buy it!
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I bought this book because I wanted an idiots guide to making my own guitar, and wanted full sized plans thrown in.
I got exactly what I wanted. This excellent text is a beautifully structured guide to anyone with a reasonable grasp of woodwork, and the choice of illustrations helped to clarify any points that I was having trouble grasping.
The only reason I'm not already making my first acoustic guitar is the tiresom fact of having to save up for the few "essential" specialist tools, such as heated bending iron (I've tried gluing laminates for violin ribs, trust me, buy the iron!) and thickness calipers.
If you are planning to build an acoustic guitar or are even just interested in how it's done, buy this book.
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Heirarchy of design
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This book is..... ok. I say that for a variety of reasons.
Although I am sure Alex is a fine and competent Luthier I just found the book a little lacking for the novice Luthier. So, this book is in fact for people with more than a rudimentary knowledge of all facets of carpentry/engineering.
The fact that you do actually need a pretty largish space to carry out the build process isn't good if like me you live in a poky flat!!
I needed to avail myself of a guitar builders workshop quite a distance from where I live and pay a fairly substantial amount of money to do so, although I did learn a lot from the person who's workshop it is.(This was to build a kit guitar)
My other 'niggle' is that Alex fails to go into the various sound board configurations, my particular liking is for the 'Torres' sound board so even a pic of this might have been useful in terms of how it looks and goes together.
It is expensive if you don't have the tools, not Alex Willis fault obviously, and you will need to fork out a fair amount of dosh if you don't have them. Also, of course, for the wood.
In the end,as stated, I decided to build an electric kit guitar, I will be building an acoustic, from scratch, at some stage but, frankly, won't be using Alex Willis book.
I would say the book by William Cumpiano is a far better bet.
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A Book for all Lovers of Guitar
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Having carried out repairs on numerous instruments but particularly guitars, I have always thought of building one from scratch .....but where do you start? This book firmly answered that question with Alex sharing every detail of the tools and techniques he has developed to build superb guitars. Not only has a tremendous amount of effort gone into the consideration and preparation of the required work area and tools (so often missed out in other books)but the fascinating details and history of styles of construction are all here and should be of interest to any lover of guitars not just those who wish to build one. Having met Alex at the Chippenaham Folk Festival, I had the pleasure of playing one of his guitars and believe me...they look wonderful and play superbly....if I can build one that looks any where near as good I will be over the moon....well done Alex and all the best
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Oversimplified rehash
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This book provides a clear set of instructions and good well focused colour photographs that if followed, should result in a playable instrument. Unfortunately, the information provided is in my opinion merely an abridged and rehashed version of that offered by Roy Courtnall's "Making Master Guitars". Alex admits that his own starting point was to follow Roy's book and it is quite evident from the photographs that the Solera, Rib clamping system, etc. are the direct result of that inaugural guitar building exercise.
Alex's book does of course provide instructions for the construction of a steel string flat-top albeit utilising the techniques learned in the construction of the Classical guitar demonstrated in Roy's book.
I personally found this book lacking detail. I assume that this was the intention, i.e. to provide a simple step-by-step guide unencumbered with the additional whys and wherefores that might detract from the objective. However, I personally would have preferred the book to have explained why the particular construction method had been chosen over other traditional methods and perhaps to have covered options in neck attachment for example.
I get the impression that this book was produced simply as a commercial exercise and shows how Alex makes his guitars based on the methods he learned from the books already out there. Although it demonstrates a fairly logical progression onto steel string construction based on the foundations acquired from Roy's book, it adds nothing new and fails to explain or justify the thinking process behind the method shown.
I would advise any aspiring Luthier to study both "Making Master Guitars", by Roy Courtnall and "Guitar Making:...", by Campiano and Natelson before relying on Alex's attempt.
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One of the best
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This is my eighth book on guitar construction, but only the second on steel-strung guitars - the other being Cumpiano and Natelson. It is an excellent book, full of detailed photographs carefully and clearly linked to the text and sympathetically written. It arrived today and I have already done a quick read! Like the best books, it immediately becomes part of your experience, so that you find yourself modifiying what you already know and making a mental note of changes that would simplify or make more effective a technique you learnt elsewhere. I intend to make my third classical guitar alongside my first steel-strung and will have Willis's book within reach constantly, and the rest not too far away.
This is the sort of book that anyone who enjoys the feel and properties of wood can relish even if they have no intention of building a guitar.
Edwin Scott
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