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Title: A Guitar Makers Manual by Jim Williams ISBN: 0-9589075-0-1 Publisher: Hal Leonard Pub. Date: 01 April, 1987 Format: Plastic Comb Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: I wouldn't buy it if I lost my copy
Comment: The problem with the lutherie books market is that it has nothing to report from the last 20 years. The whole subject has jumped ahead, and yet the books remain in the 70s (having been writen in the 80s).
Most beginers and others would be better served by getting the LMII catalog, some relevant back issue of American Lutherie, and hanging out on the web.
This book is well liked, because it moves the markers ahead in the sand a few months from Cupiano's dreadfully out of date volume. it contains things like a diagram of the Fox side bender, which you can find better info on all over the web, including the factory tour posted of the Fox fascility on the frets site. This is just one area where the books don't cut it. Do an amazon search of the last 5 years published titles in woodworking or almost any field, and then in lutherie. Books just aren't how luthiers comunicate. They actualy really spread their techniques around generously, they just don't write books.
Rating: 3
Summary: WOULD be great, if edited properly!
Comment: I must have owned Irving Sloane's "Classic Guitar Construction" since about 1970. It was probably the only thing around, in English, back then. Although it has a few quirks, it is still a great read and reveals a no-nonsense approach.
Williams' book tries hard to emulate Sloane's, but fails in the most important department--TRUST!
There are simply heaps of little errors, some of them common to many modern woodworking and lutherie books, as well as a few individual howlers that just make an old-timer suspicious.
Anthony Burgess once remarked [on spelling]: "A guage works as well as a gauge". We know what he means, and we know what Mr Williams means, when he mis-spells this basic item. However, he also goes on to mis-spell, mis-use and mis-name another dozen or more common woodworking tools and concepts that make one wonder if he really knows what he's talking about. [It confuses those of us who DO.] Tri-square, sash cramp, swooge, guages, annular rings[!], jointing vs joining...I believe it's just as easy to get these little things *correct* before publication. If not, at least before the reprint(s)!
There are still, after 3 or more editions, plenty of unclosed quotes--No, on second reading, those are actually *inch symbols* with no figures before them...There are suggestions that 1"= 12.5mm...on a drawing, 3/16" is called 5mm, but 3/32" [exactly half!] is called 2.2mm. What's going on??? I grew up with both systems, but I can't really trust my cuts to these kinds of little blunders.
Way too often the text refers to classic construction, but the illustration shows a steel-string dreadnought...There's actually no problem, but it makes me wonder why there isn't just a bit more text to explain the discrepancy. A clever symbol next to paragraphs to distinguish the classic from the steel-string acoustic parts would also assist the reader greatly.
Most of the photos and illustrations are clear, but some just defy interpretation until the text has been read 10 or more times.
If I were Mr Williams' editor, before any reprints, I would insist on a simple, but apologetic foreword, and review and extend the text to make this "almost-good-enough" book into a great book. If you know a bit about making guitars, however, you'll find some really thought-provoking ideas here. Beginners beware!
Rating: 3
Summary: You'll need more than Jim William's book to build a guitar..
Comment: This book doesn't really provide enough detail to allow you build a guitar, without having either prior guitar building experience, or a good teacher to assist you. The diagrams and photographs are not particularly clear, and the book generally glosses over the fine details of construction. The section on finishing is quite good, and will be of some use if you're intending finishing the guitar yourself. Be carefull if you intend using the templates in the back of the book - specifically the fingerboard template, which on my copy had all the frets spaced incorrectly when compared to a standard fret rule for a classical guitar. I suspect the photocopying process has enlarged the scale by a small but significant amount...
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Title: Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology: A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar by William R. Cumpiano, Jonathan D. Natelson, Clyde Herlitz ISBN: 0811806405 Publisher: Music Sales Corp Pub. Date: March, 1994 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Luthier's Handbook : A Guide to Building Great Tone in Acoustic Stringed Instruments by Roger H. Siminoff ISBN: 0634014684 Publisher: Hal Leonard Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Art of Inlay: Design and Technique for Fine Woodworking by Larry Robinson ISBN: 0879305959 Publisher: Backbeat Books Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Guitar Maker's Workshop by Rik Middleton ISBN: 1861260407 Publisher: Crowood Pr Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Making an Archtop Guitar by Robert Benedetto ISBN: 1574240005 Publisher: Centerstream Publications Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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