Complete Guide to Building Kit Acoustic Guitars

Yes, you can build an acoustic guitar you’ll love, even if you’ve never considered it!
This book will prove it to you. Get a free PDF of the book when you send me your receipt screen shot.
Updated 2023 edition.

I did it at the age of 57. Except for a wood shop coat rack in junior high, I had never built anything from wood. I never even dreamed I could build a real guitar! But then, I ran across a Stewart-MacDonald ad in a catalog. I ordered a kit and learned a new skill, and I was hooked! That was many years ago, and I’ve built twenty guitars since then.

Along the way, since I am a writer, I created this overview for others interested in building a guitar from a kit. After finishing it, I wrote a companion book for builders of Martin-style kits, which use different techniques from other kit makers’ offerings.

But, can you build a guitar? Absolutely, yes!

• A guitar kit includes all the parts, in semi-rough wood, ready to be worked into a kit.
• If a luthier put all the rough, semi-fitted parts into one box, a kit is what it would be.
• It is a real woodworking task, not a “snap-together” kit, but doable!
• The tools you’ll need can be found locally.
• This is a perfect project for two people, like a dad and son or daughter.

If a leading luthier put into a box all the unfinished parts he or she incorporates into a fine guitar, it would look like a "guitar kit" such as these.

I've corresponded with hundreds of kit builders. I have never heard a single builder say they did not like how their guitar played and sounded, and how good it felt that they had built it themselves.

Highlights in the Book:

• Why a Kit? Why not?
• Tools you'll need and how to save on them
• Your space requirements (not much!)
• Where to get the right kit for you
• How to create a completely custom kit
• How long it will take to build
• Tools you can build
• Resources for guitar builders
• Detailed building logs for two guitars
• Complete Glossary of lutherie terms
• A complete build, step by step
• ... and a whole lot more, illustrated with over 450 pictures

Just “Look Inside.” On the title page, you'll find a link to hear a Martin guitar kit played. Use earphones or buds!

If you are a guitar player, you will love building an acoustic guitar you can enjoy, that can play and sound better than mid-range big name guitar brands.

Send me your receipt screenshot, and I'll send you the complete PDF of this book!

Just scroll up and click the “Add to Cart” button.

I've had big jobs in corporations, little night jobs in 7-Elevens, grunt construction jobs, research and writing jobs, and been a writer all my life -- but no work I've ever done has been as rewarding as building and playing my own guitars built from kits. Why not kits? It's the way to learn and it's fun!