We owe a great debt to the skilled craftspeople who were brave enough to strive for excellence in their work, and generous enough to share the hard-won wisdom they earned.
Their generosity gives us a huge advantage as we endeavor to deepen our understanding, improve our guitars, and find our own unique path.
One such resource that was, and still is, inspiring and helpful to me in this way is the book, “Making Master Guitars” by Roy Courtnall.
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In this article, I’ll share an overview of the book and a few thoughts on why I consider it a “Must-Have” for any luthier.
I’ll also show you a step-by-step exercise I enjoy using to fill my “creative well, ” maximize and enrich my learning, and excavate new ideas from this book year after year.
Making Master Guitars was published in 1993 by Luthier Roy Courtnall. It’s a beautifully bound book with over 330 pages of detailed guitar-making information, including clear and well-drawn illustrations, rare photos, and more.
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This section contains detailed sets of guitar body shapes, rosettes, bridges, headstocks, measurements, and more from some of the greatest guitars ever made; a treasure trove of inspiration and information.
This section covers the essential tools and materials needed to build a guitar in the Spanish style. The minimal tooling and simple systems are great examples for anyone just getting started or who wants to work in a more traditional manner.
This section contains a detailed step-by-step method for building a guitar. It includes clear and beautiful illustrations and photographs of the author building his guitars, plus, if you look closely, it contains photos showing Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich building their guitars as well.
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The additional appendix section includes even more helpful information, such as conversion tables, fret spacing tables, and a supplier list for materials, tools, and plans.
I started building guitars here in St Louis, Missouri, in the 1990s, and it was extremely difficult to find luthiers to learn from.
The internet wasn’t much help back then either, so I was mainly limited to finding what I could in the bookstore – remember those ancient things? (Man, I miss them).
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The first guitar I built was an archtop. Thankfully, I was able to build it with the help of Bob Benedetto‘s book Making An Archtop Guitar ( another must-have for that type of instrument).
I continued building archtops for a few years after that, but as my luthier career progressed, a client wanted me to build them a nylon string guitar.
This presented a problem. I had many years of experience playing, owning, and building steel string and archtop guitars, but I had never owned a nylon-string instrument.
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During the design phase of that first nylon string guitar, I worked to get as many excellent guitars into my hands to study and play as I could, but taking measurements and tracings was difficult, risky, and awkward on instruments I didn’t own.
I don’t remember how, but I just happened to find “Making Master Guitars” while I was working on that first nylon string guitar design.
The detailed measurements of the master guitars it contained gave me a point of reference on which to base the first iteration of my nylon string design.
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To this day, the content of this book serves as an anchor point for almost any new design I create, regardless of guitar type.
Some time ago, I realized that many of the master’s guitars detailed in section 1 of this book can now be found online in videos.
Just for fun at first, I began a little exercise of studying the measurements and designs while listening to the guitars being played.
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Over time, this has become one of my favorite ways to stimulate new ideas, search for new connections, and keep my “creative well” topped off.
I try not to overcomplicate it; I just let it happen and let my mind wander and saunter a bit to see where the path might lead me.
(You can find more videos, and maybe even better ones, but this is a starting place for you to begin exploring this type of multi-sense learning.)
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So, make a fresh coffee, grab your favorite blueprint or a copy of Making Master Guitars, hit play, and see what happens.
Note: Sometimes, you’ll have new thoughts and ideas right away. Other times, new ideas will emerge later on while you’re on a walk or sitting at a stop light, so try to force anything; just have fun and fill that creative well.
I could never get access to all the guitars detailed in the book, but thanks to Roy (the author), anyone can use the measurements and other information he gathered about them to reference and learn from as they work.
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In addition, his sections on tools and the guitar-building process are full of insights and unique techniques to learn from and try in your own work.
If you’re building a guitar based on the work of the master luthiers featured within or simply using their work as a reference to keep your unique designs safely grounded in tradition–this book is a must-have!
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Tom Bills has been hand crafting one of a kind custom guitars for the top players and collectors around the world since 1998. Tom is also the author of the guitar making book/DVD set - The Art Of Lutherie - published by Mel Bay, and has written for and been featured in may publications both in print and online as well as several television and film spots. You can view and learn more about his guitars by visiting his website: tbguitars.com
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