Instruction:

Luthiery

If all guitars were made the same, then instruction would be simple. The key to the true art of luthiery is not to mimic for money as many often do. "My CNC machine can beat up your CNC machine.", is not the path to creative bliss. It just makes you consistent and probably a bit boring.

Those who choose the creative path make a difference in our craft. Names like Torres, C.F. Martin and Kasha come to mind. You can read about them below.
Whatever your choice in style, a true teacher only offers the foundations by which you can personalize your craft. There is only one Michelangelo and there is only one you. Is that a song?

The following links and information may inspire you to do something out of the "Lemming" category if you choose to be a Luthier hobbyist or fanatic.

Antonio De Torres Jurado (Almería 1817-1892)

Antonio De Torres Jurado (1817-1892) is as revered among guitarists as Stradivarius is revered among violinists. His work established the shape, design, and construction of the modern guitar.

Historic Guitar Makers of the Almería School

The Dreadnought Story:
Chapter 2: From the Beginning

The very first Dreadnought guitars (named for a class of World War I­ era British battleships, "Dreadnought") were manufactured by Martin for the Oliver Ditson Company, a publishing firm based in Boston. Curiously enough, the guitars weren't sold with the Martin name on them, but rather were marketed in Boston and New York under the Oliver Ditson brand name, beginning in 1916. These Dreadnoughts did not even include a Martin serial number, but instead used Ditson's own serial numbering system. They continued to appear in the Ditson catalog until the company's demise in the late 1920s.

Martin's Dreadnought Story

The Kasha Guitar

The Kasha Guitar represents a major effort to improve upon the traditional classical guitar. It uses modern physics, acoustical theory, and new materials for construction and finish, to go beyond the limits of an instrument which has largely reached the maximum of its design potential. The finest (that is to say the most sensitive, responsive and resonant) classical guitar converts only about 5% of the energy of a plucked string into sound. The rest becomes heat, as one’s guitar literally warms up with playing. The energy available for sound may be heard as great volume, or as great sustain, but not as both. This unfortunate trade-off is enforced by the limitations of a design basically settled upon in the 1870’s, with only subtle changes in internal structure and materials since then. In the 1960's, a physical chemist named Michael Kasha purchased a classical guitar for his son.

Vince Meyer, Billings, Montana, 1997