BOOKS!
Welcome Guitar Friends ... Thanks for clicking over to this page! The books listed here are all in my own library, and are all more than worthwhile for any guitar builder. Some are considered "classics," and some have been popular for years. If you don't recognize the names of some of the authors, just click over to Google and enter their names: You will find a wealth of information that way.
Please remember, if you buy from one of these lnks, I will receive (ta-da) 2% from Amazon. It helps, so if that doesn't put you off, please let it happen. ... I humbly thank you.
Authors: William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Natelson. They're called "Cumpiano and Natelson" most of the time, but the book is so well-known that it's sometimes simply referred to as "C&N" or "CN." You will hear this book recommended time and time again on all of the forums. It's one of the classics. William Cumpiano is one of the most respected luthiers in the USA, and has been for some time. In this large book (388 pages, 10.75" x 8/25"), you will find the kind of information that is not included in any kit manual: The "why's" of what you are doing. the book is lavishly illustrated with drawings, diagrams and photos. Much of the background you will be curious about is explained in these pages.
Build
Your Own Acoustic Guitar :
Complete Instructions and Full-Size Plans
Author Jonathan Kinkead. This is a full-color book, with the most excellent photographs you'll find of each process being carried out. The book offers a lot of information about the tools specifically used in making a guitar by hand, such as scrapers and how to sharpen them, etc. Its size is 8.5" x 11.0", 160 pages. The full-size plan included is expertly drawn and represents the complete construction details of an OM/000-28-style instrument.
Guitar
Player Repair Guide: How to Set-Up, Maintain, and Repair Electrics
and Acoustics
Author Dan Erlewine. Expanded/updated Second Edition. The author of this book is a nationally recognized guitar repair expert. You will at some point have a guitar problem, or you will want to adjust something on the guitar you have just built. This book explains in excellent detail, with diagrams and photos, just how to accomplish the repairs you can do yourself -- and when it is best not to try them yourself. This should be on every guitar player's bookshelf.
Author Jim Williams. With its plastic comb binding, this book has the advantage that it will open flat and stay there. Great for reading with your morning cereal, or working on a guitar. The book is 9" x 12", 104 pages, and includes not only full-size plans for both OM-style steel string, but also classical guitars. It features diagrams for building many of the tools described in the book.
Author Ralph Denyer. Another multi-resource book, this 8.5" x 11", 256-pager includes histories of guitars and famous players, acoustic and electric guitar history, playing instruction including music theory, left- and right-hand techniques, fingerstyle and flatpick, etc. It also goes into method and equipment for recording your guitar, performing, etc. It ends with a very complete chord chart. A real "go-to" book.
The
Acoustic Guitar: Adjustment, Care, Maintenance and Repair (Volume I)
Author Don Teeter. Newly released in paperback, this is a look into the way individuals built guitars in the mid-1970's. You'll find that techniques, at least for the individual builder, haven't changed a whole lot. the book is paperback, 9" x 12", 200 pages.
Acoustic
Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia
Author Dave Hunter. Want to get your "significant other" a little bit interested in what you've newly discovered? Put this out on the coffee table and watch as it engrosses the person. This is a lavishly illusrated book showing guitars by just about every major guitar company, in beautiful full color. It's great for background on the guitar; would make a fine gift!
Authors: (include) Teja Gerken, Frank Ford, Michael Simmons, Richard Johnston, et al. Foreword by C.F. Martin IV. This one is different, in that it's purely a reference book. It goes into details about the guitar, organized first by parts of the guitar, comparing the tops, for example of various guitars by various makers, and then the headstock styles and shapes by various makers and with comparative benefits. It's interesting reading. It also treats in detail Pickups and Electronics, care and Maintenance, How to Buy a Guitar, etc.
Clapton's
Guitar : Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument
Author Allen St. John. From its title, you would think Eric Clapton was in the book. Wrong, except for a single photograph of Clapton sitting with the recording-studio owner who introduced him to a guitar built by Wayne Henderson. The book is actually about Wayne Henderson, getting to know the man as you look over his shoulder and watch him build a fine guitar for Eric Clapton. It's not only informative in a "how to build a guitar" way, but it is also a heart-warming book. It reveals Henderson, a backcountry ex-mailman who has built guitars all his life, as a complex, humorous, interesting individual that just about everybody wants to meet after reading the book. One of the most entertaining books I've ever read, on several levels.
Between
the Strings: The Secret Lives of Guitars
Author John Schroeter. Another entertaining page-tuner, this one is a compilation of 2- to 7-page articles written by some of the biggest names in the performing guitar world, and it's about how they feel/felt about their guitars, their regrets when they are stolen or damaged, their joys when they find one they sold decades before. It features players from every background: Richie Furay, Johnny Cash, John Michael Talbot, BB King, Peppino D'Agostino, Phil Keaggy, Peter Frampton, Don McLean, Janis Ian, Christ martin IV, Chet Atkins, Andy Griffith, Doc watson, Jose Feliciano, George Benson, Johnny Smith, the Beatles, Andres Segovia, Jorma Kaukonen, Kathy Mattea, and about fifty more. Great reading! (Nice Gift for a guitar player!)
Go Back to Kit Guitar Builder Home Page
