Mule

Want to make guitars as more than a whenever-you-have-time hobby? Here's my advice, guided by the principle I've found to be true and was put into words by Bob Taylor in his book 'Guitar Lessons": Quantity is just as important as quality.   You may have a negative reaction to that. You may think that guitar making is about making the perfect joint, the perfect bracing pattern. Pursuit of that is a lifelong pursuit, and if thats your goal in the beginning it's going to hamper your progress dramatically. Do the best you can do at the time and then move on.    Getting over the impulse to labor and toil over the minutest detail during your first 50 instruments is the best thing you can do to ensure your progress.  Read that again because its a big deal, don't be that guy who wants to make a living building guitars and then builds three guitars a year: Do the best you can do at the time and then move on.    Getting over the impulse to labor and toil over the minutest detail during your first 50 instruments is the best thing you can do to ensure your progress. If I could go back and guide 18 year old me along the path of guitar making education this would be my short advice:   Go to a class where you build one instrument and can copy the jigs, avoid the large schools, then get a job at a smallish manufacturer, build your own guitars on the weekends, and switch to another manufacturer after a couple years if you cant get into another department. I went to one of the larger schools. I thought it would be the best education because it was the longest course.  What ended up happening was I built three guitars in 9 months. Most students who had no previous experience could only manage two. Two guitars in nine months. The biggest holdup was everyone learned a step and then we all went and lined up at the bandsaw.  40 people standing at the bandsaw. Then we would all move to the edge sander. Although there was some guidance by instructors you basically did the work by yourself until you screwed it up and needed to get bailed out or needed some new wood.  You could copy jigs but we were new and didn't know know how to do that or what we needed to replicate since it wasn't part of the schooling.  What you need in the beginning is hands on attention, and you need to get your first five or so guitars out of the way.  After that you need quantity and the only way to do that is by working for someone else.  I worked at Huss and Dalton for 2.5 years and it was where I learned almost everything I know about guitar making.  I carved 400 necks, sanded 800 necks/bodies, milled all the lumber, bound the guitars and glued braces on, and was directly exposed to other parts of the process. Who's better at fretting? The guy at home who frets 10 guitars a year or the guy at H and D fretting 8 guitars a week? Exactly.  You just can't compete with the scale. I don't mean to not a pursuit of perfection mentality, but I'm trying to balance the scale a bit. You need to make a ton of stuff.  A lot more stuff than you think. It's going to take years. After a given point if 'quantity is just as important as quality" the one with the biggest pile of work wins.