George S. LeachThe Phoenix Guitar Company's Guide to Guitarmaking for the Small Shop: A Step-by-Step Approach

This book covers 3 basic kinds of guitar, flattop steel string, archtop and classical without repeating operations that are the same or similar. There is lots of good information and useful suggestions for jigs and techniques to use. I don't think it is a stand-alone guitar-making book but if you have another (Campiagno & Natelson, for example) it adds options for you to choose from in making your own guitar. If one is going to make a guitar then the price is attractive and the extra information is worth it. (I'm man amateur who has made two electrics and one acoustic and repaired some. YMMV).

I took a Building guitar class with George Leach ( my 12 string pictures attached ) and found him to be very knowledgeable and easily understood. He made the process of building a guitar simple for me to understand. I have since been teaching how to build Ukulele's and everything I learned from George has also been applicable to share with my students. I will now recommend this book to my students as added information on the art of luthierie. If your interested in building your own guitar and want personal guidance like I had contact George at the Phoenix guitar company I know he is starting a summer class soon .... Worth it!

I really like the format of this book, although, for me, the Kindle edition did not always show the explanation related to the pictures on the same page that the pictures are on. No big deal really.This book is definitely NOT intended to be a sole, stand alone, resource for the first time builder, but it does show pictures of essentially every step involved in building a guitar. Each picture is accompanied by a short paragraph explaining what is being done in the related picture. Of course there are aspects of building a guitar which simply cannot be adequately described or taught in a short paragraph. As the author states, this book would be a very nice book go along with the live-taught guitar building course that the author teaches.I really liked that the author showed, in pictures, his small shop's, more or less, modern day approach to building guitars, where rather than using a lot of hand tools such as planes, etc, he, for example, uses a drum sander to thin the guitar plates and a router to make the dovetail neck joint. It seems that so many of the existing books on guitar construction assume that the builder does not have access to a woodworking shop with routers and power sanders, etc. As it's title suggests, this book definitely assumes that the guitar is being constructed in a small (woodworking) shop setting.One quirk that kind of "irked" me was that on numerous occasions, the author describes using a specialized jig for accomplishing a given building process, but sadly, he offers no detailed description of the jigs he is using. Maybe they are secret or something??? I would have rated the book 5 stars had he provided more details about the various jigs he uses in his shop...(Maybe an idea for his next book???)Anyway, the bottom line is that this is a good book for ANY guitar maker, and I believe that everyone who reads it will come away with at least one new idea to help them with their guitar making.

Very good refresher on the overall building of a guitar. Specific areas would need more info, but very hard to do in book form. For instance, planing off the cross braces after gluing them into place is not something easily captured in pictures. It's a skill learned by practice or maybe a video.

This book is more about machining the parts of a guitar and assembling them than it is about coaxing the sound out of the wood. I was hoping there would be instruction on crafting a guitar by paying attention to the things that bring out the sound.

I have many books on guitar instruction. This book is a very nice addition to what I have. Some good information particularly if you have already build a few acoustic guitars.

Amazing book! Highly recommended for musicians and woodworkers alike.

Somehow the printer of this book mixed up two books. This is half of some HESI test prep book and half guitar making. The guitar making picks up on page 161.UPDATE: I returned the first copy and received a completely normal one. I don't know if my problem was a one-time thing or if it is a broader issue. But the second copy is great. Thanks for the fast exchange.