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AG00: Acoustic 2020
With a great deal of help, I built my first acoustic guitar. Story below.
In June-July 2020 classmate Ron and I had the opportunity to spend time with luthier Eric
Schaefer, who offers acoustic guitar building courses in Bernville,
PA. We built this OM style model, with ziricote sides and back,
mahogany top and neck, maple binding, and Macassar ebony bridge,
fretboard, and headplate. Inlays are mother-of-pearl. The
neck is at a 25.4 inch scale, with a 20 inch fretboard radius and 1.75
inch nut. Eric does some prep work to make it possible to
complete the job in such a short time, and handles some of the power
tools that could in the grip of a newbie jeopardize the project timeline, life, or limb. But otherwise he
guides you through the hands-on steps of building a guitar from scratch.
It was eight long days, but a whole lot of fun. Went I got home I
did some touch-up work, then finished it in French polish. It
looks great, and sounds very typical of a Martin OM.
If you’d like to try this yourself, Eric offers both live and online courses, so check him out at www.ericschaeferguitars.com. No prior guitar building experience is necessary. You can watch Eric install the headplate inlay on this guitar at www.ericschaeferguitars.com/installing-a-wolf-against-the-moon-headstock-inlay, and see a short video of our finishing touches building our guitars at www.ericschaeferguitars.com/inside-look-ron-and-lamar-on-the-last-day-of-their-8-day-guitar-building-workshop.
If you’d like to try this yourself, Eric offers both live and online courses, so check him out at www.ericschaeferguitars.com. No prior guitar building experience is necessary. You can watch Eric install the headplate inlay on this guitar at www.ericschaeferguitars.com/installing-a-wolf-against-the-moon-headstock-inlay, and see a short video of our finishing touches building our guitars at www.ericschaeferguitars.com/inside-look-ron-and-lamar-on-the-last-day-of-their-8-day-guitar-building-workshop.
