DIY Guitar Making Videos

Getting Started as a Guitar Maker

How to get started in Lutherie! In this episode of DIY Guitar Making, I discuss things like having basic tool skills, learning to sharpen, whether or not you should build from a kit or from scratch, and whether or not you should specialize in acoustic guitars or go broad and build electrics, ukuleles etc…

Recommended books for new builders:

William Cumpiano’s “Guitarmaking: an Art and Tradition”

Alex Willis’ “Step-by-step Guitar Making”

David Russell Young’s “The Steel String Guitar: Construction and Repair”

Jim Williams’ “A Guitar Maker’s Manual”

Also recommended is a subscription to “American Lutherie” magazine: https://luth.org/journal/

and/or a subscription to “Guitarmaker” magazine: https://www.asiartisans.org/content/magazine.html

More advanced books for further refinement later on in your Lutherie journey:

Ervin Somogyi’s “The Responsive Guitar”

Ervin Somogyi’s “Making the Responsive Guitar”

🔴 Register for an 8 day Hands-On Guitar Building Workshop in Bernville, Pennsylvania: https://ericschaeferguitars.com/learn-to-build-your-own-guitar/

🔴Check out the online course “Building an OM Acoustic”: https://ericschaeferguitars.com/course/building-an-om-acoustic/

🔴Check out the online course: Tru Oil Finishing: A Method for Acoustic Guitar: https://ericschaeferguitars.com/course/tru-oil-finishing-method-acoustic-guitar/

🔴 Subscribe for weekly guitar making tips: https://www.youtube.com/c/EricSchaeferGuitars?sub_confirmation=1 New episodes are released every Friday at 10am

Korean Reality TV show visits Eric Schaefer Guitars!

So, an interesting thing happened… The Korean division of the VOA (Voice of America) have a reality TV program called Across & Around America. It is a travel magazine series presenting a window on life in America by visiting 50 states, meeting people and landmarks around the country. Watch as the hosts learn about scarf joints, bracing patterns, bending wood bindings and more! And we all jam out to a classic Korean song at the end!

Making Mistakes as a Guitar Builder: A Critical Look at my Worst Guitar

In this episode of DIY Guitar Making, I take a critical look at the worst guitar I ever built. I point out flaws and discuss strategies for improving and avoiding some of the common mistakes that luthiers make. Mistakes include gappy joinery, inconsistent binding and purfling thickness, poor design, bad miters and sloppy finish among other things. I even installed the end wedge upside down!