Official Luthiers Forum!

It seems a lot more daunting than it really is. I'm not suggesting that it's easy, but everyone here built a first instrument. It's totally doable. If you manage your time well, I think you can do it on your timeline. You'll obviously have to proceed carefully, so don't get in a hurry. Even with your deadline pressure, remember that it's better to take the time to work precisely. It's far more time-consuming to go back, fix mistakes, or re-do certain procedures. You'll make a few mistakes along the way, but don't freak out about them. Just try to minimize them. Most of us make mistakes somewhere along the line in each instrument we build. All of that is meant as an encouragement!

Now, I don't see what you have in mind for a side bending set up. This is not so terribly difficult a process, but it takes a little practice. I bent my first sides over a copper pipe clamped in a vise with a bottled gas torch aimed into one open end. Later, I found a larger piece of copper pipe and rigged up a base for it with a 250-watt lightbulb inside, controlled by a rheostat. That works great for me. Others have used electric charcoal starters inside pipes. There are lots of ways to do it--just don't burn yourself or the shop.

Best of luck and, by all means, post progress pictures. I think you'll have a lot of fans here. I'll be watching, too!
Patrick

I will document on Doc-U-build. thanks

Great to hear of your project! I have built violins for almost 10 years, but am also on my first guitar. I pretty much taught myself for a while, then met a luthier, and my learning curve accelerated tremendously. If you can at all find someone to help, you will enhance your learning and enjoyment I would think. If not, you're still gonna learn a lot quickly.

My advice would be that when you're feeling discouraged, or there will even be times when you feel like hanging it up....come here and talk about it! I guarantee you that you cannot do anything or make any mistake that everyone here hasn't experienced at some point.

That's a nice rotary planer, by the way. Take good care of it, they are hard to come by nowadays!

Dave F