As a continuation of last month's article by John LeVan on the basic tools and conditions needed to get started in luthiery and instrument repair as a hobby or profession, this month's luthiery article will examine some of the resources for instrument kits.

Up front, I have to confess- while I have visited many luthier shops over the past thirty years, edited dozens of luthiery articles for Guitar Sessions, and often entertained the notion of building my own guitar, even collecting a few of the essential tools in the process- I have not built a single instrument to date. Still, the tools and raw materials of luthiery are inherently beautiful and, through my editorial position at Mel Bay Publications and occasional road trips for the company, I have met or talked shop with many of the most innovative and accomplished luthiers of our time.

That said, rather than attempting to build your first guitar from scratch, it would seem logical to begin with precut parts in a kit from a reliable source. I would imagine that most of the assembly could then be completed without elaborate jigs or expensive power tools; Simple hand tools should do the job, and fundamental design mistakes or errors of judgment in making precision cuts would be largely eliminated.

It's not my intent to tacitly endorse any of the kit suppliers mentioned in this article. After all, I couldn't realistically do that without having first built at least one kit from each of them. This article is intended as a partial orientation, a starting point if you will- as much for my benefit as for yours. I'm sure you'll be as surprised as I was at the number and variety of instrument kits available, not to mention the price range and differences in the degree of skill needed to assemble an instrument kit. One can only conclude that it's a big guitar kit world!

Musicmaker's Kits, Inc.

PO Box 2117
Stillwater, MN 55082
Tel: (800) 432-5487; local: (651) 439-9120
www.musikit.com; email: info@musikit.com

I chose to begin my list with Musicmaker's Kits because many of these kits are so simple that even children can build and learn to play them. Company president and chief designer Jerry Brown's new line of cardboard instrument kits is designed specifically to engage children and first-time builder adults with no previous tool or luthiery experienced. The resonating bodies of these instruments, shaped like the banjo, mandolin, mountain dulcimer, ukulele, and electric and acoustic guitars, are actually made of cardboard. They work because they are built on a mountain dulcimer or "stringboard" principal with the headstock, fretboard, nut and bridge all part and parcel of the same stick of hardwood.

The necks of these instruments feature flat toothpick frets and a 4-string peghead that uses zither pins as tuners. The zither pins are a calculated substitution for mechanical tuners on these very playable "knockabout" instruments. Brown insists that the pins hold their tuning very well and that kids are less inclined to fiddle with them. Geared tuners and real fretwire are available as upgrades for another $10.00 each, but Brown's whole point is to produce a playable instrument at the extremely low cost of $29.95.

All of Brown's cardboard instruments have just four strings and all but the mountain dulcimer can be tuned like a baritone uke, i.e., the same as the first four strings of a guitar. The mandolin design has a shorter stringboard than the others; for ease of play, Brown recommends tuning it an octave higher than a normal guitar, but it can be tuned in fifths like a mandolin as well. The tuning modification is aimed at giving a child instant gratification in actually playing the instrument as part of a group; towards that end, Brown includes a booklet of two-chord songs with each kit.

Musicmaker's Kits is best known for well-designed traditional all-wood kits, most with laminated tops and pre-bent wood sides resulting in very durable and playable instruments. At present, only Brown's hammered dulcimer and autoharp kits feature solid tops, but more instruments with solid wood soundboards are being planned. A free catalog is available as well as a 22-minute DVD in which Brown introduces the practical and educational nature of his cardboard instruments. The DVD features a dramatic demonstration of the relative merits of resonating chambers made from a pie tin, a plastic ice cream container, a cardboard box, and a large square of Styrofoam packing material!

Grizzly Industrial, Inc.

Customer Service Questions: csr@grizzly.com
Technical Support Questions: techsupport@grizzly.com
Website Questions: webmaster@grizzly.com
Order Phone Number: 1-800-523-4777
Customer Service Phone Number: 1-570-546-9663
http://www.grizzly.com/

Grizzly Industrial, Inc. is another company that most guitarists aren't aware of as makers of instrument kits or general suppliers of luthiery materials and books. Instead, the company is best known for its line of mechanized tools manufactured in China and distributed via mail order and three large outlet stores, one of which happens to be located in my wife's hometown of Springfield, Missouri. The other two showrooms are in Bellingham, WA and Muncy, PA. Here's the lowdown- the president of the company, Mr. S. Balolia, is an accomplished amateur luthier and inlay artist and his love of the craft is obvious in a special luthiers catalog produced by Grizzly Industrial.

The Springfield showroom includes a display of "partially assembled" instrument kits to facilitate building your own violin, soprano uke, banjo, or mandolin plus acoustic, classic, and solidbody electric guitars. The resonating bodies of the acoustic instruments are already assembled and the frets are already set in place; all that is required is final assembly, finishing, and installation of the hardware.

Purists will argue that this is not "real luthiery" but the quality of the wood elements of the kits I saw was excellent, and prices for Grizzly kits are simply unbelievable- $25.00 for an all-mahogany uke and $89.95 for the dreadnaught acoustic with a bolt-on neck and trussrod. If you truly want to build from scratch, Grizzly can supply you with the raw wood and individual components. Once you've built your instrument, Grizzly can also supply a gig bag, hard-shell case, or an amp. Request a Luthier's Catalog via the Grizzly Industrial website.

Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc.

www.lmii.com
7975 Cameron Dr. Bldg. 1600
Windsor, CA 95492
Tel: 707-687-2020
1-800-477-4437; Fax: 707-687-2014

Kits from Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc. or Stewart MacDonald would be more demanding of your woodworking and tool skills. These two suppliers have set the standard for their select woods, custom luthiery tools, and friendly customer service. They are the real deal in supplying professional luthiers and serious hobbyists with top-quality materials and tools.

In terms of kits, Luthiers Mercantile offers both Standard Kits containing raw materials just as you might order from their main catalog, as well as Serviced Kits with slotted fingerboards, pre-bent sides, and other partially finished elements.
Here's a list of guitar kits from Luthiers Mercantile:

Click Below For Information	SKU	Description
Standard Guitar Kits	B1K	Classical Guitar Kit - Cedar
Standard Guitar Kits	B2K	Flamenco Guitar Kit
Standard Guitar Kits	B4K	Basic Steel String Guitar Kit
Standard Guitar Kits	B5K	Deluxe Steel String Guitar Kit
Serviced Guitar Kits	B4KD	Basic Serviced Kit, Mahogany dreadnought
Serviced Guitar Kits	B4KOM	Basic Serviced Kit, Mahogany OM
Serviced Guitar Kits	B5KD	Deluxe Serviced Kit, Rosewood dreadnought
Serviced Guitar Kits	B5KOM	Deluxe Serviced Kit, Rosewood OM
Standard Guitar Kits	B9K	Solid Body Electric Guitar Kit
Standard Guitar Kits	B7K	F5 Style Mandolin Kit
Standard Guitar Kits	B6K	Archtop Guitar Kit
Standard Guitar Kits	B3K	Classical Guitar Kit - Engelmann

Luthiers Mercantile gathers components for its kits in-house to assure that all kit elements fit together properly. Clients are then given a 10-20% discount off the total of what the individual components would cost if purchased separately. A free catalog is available on request.

LMI should also be lauded for its sponsorship of the biannual Healdsburg Guitar Festival, now conveniently located in The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, California. The festival brings together some 175 of the nation's top luthiers and international performers for three days that every player and luthier should experience. This year, the event is scheduled for August 19-21.

Stewart-MacDonald

www.stewmac.com
Everything for building and repairing stringed instruments!
Hours: 9am-6pm, Monday-Friday, Eastern Standard Time
U.S. & Canada: 800-848-2273
All other countries call: +1-740-592-3021

Fax: anytime
U.S. & Canada: 740-593-7922
All other countries fax: +1-740-593-7922

Mail: Stewart-MacDonald
PO Box 900
Athens, OH 45701

Stewart-MacDonald has for years been one of the main go-to wood and tool resources for professional and amateur luthiers and repairmen. The company offers a staggering array of raw materials, kits, and tools plus every conceivable book and video on the luthier's craft. An instructional video is included with some kits and "serviced kits" appear to be the norm. A comprehensive free catalog is available by emailing or calling the company. The company offers kits for several instruments:

Acoustic guitar

Be sure to check Stewart-MacDonald's Free Info page at: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/ where I found the following list of assembly tips and instructions for specific kits:

Kits

i-0307 Directions for the Hourglass Model Dulcimer
i-0308 Directions for the Teardrop Model Dulcimer
i-5148 Overview of Assembly for the F5 or A5 Kits
i-5160 Campfire Mandolin Kit
i-5288 Bluegrass Resomaster Kit Assembly Instructions
i-5290 Blues Resomaster Kit Assembly Instructions
i-5291 Delta Resomaster Kit Assembly Instructions
i-5295 Dreadnought Guitar Kit
i-5297 Triple-O Guitar Kit
i-5342 Violin Kit Assembly Instructions
i-5395 Eagle Banjo Kit

The Stewart-MacDonald Catalog also contains many valuable luthiery tips plus detailed descriptions of how to use its specialized tools and jigs.

Midwest Guitar Kits

731 Dale
Webster Groves, Missouri 63119
Phone: (314) 962-8822
Toll Free 1-877-453-8119
Email: Info@MidwestGuitar.com

http://midwestguitar.com/index.htm
Midwest Guitar offers a high-quality acoustic guitar kit at a base price of $400.00 with many custom options available at additional cost. You can even design your own custom guitar kit. The company also offers kits for electric guitars with two or three pickups plus an electric bass kit. Located in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves, Midwest Guitar is also a complete luthiery school that offers a variety of course formats from 3-hour seminars to year-long apprenticeships.

Carvin Guitars http://www.carvin.com/
Carvin offers a GK-1 solidbody electric guitar in kit form and a BK4 - Bolt-on-neck bass kit, both for around $350.00. Both of these kits consist of ready to assemble and finish components. The company also issues enough individual components that you could pick and choose to create your own custom guitar.

The Martin Guitar Company 1833 Shop http://www.martinguitar.com/1833/
Martin is perhaps unique among major acoustic guitar manufacturers in that it offers a few of its production models in kit form, among them entry-level kits for as little as $220.00. I wish more guitar manufacturers would offer this option.

Project Guitar http://www.projectguitar.com/ref/supply.htm
The Project Guitar website offers a comprehensive international list of luthier suppliers, including instrument kits, tonewood and tools plus inlay and finishing materials. The site is well worth checking out as it goes far beyond the scope of this article. In closing, it's time I cleaned out a spot for a luthiery workbench in the garage! I hope many of you will do the same.

All best wishes,
Stephen Rekas
Guitar Sessions Editor