Recommended Lutherie Books

Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms

If you want to optimize your learning of construction of stringed musical instruments, the very first thing you should do is buy and read a good lutherie dictionary. There is solid research demonstrating the importance of background information and vocabulary to reading comprehension. My informal observations about the value of having a dictionary or glossary when learning a new subject appear to be supported by experimentation. So, a good lutherie dictionary is the very first book you should buy. Which one should you get? There is only one and it is great, if I do say so myself! It is available exclusively here.

Engineering the Guitar - Theory and Practice

It probably comes as no surprise that I get a lot of technical questions about the design of the guitar and other stringed instruments. Until the publication of this book I had to refer questioners seeking detailed information to a variety of books, articles and research papers, as there was no single source for such information. This book contains very complete information on all technical aspects of the design of the guitar. It is a comprehensive collection of current best practices in the field. Highly technical in some sections, the material is well presented in all cases. I highly recommend it to anyone with a technical background. Nontechnical readers will also be able to get a lot of information from this source.

Technology of the Guitar

If Mark's first book is too technical for you, this one might just do the trick. Covering many of the same topics but in a far less technical manner, this book is an amazingly accessible treatise on the technology of acoustic and electric guitars. The author has a great talent for making difficult topics understandable, and his enthusiasm for his subject is infectious.

Electric Guitar and Bass Design

Here's a really cool niche book. It contains instructions for designing sold body guitars and basses. The book not only covers the technical design of the instrument, but also includes a lot of information on aesthetic considerations and issues of instrument ergonomics. It is written for anyone interested in the design of solid body instruments. The information here is quite accessible.

Big Red Book of American Lutherie

There is no better source of lutherie information than the pages of American Lutherie, the journal of the Guild of American Luthiers. The articles from the journal are bound into books, each covering a two year period. Every aspect of instrument making is covered in these articles.

Lutherie Tools

Another book from the GAL, this one containing articles about shop built lutherie tools.

Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars

Another book from the GAL, this one containing articles about wood and making steel string guitars.

Make Your Own Electric Guitar

Probably the single best book on making solid body electric guitars and basses. The author provides a wealth of background information and gives step by step instructions for the construction of three different styles of instruments. The author is British but there are few language issues that will confuse Americans (hint: "hire" means "rent"; "pillar drill" means "drill press"). Here are some tips for using this book when making a first instrument. Need more info? Go directly to the source - Melvyn's home page.

A MUST for first time builders of this style of instrument.

Making an Archtop Guitar

A great book from a master builder of archtop guitars. Bob Benedetto provides good background information and careful step by step instructions for building acoustic and electric archtop guitars. Also includes solid advice for anyone who wants to make instruments of any kind for a living, and photos of many of Bob's instruments. This is the reference source for this style of instrument. Here are some tips for using this book when making a first instrument.

A MUST for first time builders of this style of instrument.

Left-Brain Lutherie

A highly technical book which provides analysis of, and offers solutions for, a number of the technical problems of lutherie. Dr. Hurd develops a top deflection model for classical guitar family instruments, performs material testing, and ultimately develops a number of spreadsheets which can be used in the construction of this family of instruments. This is not a step by step tutorial on how to build an instrument, but rather the formalization of one scientist's laboratory notebook on the general subject of guitar building. His basic goal is to provide a shortcut for producing instruments that are both structurally sound and provide optimum sound quality, without having to build dozens of instruments to figure this out. You'll need high school math and physics skills to understand it, and some familiarity with technical and research publication style would help, too. All in all, quite a trove of technical information for those able to read it. See more about this book on the author's website.

So...You Want to Make a Double Bass

A thin and expensive book, this is an excellent step-by-step discussion of the construction of the bass. Also available from the author are full sized plans for a number of basses that were built by the author. Good photos and diagrams. The step-by-step instructions are not as detailed as they might be for a person considering a bass project for their first instrument, but they are plenty detailed for experienced luthiers or beginners with solid woodworking backgrounds.

The Setup and Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound

As the title specifies, this is a book on setup and repair, not construction. The authors provides a detailed cookbook of just about every repair one would ever need on every kind of bass there is. The upright bass needs constant repair, owing to the fact that it is big and made of wood. Working backwards from the types of repairs that will be necessary in any future for any bass will be extremely useful to the builder of basses. And the descriptions of the setup of the bass are top notch and will be directly applicable to the work of the bass builder. This book has some drawbacks - it could use a lot more photos and diagrams than it has. But it is so full of valuable information that it would be hard to imagine anyone that builds basses would want to be without it.

Guitarra Clásica Moderna

My recommendation in English follows this paragraph:

Hasta donde yo conozco, este es el único libro en lengua castellana sobre construcción de la guitarra clásica. Para los hispanoparlantes será un documento invaluable, por supuesto. Yo quisiera que el contenido de este libro pudiera ser accesible a todos, porque provee una descripción real sobre la construcción de la guitarra clásica que es aprovechable tanto por principiantes como a la producción en pequeños talleres. El método descrito hace uso de máquinas básicas y herramientas de mano. Contiene descripciones de plantillas y artefactos y con excepción de la solera y la formaleta, todos son bastante simples y fáciles de hacer. Todos los detalles de la construcción están consignados, sin embargo, no hay mucha explicación sobre los acabados. El libro fue escrito por uno de los mas distinguidos lutieres de Sur América, alguien con una larga carrera en la construcción de instrumentos de alta calidad. Recomiendo ampliamente este libro a cualquiera que construya guitarras clásicas.

In English:

As far as I know this is the only Spanish language book on the construction of the classical guitar. For Spanish speakers it will be invaluable of course. But I do wish that the contents of this book could be accessible to everyone, because they provide a description of a realistic modern approach to building the classical guitar that is applicable to both the first-time builder and to production in the small shop. The methods described make use of basic power and hand tools. Various jigs and fixtures are described, but with the exception of the solera/body mold, these are all quite simple and easy and quick to build. All details of construction are provided, although there is not much here on finishing. The book was written by one of the most distinguished luthiers of South America, someone with a long career building high quality instruments. I highly recommend this book to anyone building classical guitars.

The Ukulele: An Illustrated Workshop Manual

Graham McDonald is a longtime luthier, author of lutherie books and articles, and lutherie educator. This book is an amazing work on the construction of the ukulele. It surveys the history of the instrument in its various sizes, and also surveys the most typical methods of construction and decoration. Then it provides step-by-step instruction for building a number of different instruments. Although plans are not included with the book, Graham has drawn beautiful detailed plans for the instruments and makes those available for free download from his website. This is the nicest and most complete package of ukulele construction instruction I have seen.

Guitar Finishing Step-By-Step

Most construction books only provide the rudiments of instrument finishing. This one provides specific finishing recipes for most of the classic sprayed guitar finishes. It is very detailed and contains complete descriptions of various finishing products. Available directly from Stewart MacDonald.

American Basses

A book cataloging most American made bass guitars and the people who make them, as of the date of publication. I'm a big fan of catalogs of this sort as they give the builder a broad perspective of the field in which they work. Jim Roberts is the founding editor of Bass Player magazine.

Guitars from the Renaissance to Rock

An incredibly comprehensive survey of the instrument. A must have. Lots of pictures and specifications. Out of print but readily available used.

Guitars

This is a small format, inexpensive picture book of guitars. It contains photos of a large number of historical instruments as well as some modern instruments by both large factories and smaller builders. Big bang for the buck with this one.

The Physics of Musical Instruments

The current reference work on the subject. If you want to find out what is currently known about how instruments work, this is the first place to look. The book is quite technical and its contents will not be accessible to all readers. You'll need college level math and science to fully understand everything here. Contains information on non-stringed instruments as well.

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics

This book had been around for a while, and the second revised edition (1990) is currently available in paperback for a very good price. The author presents a very comprehensive treatment of the subject in a form that is surprisingly free of math. As such this book could be much more accessible to those without advanced math than Fletcher and Rossing's book, above. The subject of musical acoustics is inherently technical, and it is complex. This book does not shy away from any of the hairy details, but again, technical novices may find this work a little more approachable than others. One thing that is done exceptionally well here is the introduction of new material. The author very carefully and purposefully introduces new concepts in small bites and gives plenty of examples. Readers who are willing to take the time and effort necessary to proceed through this book will be rewarded with a great deal of knowledge.

Musical Acoustics

A great book on musical acoustics, written in a very modern style that does not rely heavily on math and provides wonderful textual descriptions of what are often hard concepts to master. Probably the most accessible book on the subject of those mentioned on this page for folks without a technical background. Generally very expensive but can be had for a reasonable price from independent book sellers like those on Amazon marketplace.

Wood Handbook - Wood as an Engineering Material

The most complete information available on wood and wood products. This is a highly technical book, but there are a number of sections which are quite accessible to a general audience.  Includes detailed information on properties of virtually all domestic and imported woods. Much info on gluing and fastening wood and wood products, too. This book has been printed under a number of other titles by private publishers. One I know about is called The Encyclopedia of Wood, but unfortunately there are other books with that same title. Note that the entire book can be downloaded for free here. Your (USA) tax dollars at work!

WOOD! Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide

Eric Meier has put together the most impressive book on woods. The book is written with the woodworker in mind. It details hundreds of species and provides mechanical properties in a consistent format. The great photos are an aid in selecting woods for an instrument project. One thing that separates this book from those that would more appropriately be classified as "wood porn" is the fact the photos show you the way each species typically looks. The book is a must-have reference on this subject. The author also maintains the definitive online wood resource The Wood Database.

Mechanics of Materials

This is the materials science textbook for mechanical engineers. Highly technical and quite expensive. Previous editions of the book are readily available used, and as the materials used in instrument construction are pretty traditional any of the earlier editions would be useful.

It may seem strange to lump all old or historical books together, but in fact there is a good reason to do this (at least I think it's a good reason). Basically, I know of no historical books which I can recommend except as historical documents. At first blush it may seem that older books on making instruments that have been around in their current form for quite a while should be just as valid as newer books. After all, the violin hasn't changed much in three hundred years, so why should a new book on violin making be any better than an old one? The main reason seems to be that there has been an amazing increase in the quality of technical writing over the last sixty years or so. I don't know why this is so - it may be due to an increase in science education in this country. In any case, most historical books on lutherie that I have seen are full of misinformation and a lot contain substantial amounts of opinion masquerading as fact. For this reason I would be hard pressed to actually recommend any of these books in general, although I certainly could recommend some to individuals that I knew were capable of seeing them within a historical context. The books in this section can be interesting and even useful adjuncts to more modern works.

Violin Making - as it was, and is

The author has strong opinions on what a violin should be, right down to the shape of the f holes, and he doesn't mind telling us about them. Along the way he catalogs construction details of the instruments of a number of historical violin makers and details basic construction and repair technique. It is quite a trove of information if you can filter out the opinions and the inaccuracies. Includes fold out plans. Out of print but readily and inexpensively available used.

Classic Guitar Construction

Probably the first of the modern comprehensive construction books, and the book that many modern masters started their lutherie careers with. Clear instructions and lots of photos, but the construction methods specified are quite idiosyncratic and don't correspond to either traditional or modern building methods. The section on spray finishing is simply unacceptable in terms of safety issues.

Cahier d'atelier: la construction d'une guitare classique

This is the workshop notebook of French classical guitar maker Robert Bouchet. It is a wonderful piece of lutherie history, even for those like me that can't read the writing. The notebook is illustrated with many hand drawn and colored sketches. Currently out of print, but available used. It is quite expensive. Makes a wonderful gift for a luthier, because it is the kind of luxury that few would purchase for themselves.