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Good luthier books

+1 Melvyn Hiscock book. There is surprisingly little else out there (I looked!!), and what there is tends to be short on photos or detailed descriptions of how to do things. It's an excellent reference, but I still find Youtube videos a better resource, nothing beats the visual of a film showing a specific technique, and Youtube will have 10 videos for every conceivable step in the process. Just reading @brucejohnson threads (all of them!) is an education in itself. He hasn't posted many actual instructional videos, but lot of photos of ingenious jigs and fixtures. The one takeaway from all of it is the importance of accurate full-size drawings and templates. There are people out there who can "wing it" on a half thought-through design, I'm not one of them. Templates are cheap, figured hardwood or other Luthiery grade woods are EXPENSIVE. Make your mistakes on MDF or even plywood. On my first build I laminated two 3/4" pieces of scrap plywood into to a 1-1/2" thick blank and made a prototype body, which gave me an immediate read on how it would feel, balance, etc., well worth the effort. You might want to strongly consider buying a finished neck for your first build, building a body is plenty difficult, but don't let me discourage you if you have the tools and ambition. Good luck!

Edit:
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Ow...preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Yikes! Must be out of print, only used ones listed for $41!
 
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+1 Melvyn Hiscock book. There is surprisingly little else out there (I looked!!), and what there is tends to be short on photos or detailed descriptions of how to do things. It's an excellent reference, but I still find Youtube videos a better resource, nothing beats the visual of a film showing a specific technique, and Youtube will have 10 videos for every conceivable step in the process. Just reading @brucejohnson threads (all of them!) is an education in itself. He hasn't posted many actual instructional videos, but lot of photos of ingenious jigs and fixtures. The one takeaway from all of it is the importance of accurate full-size drawings and templates. There are people out there who can "wing it" on a half thought-through design, I'm not one of them. Templates are cheap, figured hardwood or other Luthiery grade woods are EXPENSIVE. Make your mistakes on MDF or even plywood. On my first build I laminated two 3/4" pieces of scrap plywood into to a 1-1/2" thick blank and made a prototype body, which gave me an immediate read on how it would feel, balance, etc., well worth the effort. You might want to strongly consider buying a finished neck for your first build, building a body is plenty difficult, but don't let me discourage you if you have the tools and ambition. Good luck!

Edit:
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537983151&sr=8-1&keywords=melvyn+hiscock&dpID=51fAJPUa1L&preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Yikes! Must be out of print, only used ones listed for $41!

Thank you very much! I really don't think that I will be building necks right away, right now I'm working on restoring my dad's old Squier, so that I can have a better understanding of the instrument. I think that the next step is taking a general carpentry course, and then see what I can actually apply. I will, of course, start working with reclaimed wood, I see it lying around all the time, I just wish I had a shop of my own and plenty of free time and extra money to start experimenting. One thing at the time, for now! I hope to build my own dream bass one day.
Cheers!
 
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I've had these since the mid 80's
Both are great book if you can find them. Guitar Gear has a couple chapters about building and setup.
20180926_193503.jpg


Guitar Electronics for Musicians has nothing about building, but everything about electronics, pickups, shielding, soldering and plenty of schematics.
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One more suggestion would be a kit build, a lot of TB builders go that route first, it’s still a good bit of work to assemble and finish.

Yeah, that's also on the list of things to do. After I finish restoring my dads bass, I'm taking it to a workshop where they teach us electronics, so I hope I'll get some basics out of it that I can use later. Then I think I'll buy myself a nice SS bass, I recently bought a cheap one and I loved it, so I'll maybe invest in a nicer one. Then I will consider a kit, unfortunately there are fewer options if you want a SS and they are also more expensive, but I'm praying for a promotion next month, we'll see. More money = more basses!
 
Ray Mottola's website is a treasure trove on all thing lutherie including books:

Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website

but to keep it short, I'd also add to Hiscock's book two others:

+ Leonardo Lospennato's "Electric Guitar and Bass Design" which could be one of the works you are after

and

+ Martin Koch's "Building Electric Guitars," which is a go-to book for all things electric

Personally I use both of these books more than Hiscock's book.
 
Ray Mottola's website is a treasure trove on all thing lutherie including books:

Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website

but to keep it short, I'd also add to Hiscock's book two others:

+ Leonardo Lospennato's "Electric Guitar and Bass Design" which could be one of the works you are after

and

+ Martin Koch's "Building Electric Guitars," which is a go-to book for all things electric

Personally I use both of these books more than Hiscock's book.


Thanks, mate, great list! Exactly what I was looking for. Cheers!

EDIT: I had actually been on that website before haha But I didn't see the list. Thanks again!
 
coming from the acoustic world there are many more books and I have most of them. I also have the Hiscock book as well as Dan Erlewine's books:

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Playe...8&qid=1538773379&sr=1-3&keywords=dan+erlewine

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Finis...8&qid=1538773408&sr=1-4&keywords=dan+erlewine

https://www.amazon.com/Step-Step-Er...8&qid=1538773438&sr=1-5&keywords=dan+erlewine

for bonus points:

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Acoustics-Second-Revised/dp/048626484X

also, you can root through most of the major pick-up manufacturer's sites for wiring diagrams. there's a ton of them out there for nearly any configuration you'd want to employ, including pre-amps.
 
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