Dreadnought Guitar Kit

A really good guitar is the result of my purchase. The kit was very fun to make but somewhat daunting for my first guitar. The plans and video were very well done and answered most of my questions. I made one quick call to Stewmac on something I did not understand and that got me back on track. I got the dovetail neck version but next time I will try the bolt on. I think it would be easier to build but most importantly if there was a problem and the neck had to be removed it would simplify the situation. I did the lacquer finish, 13 coats on the body and 18 on the neck. Not very easy and quite expensive and time consuming if you do it correctly. But it produced excellent results. I would highly recommend this kit if you want a great guitar.

I should say, sounds easier than it looks. It's tough. No joke. I have done fine woodworking in the past and own many of the required tools and still needed special scrapers, files, glues, knives and laminating trim bits. The workmanship will definitely show if you fast-path or cut any step. I skipped the body fill and scrape process mainly because after 2 months and about 80 hours of work, I wanted to play my guitar, soon. So the 8 coats of lacquer I applied could not fill the top and back wood grain. Now I occasionally rake my fingernails across the sound board to remind me of what an extra hour or two cost me in quality. Fitting the neck is critical. Get it right. I checked out The Luthiers Handbook from my library and really got into the fine points of how a guitar works and my first reference when moving to the next step. I was just floored when I put strings on for the first. Couldn't believe how crisp and resonant the sound was. After two years now, I have not had to adjust the truss rod at all and only required minimal fret work to eliminate buzz. And wonderfully tight action. Get the neck right. Enjoy. Oh, and I decided to inlay my own brand, North Star Guitars

everything is perfect in this kit, woods quality!! plans and video, the resulting sound is excellent good balance and power, that said, not so easy to do, my experience in violin making helped me a lot, this is the first guitar I make and I intend to repeat the experience, thanks to Stewart-MacDonald!

I had tried to repair one of my old acoustic guitars with a resonable result, so I started reading about how to build a new guitar, and luckily I stumbled into these guitar building kits. the building kit provided a lot of advantages compared to starting from scratch, some of the tricky parts were taken care of as example the neck-body connection the routing of the sound hole and the rossette, the prepared fretboard with the slots in the right position and so on. The instruction manual and the video worked very good together. The end result is fine and the guitar has a good sound, but it has also been tuff job to get there, it required a lot more accuracy than i am used to (I have build a lot of different things, furniture etc. but normally in a bigger scale)it has been great fun and a big challenge to make the guitar, but it has also been very costly to get the guitar to Denmark with cost of transport, import tax and duty, purchase of special tools etc. all in all the price of the building kit has dubbled

kit makes a very fine guitar, excellent instructions and video

This D-28 replica guitar has had time now to set in. Built in 2010, my 1st ever, it sounded great right away and 3 Years later sounds even better. I have had nothing but compliments on this instrument! This guitar is an American Classic in its own right!! I found the instructions very helpful but the video did the trick as you "SEE" how it is done. All of the materials were 1st rate and I have used what I learned building this kit to delve in to other acoustic projects. This hobbiest gives 2 thumbs up!!!!

First build and I was extremely happy with the product and service received. The end result was a great sounding guitar that I can't put down. I'm hooked and can't wait to build another.

So well chosen and made. Just follow the instructions.

Built my first guitar in 2010 with this kit, and the result was great. I have also built the 000 kit, and it too came out very nice. Everything supplied with both kits are as stewmac says. Accurately sawn woods, and a very good instruction manual. Both guitars look and sound great

I bought my kit in May 2006. Although I had lots of woodworking experience, I did have a patience issue. I glued the sides incorrectly (so read and reread then dry fit first). I had to order two new sides and StewMac was very quick to fill order and I was back on my way. The one thing I did differently was to get Adirondack Spruce from a tone woods supplier and made my own top and carved bracing with them. The result was a guitar that is a match in tone to my Martin HD28-V. I am sure as it ages it will be superior due to the Red Spruce. My only tip is to read all instructions, get the DVD and watch it at each stage of progress, and if still unsure, give StewMac a call and they will help you.