A Guitar Maker's Manual (Plastic Comb)

Most beginers and others would be better served by getting the LMII catalog, some relevant back issue of American Lutherie, and hanging out on the web.

This book is well liked, because it moves the markers ahead in the sand a few months from Cupiano's dreadfully out of date volume. it contains things like a diagram of the Fox side bender, which you can find better info on all over the web, including the factory tour posted of the Fox fascility on the frets site. This is just one area where the books don't cut it. Do an amazon search of the last 5 years published titles in woodworking or almost any field, and then in lutherie. Books just aren't how luthiers comunicate. They actualy really spread their techniques around generously, they just don't write books.

Williams' book tries hard to emulate Sloane's, but fails in the most important department--TRUST!

There are simply heaps of little errors, some of them common to many modern woodworking and lutherie books, as well as a few individual howlers that just make an old-timer suspicious.

Anthony Burgess once remarked [on spelling]: "A guage works as well as a gauge". We know what he means, and we know what Mr Williams means, when he mis-spells this basic item. However, he also goes on to mis-spell, mis-use and mis-name another dozen or more common woodworking tools and concepts that make one wonder if he really knows what he's talking about. [It confuses those of us who DO.] Tri-square, sash cramp, swooge, guages, annular rings[!], jointing vs joining...I believe it's just as easy to get these little things *correct* before publication. If not, at least before the reprint(s)!

There are still, after 3 or more editions, plenty of unclosed quotes--No, on second reading, those are actually *inch symbols* with no figures before them...There are suggestions that 1"= 12.5mm...on a drawing, 3/16" is called 5mm, but 3/32" [exactly half!] is called 2.2mm. What's going on??? I grew up with both systems, but I can't really trust my cuts to these kinds of little blunders.

Way too often the text refers to classic construction, but the illustration shows a steel-string dreadnought...There's actually no problem, but it makes me wonder why there isn't just a bit more text to explain the discrepancy. A clever symbol next to paragraphs to distinguish the classic from the steel-string acoustic parts would also assist the reader greatly.

Most of the photos and illustrations are clear, but some just defy interpretation until the text has been read 10 or more times.

If I were Mr Williams' editor, before any reprints, I would insist on a simple, but apologetic foreword, and review and extend the text to make this "almost-good-enough" book into a great book. If you know a bit about making guitars, however, you'll find some really thought-provoking ideas here. Beginners beware!