Do builders use a set of plans for guitars?
 

Always wondered if small shop guys use a set of plans to get their sizes or if they are custom made in shop too. Case sizes seem to me to determine the standard sizing? I noticed that stewmac (i think) sells a set of plans from a builder. curious

All of my custom models have CAD drawn plans. I keep full size plans on the wall to refer to during each build.

After time they become littered with notes, ideas, new things to try, things tried, etc.

I am always tweaking...

All my guitars are built from plans I drew by hand.

Klep,

How many of those rouge et noir guitars have you sold? They are absolutely beautiful.

Me too. Sometimes I base my plans on another guitar or more often several other guitars. CAD may be a good idea but I'm CAD illeritate.

Thanks, I figured most builders make out their own patterns and such, so then another question I guess. How do you determine the depth a guitar is going to be? is there a science to it or a volume calculation? Does the depth of a guitar have a lot to do with how much bass it has? Or will a shallow body just not have a lot of volume and sustain, but still have a good amount of bass?
Not sure I worded the questions right.

That's what I do as well.

I used CAD extensively in another life, but I much prefer pencil and paper for guitars. For me, something is lost when I use a computer to draw with CAD when doing guitar drawings, convenient though it is.

Pat

If I'm designing a new shape for my guitars I'll draw it out the curves of the rim on a large sheet of paper. Once I've shaped my forms from this then I don't save the paper. Other than that I don't draw out any plans. I take notes on various important dimensions, but that's all.

Regarding the depth of guitars, for me it's not an analytical issue. I just pay attention to the dimensions and other details I can observe whenever I pick up any guitar, so over time I have many ideas about what I want to do.

That's what I do. Also, if I hear a guitar I really like, (or one I really don't like) I try to really look it over. Another consideration for depth is the wood set I plan on using. If I've got a really good set I'll "squeeze" the depth a little if the sides are not big enough.

I draw up my own plans on a drafting table with large poster cards in detail then cut out the required mold , half the fun I think in building is designing something yourself.
As for depth, I pretty much have a general idea of how deep I want it based on the model, shape and woods used for the way I want it to sound and feel in my hands, Cases I think have been tailored to fit the most commonly recognizable sizes, depths etc.
A shallower bodied guitar can still have nice sustain, but will lack the volume of a deeper instrument, if I understood your question correctly.

I don't work with plans. I did however start with plans but those were merely used to design jigs and locating fixtures. Once a model is designed all parts are located with the help of jigs. If changes are to be made to an existing model, I just change the jigs accordingly.

I have lots of plans around here but it is been many years since I have used them. I build from memory and intuition.

Like peter and Tim, I start off making the plans for the guitar and then the jigs and fixtures are made from there. After that I just check my notes from time to time on different jobs. Building becomes very straight forward after a while. Some measurements will change form model to model.

Luthiers - thanks!
 

I just wanted to say thanks, once again, to the great luthiers who sponsor and/or hang around here. I'm sure this question occurred to me once or twice before and I'm just glad it got asked -- and answered with the quick but seasoned answers you all gave.

So, thanks!!!

Phil