NEW ONLINE COURSE AVAILABLE AT THE LUTHERIE ACADEMY. I am pleased to announce the launch of a brand new course at the Lutherie Academy - Making Guitar Dovetail Joints.  This course is presented by Canadian luthier, Charles Tauber and is a deep dive into the history, design and execution of dovetails for neck to body joining on both steel string and classical guitars. The course covers everything from design and how to make the templates to final fitting of the joint. There are even downloadable PDF files for the templates. 
Charles has been using this joint for decades on his personal instruments and in this course breaks down all the steps into easy to understand lessons so that you can begin using dovetail joints on your instruments. See the intro video to the Dovetail course below.

Learn About:

• The history of the dovetail joint
• Cantilevered vs. non-cantilevered neck construction
• Positive and negative dovetail jigs
• Router bits and guide bushings
• Cut depth vs. fit of the joint
• How to make dovetail jigs
• Tapered vs. straight dovetails
• Preparing the sides
• The three neck angles
• Top geometry vs. neck angle
• Steel string vs. classical dovetails
• Pinned dovetails (no glue)
• Final fitting of the joint
• Truss rod installation
• Dovetailed hangers
• And much more!

ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE LUTHERIE ACADEMY is the recently released: Semi hollow body electric guitar with Brazilian luthier, João Cassias. Last year I was in Brazil and filmed this fun course on how to make a semi hollow body guitar. It requires very few tools, jigs and materials and is a fun project that can be completed in a small amount of time. The design is loosely based on an iconic American thin body electric guitar design that offers the warmth of a hollow body and the growl of a solid body. Join in the fun as João shows you all the steps to build your own semi hollow body electric guitar, with added tips and tricks he has learned over his more than 25 year career as a luthier. A material/tool list and detailed plans accompany the course. Building one of these guitars is like eating potato chips. You can’t stop at just one!
Check out the online course page for more info. Also, see the intro video to the course below. 
João and I filmed a complete How To Build An Archtop Guitar online course several years ago. Be sure and check it out as well. 

Happy Building.