It was just before I went into the army about 40, 42 I think, I heard of a guy called T-Bone Walker and that was the first electric guitar I'd ever heard... and I went crazy, I went completely nutty... I think that he had the clearest touch of anybody I'd ever heard on guitar then - B.B King on T-Bone Walker, from Giles Oakley's The Devil's Music, BBC
I want to build a parlor (Kalamazoo kg-14 , Gibson L1 or another ladder braced guitar. I cannot find building plans. so my question, does anybody here made a parlor guitar himself and has the building plans. and can he/she post or email them. many thx Joris
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I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left. (Seasick Steve)
Guild of American Luthiers has a late 20's Gibson L-O plan, same shape as early L-1's It has H bracing, but you can brace it however you want. These early guitars had quite a bit of variation.
hi Slack, thx for your fast reply and the links. I actually was hoping I could have them for free. momentarily I am pretty broke because I don't have a work-permit here in South-Africa. Home Affairs are letting me hanging and obstruct me already for 3 years with their incompetence. but he that's Africa and it is the blues so I'd like to put the money rather in the wood than in the plans. but if it's the only way to get them, I will pay for it. thx Joris
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I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left. (Seasick Steve)
John Thomas (who wrote the Kalamazoo Gals book) did another project where he X-rayed quite a few old Gibsons. No guarantees because I do not recall which guitars he did or what has shown up on various forums and sites but you might do a search and see if anything pops up.
I missed this thread until now. I build an L-1, and other small body guitars, and would be willing to share some info and insights with you. I don't actually have plans I can send by computer, because I've just traced old guitars and measured insides and drawn up my own. There is already tons of info out there on the web, and it's easy enough to finds lots of photos of old guitars' bracing, as well as contemporary builders' bracing. Like Slack mentioned, the bracing on so many of these old guitars was very inconsistent, so you can really brace it however you want. If you want to do ladder bracing.. well, it's a simple layout and the plans you can buy aren't going to tell you much more than a photo and some common sense already does. I can understand being broke, and just wanting to jump into a project... so you're gonna have to be resourceful. Have you built any instruments? Do you have woodworking experience? Do you have tools, clamps, etc..? You can do it without much.. but you've got to start somewhere. If you're looking for some specifics on thicknesses and brace widths and such, feel free to PM me with specific questions and I can send you some numbers.