Topic: building a country blues guitar

[paisan]

hi everybody
i been a fan of country blues a long time but just recently decided to try and play some.
im living in Saigon and they have this one street with about 20 guitar shops and every shop makes the guitars they sell.  i think i could have one custom made fairly cheap.  my question is what build features makes a good country blues guitar? i know i want a wide neck but dont know much else . .what kind of wood or any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
thnx
jim

[blueshome]

Speak to Todd.
ww.fraulini.com

[paisan]

after some research i think what makes a good finger picking blues guitar is ladder bracing, a wide nut , and a short scale(not real clear what that means . . . length of neck?) and it seems the  type of wood is important but not as much as the type of bracing.
still feels like a bit of a crap shoot as to what the guitar will sound like once its built . . maybe a few hundred dollar crap shoot
maybe i should just stick with this junk classical guitar that i put steel strings it doesnt sound too bad . .its ladder braced

[onewent]

I think if you can get a guitar made locally for $200 it would be a cool project.  Attached is a photo of Stella ladder bracing; show that to a builder for ideas.  I can provide any measurements/photos you may need for the project.  I'd try for a mahogany body, but use American or European spruce for the top, because I'm not sure what top wood you'd get in VN.

BTW..I spent some time 'near' Saigon in '69-70, 'cept I wasn't carrying a guitar 

Tom

[paisan]

thanks for the photo tom, i think communicating with the luthier is going to be one of the major issues and a picture is worth a thousand words and doesn't need translation. i will  bring a bilingual friend with me if i can , im not sure what types of wood are going to be available but i will try for a spruce type wood for the top.
 .
  looks like those braces are tapered at the end just how much and how there attached to the body is hard to see. Ive done a lot of research in the past few day about what makes the tone of a guitar ,i have learned a ton. its really interesting but it is a gamble, there is no telling what the guitar will sound like unless the maker had made many of the same type before. but for 200$ its worth the risk and will make a perfect souvenir from Vietnam.
yea any other photos or suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated, i was thinking of using some info from fraulini's web site too(erma maybe) . .those are some gorgeous guitars.
i will post a pic of the results too when its finished
jim

p.s. yknow  surprisingly the the VN people dont seem to hold any hostility about that  15 year long adventure.

[Rivers]

That sounds like a very cool project. Do your homework, spec it out fully, and you could really have something at the end of it.

[earlemammal]

Basically they are describing a guitar with 12 frets to the body, often parlor sized flattop, like the old Kays, stellas regals,etc. ALSO ARE 12 FRET 'arch tops ' (plywood) from the same companies. Older ones are actually made of pretty good wood and a competent repairperson can refurb an instrument like that for a reasonable cost.DONT BELIEVE ANYONE WHO SAYS IT WILL BE EXPENSIVE!!! If you have the skills a simple setup , lube, check for loose parts is easy to do yourself if you have to. You find some gems...