Hummels' homebrew guitar...

In the fall of 2003, I built this steel-string folk guitar, largely following the instructions provided in William Cumpiano's exceptional book.

This guitar is slightly smaller than the Dreadnought described in Cumpiano's book. It has a 25-inch scale length, and a body which places it closer to the Martin 000 style guitars.

This is the first guitar (or serious instrument, for that matter) that I've built. It's also the first guitar I've played. (Yes... I built it before I learned to play.) It has been a wonderful, challenging project. Below are the plans that I drew up, a few audio clips (remember... I don't really know how to play yet!), and some links to some (uncommented) photos that I took during the building process. You won't learn to build a guitar on this page... get Cumpiano's book, and visit his www site! Still, the information here may spark a few ideas. Enjoy!

-Don Hummels