I've spent most of the last year reading and watching videos about building guitars. There are two schools of guitar building; steel string and Classical/spanish. I've spent equal time on both methods of construction and decided for my first build, I'd build in the Spanish style.
For my first "guitar" build, I decided to build a Bajo Quinto which is a 10 string guitar used in Texas/Mexico border music (Conjunto, Norteno, etc). I want to start building guitars and I thought this would be a good instrument to start with for a few reasons. First, traditionally, Bajo Sexto/Quinto's are constructed in the same way that Classical Guitars are, in the Spanish Guitar method of attaching the sides directly to the neck of the guitar. This method of construction doesn't require any fancy molds and jigs like steel string guitars typically require. My next instrument will be a steel string acoustic guitar, but here is a list of reasons why I'm not starting with a steel string acoustic guitar.
1. I want to build something that is like a Classical guitar, but I don't want to actually build a Classical guitar because I don't really have an interest in Classical Guitar music, except from an academic point of view learning about the history of guitars. Classical guitar players and enthusiasts seem generally pretentious.
2. Having said that, I want to build in the Classical/Spanish style because there is much more instructional material available for Classical Guitars than Steel String guitars.
3. The instruction material available for Classical guitars makes extensive use of traditional techniques, i.e. more use of hand-tools. Most steel string guitar books and videos seem to be of more utility to a small factory/mass production model of building which requires a lot of power tools and molds.
4. One of the most intimidating parts of building a steel string guitar is making the neck joint. Ideally I'd like to make traditional dovetail joints, however my craftsmanship isn't at a level that I can cut a dovetail very precisely right now. The alternative which I will use for my first few guitars will be a bolt-on Mortise and Tenon neck joint. The neck joint on Classical guitars seems to me to be the easiest joint because the sides are attached into slots in the neck. The guitar is built upside down on a work board that should ensure ideal neck geometry (action), whereas using a dovetail or mortise-and-tenon neck it requires a lot of fiddling with to make sure neck is at the correct angle from the body. Bajo quinto's are normally built in the Spanish style. So by building a bajo quinto, I can bypass how to make a neck joint for the time being and concentrate on some of the other skills that will be required.
The benefit of dovetail/mortise and tenon necks is that the necks can be removed if required for adjustments and then be put back with relative ease. Adjusting the neck on a classical guitar is virtually impossible unless you want to destroy the guitar and put it back together. Classical guitars use nylon strings and therefore the string tension isn't as great as the tension on a steel string guitar. So in a perfect world, classical guitars don't need their necks reset. Bajo quinto's use steel strings, but they are tuned lower and in addition, the tops are generally thicker with more robust bracing. So although there are 10-12 strings on a bajo, they shouldn't need neck adjustments either.
5. No Truss Rod - For similar reasons as are listed above, steel string guitars have reinforcing rods installed in the neck to resist bending the neck due to string tension. Classical guitars, and traditional bajo quinto's don't use truss rods. This step requires using a router, or chisels if doing it by hand to make a channel in the neck to insert the truss rod. Building a bajo, I can skip this step and worry about how to do it later.
6. Flat Fretboard - Steel String guitars usually have radiuses fingerboards for better playability. Classical guitars/bajo quinto's have flat fingerboards. Making a radiuses fingerboard requires some specialized tools that I don't want to worry about for right now. Since I'm starting my shop from scratch, I want to minimize the number of tools that I need and concentrate on basic tools rather than specialized tools.
7. Flat top - Despite being called flat top guitars, steel string acoustics generally don't have flat tops. They usually have domed or cylindrical tops to add structural stability to the top and resist it from caving in due to string tension. This once again requires specialized tools to do this. Classical guitars typically also have a very slight radius in the lower half of the guitar, but the top half of the guitar is typically flat in order to have the proper geometry between the body and the neck of the guitar. The guy who is helping me out with building says that traditional bajo sexto's/quinto's have flat tops. These are folk instruments, so the building style reflects that. Most modern builders will however make a very slight radius in the top. I'm going to stick with purely traditional methods and build the top flat. This way I can just build it on top of a flat piece of ply-wood, and not have to worry about carving out a dished work board.
8. Lastly, I've met a few guys who build bajo's who have been very supportive and have given me plans, advice, etc. They have a very folk instrument mentality and are eager to help out others. The few steel string luthiers that I've met, have all been professionals, so they don't have the time or probably the desire to share trade secrets. I've yet to meet other hobbyist builders who are probably more inclined to help a newbie.
So as a quick recap, I'm building a bajo quinto because they are similar to classical guitars. There are many classical guitar books and videos available that use primarily hand tools in construction. The construction method seems less intimidating (no neck joint, no truss rod, no radiuses fingerboard, no radius to top).
