Author: Eric Schaefer

Building a Guitar in 8 Days – A Recap of the 2018 Workshops A recap of all the 2018 Acoustic Guitar Building Workshops at Eric Schaefer Guitars! Building a Guitar in 8 Days – A Recap of the 2018 Workshops from Eric Schaefer on Vimeo. Want more of this? Subscribe below for Weekly Guitar [...]

CITES II Updates – What to Expect for Luthiers and Traveling Musicians I discuss the potential of CITES II updates for 2019 and specifically appendix II rosewood and how these changes affect luthiers and traveling musicians. I also give a nice little rant about rosewood obsession at the end. Want more of this? Subscribe [...]

CITES Guide for Luthiers and Traveling Musicians All Rosewood is under Appendix II protection of CITES. What is CITES? How does it affect us as luthiers, instrument dealers, and traveling musicians? I answer all this and more in this informal guide. Disclaimer: This is not an official source on CITES.     CITES Guide [...]

Six tools I recommend for 2019 I discuss a selection of tools that have been a very welcome addition to my shop. These tools are not the “necessary” tools of luthiers, but rather, tools that make guitar building more efficient, more precise, or just plain fun. The Tools: – Rolling Pin Sander from Elevate [...]

Three Hacks to Improve the Flow in a Luthier’s Workshop This episode is about improving comfort and efficiency in your guitar building workshop. I share 3 “hacks” that I’ve used to alter my environment for a better flow. 1. Radius dish workstation 2. A go-bar deck that goes 3. Workbench lightbox My instructional article [...]

Why tonewoods do not impact tone on electric guitars That’s right. The concept of tonewoods as applied to solidbody electric guitars is a myth. I explain how the original concept of tonewoods as applied to acoustic guitars is taken out of context and used to infer that the choice of wood for a solid [...]

Guitarmaking Q&A for October 2018 Today’s topics include: bending florentine cutaways, sourcing guitar plans, creating headstock inlays, deciding the dimensions of a mortise and tenon, installing fretboard inlays on a finished guitar, radiusing fretwire, and radiusing the soundbox. Want more of this? Subscribe below for Weekly Guitar Making Tips from DIY Guitarmaking   Want [...]

Side Bending Machine Basics Part 3 In this series, I talk about bending guitar sides with a side bending machine as opposed to bending by hand around a hot pipe. I talk about the pros, the cons, and the practical tips on bending wood. And I demonstrate my side bending procedure with the side [...]

Side Bending Machine Basics Part 2 – Essential Items In this series, I talk about bending guitar sides with a side bending machine as opposed to bending by hand around a hot pipe. I talk about the pros, the cons, and the practical tips on bending wood. And I demonstrate my side bending procedure [...]

Side Bending Machine Basics Part 1 – Building Forms In this series, I talk about bending guitar sides with a side bending machine as opposed to bending by hand around a hot pipe. I talk about the pros, the cons, and the practical tips on bending wood. And I demonstrate my side bending procedure [...]

Sapele vs Mahogany: A Comprehensive Review I use a lot of Sapele here in the shop! I talk about my experiences and those of my students with using Sapele including how it bends, how it carves, the aesthetics, and it’s mechanical properties. Want more of this? Subscribe below for Weekly Guitar Making Tips from [...]

Guitarmaking Q&A for August 3rd, 2018 Today’s topics include: carbon fiber inserts and truss rods, intonation and compensation, hiding fractures and splits in the plates, building your own thickness sander and more… Want more of this? Subscribe below for Weekly Guitar Making Tips from DIY Guitarmaking   Want to really learn more!? Take a [...]