As I put pen to paper let me first explain my level of expertise in musician hood. I am a beginner at playing the guitar. I love music and for the most part understand what I am learning, but my real passion is the guitar itself. The feel, the look, the tone, the tremor of the strings as they are plucked, or the reverberation of the soundboard as the strings are strummed, all give me the satisfied smile that most musicians get. I love the older and the new, the look, the style, and the grace of a quality guitar.

With that said, why build a guitar? For that matter, is there a benefit to building guitars? Let's take it further, is there a benefit to building your own musical equipment? These questions look the same but they can all be answered differently. Let's handle the Why first. You would build an instrument for the simple sake of learning everything there is to learn about the instrument you play. Using the guitar as an example, you would learn what it takes to put frets into the neck, how to space them and why. You would learn the differences between the sizes and the benefits of these sizes in relation to the circumstances of playing them. Learning the parts of the guitar from inside and out would be to any musicians benefit, due to learning the effect that each part has and what role it plays on the overall sound of the instrument. After all, isn't it the overall sound that we are after as musicians?

Another benefit, which is kind of prideful but needed nonetheless, would be the pride you would have in the finished product. Too many times I see beaten, battered, and abused instruments at yard sales and flea markets. Over time people carve their names into them and their favorite bands, or they put stickers all over it and don't understand why it sounds so crappy. I guarantee you build an instrument and you will be filled with pride of the instrument that would never allow you to do any of these things. You would be too worried about the effect that any cosmetic mishandling would have on the instrument itself. Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little on that one, but I guarantee that any cosmetics that you do to your instrument will be thought about before it is done.

To say that a benefit of building an instrument would be price would be swinging a double edged sword. If you screw it up too badly you end up with several hundred dollars worth of kindling, depending on your tolerance for mistakes. The nice thing about wood is it

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