# Building or making a guitar ?



## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

What is the difference ? People usually say _building_ when all they're doing is assembling parts on an existing body, sometimes even one with a set neck. _Making_ one would mean from raw wood ? But still some will say _build_ from scratch.

Or is it all simply that I don't get subtilties from the English language ?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Maybe there's some grey area. I consider what I do to be building. I think when you start making your own necks and maybe doing set necks or neck through guitars or hollow body / acoustic guitars that's the next level.

That doesn't mean a set neck or neck through is in any way superior to a bolt on, but I'd say it requires a higher set of skills.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

BGood said:


> _build_ from scratch.


The lingo is evolving. Scratch building used to refer to model building, it seems now it applies to everything.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

In my opinion it means the same thing about guitars.

Even building a house is assembling parts and yet we say to build a house


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I take it to mean "assembling" - whether from raw goods or not.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

I think it's a grey area too between the terms.

Sometimes a simple guitar assembly starts to become a 'build' as you get more involved in putting it together (shaving the neck, stripping the body for a respray, reshaping the headstock, adding new body contours, etc.). That's no longer assembly, but it's not building it from scratch either. Even the 'luthier' term can mean different things - from someone who does things like fret work to 'from-the-ground-up' builds.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Well, are you baking a cake if you use a Duncan Hines box? 

I will admit that, semantically, I look at building a partscaster differently than making a guitar from a pile of wood and some dreams. But then, is it also a build if you heavily mod an existing guitar? I call it a build out of habit.

Luthier, I think, is a professional designation, and implies some training, vs. "tech" who is someone with enough skills to work on guitars.


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## silvertonebetty (Jan 4, 2015)

Really I think building is putting something together and doing the finishing and all that jazz and putting together is with finished necks , bodies ect . At that point the work is finished and you’re just doing a puzzle


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

creating?


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

OK, merci. Sums up what I thought.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I’d say the terms are near enough as makes no difference at the end of the day. But English is a second language to me cause I grew up speakin Murcan.. lol


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## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

Have you ever seen a child with a cognitive disability wipe their own ass and then be rewarded with a banana?

That’s what’s happening with every like that I receive on any post I make about the guitar I “built” with 4 Phillips head screws.

It’s all about ones proximal range of ability, for which my ceiling for achievement is very low.


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## numb41 (Jul 13, 2009)

It’s assembling if you didn’t cut the wood and shape it into a guitar. 
Danocaster for one has made a career of assembling other people’s work and charging exorbitant money. Nice guitars I guess, but come on.


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## superfly (Oct 14, 2021)

Assembling and crafting an instrument are two different things.

Though, an instrument assembled and finished by a master in his "craft" and an amateur/hobbyist could have very little in common.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

numb41 said:


> It’s assembling if you didn’t cut the wood and shape it into a guitar.
> Danocaster for one has made a career of assembling other people’s work and charging exorbitant money. Nice guitars I guess, but come on.


Many boutique brands do this, I've find out.


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## numb41 (Jul 13, 2009)

Budda said:


> Many boutique brands do this, I've find out.


Oh I know. And are very successful. But they’re not luthiers “making” an instrument. And that’s fine I guess.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

I think there's a 3rd build type that should be wedged in there between assembling and newly crafting: maybe modifying or something.

A dude can spend 10s of hours, reshaping the horns, adding body contours both inside & out, shaving the neck, cutting & restyling the headstock, respraying, etc.. That's far & away from mere assembling anymore, you're really crafting but just not from scratch.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Most of us who assemble a guitar from parts call them "builds", and the rest of us (here at least) know that's the case. Six of one, half dozen of the other in my opinion. 
If my buddy sends me pics and titles it "Latest Build" I'm not going to correct him and say "a-hem... don't you mean latest _assembly_?"

I've had to pull out the router and enlarge pick-up cavities, or the 72' Custom Tele I did where I had to create channels for the top loaded electronics to drop in. There is certainly a case to be made to differentiate between what I do, and what @Silvertone does, but I think it's a given he is a cut above.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

numb41 said:


> It’s assembling if you didn’t cut the wood and shape it into a guitar.
> Danocaster for one has made a career of assembling other people’s work and charging exorbitant money. Nice guitars I guess, but come on.


He did do the finishing work which isn't exactly easy to do. Especially a realistic looking worn finish, which is what I think people really liked about his guitars. But yes, he bought raw bodies and necks from suppliers. 
Ron Kirn says he buys necks too, as he admits he can't build them as well for less money. 

Is that a craft guild model of manufacturing? 
Its almost like Swiss watches, where the movements came from one big supplier, the case from another, and the brand name is printed on the face by a 3rd?


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## superfly (Oct 14, 2021)

Another point can be made of availability of the tools for the job. Would Stradivari not use a CNC or a spray gun if such tools were available to him?...


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

This is similar in a way to performing an original song vs cover song

Practical skill of putting together precut puzzle pieces vs. Imagining and making the puzzle pieces before assembly


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## Cracked Patella (Jan 13, 2022)

Alan Small said:


> This is similar in a way to performing an original song vs cover song
> 
> Practical skill of putting together precut puzzle pieces vs. Imagining and making the puzzle pieces before assembly


Am I a cabinet maker if I assemble a Billy bookcase from IKEA?


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)




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