It is often said we are living in the golden age of guitar making. During the 70's there were only a handful of individuals who would craft a guitar completely from scratch. Today, a combination of expanded interest, and an increase of accumulated skills and experience has resulted in an explosion of luthiers who offer anything from a fancy pearl trimmed dreadnought to an all koa Weissenborn style instrument. Large factories have also increased quality and production over these few decades, begging the question, "What is the difference between factory and handmade instruments?"

The definition of "handmade" is rather tricky in the context of power tools requiring one to consider the importance of the differences between that high powered band saw and a wood saw? Most luthiers and players take the view that as long as the tools used are dictated by the operator, the instrument can be considered handmade. Thus, a specialized jig which predetermines how a neck is carved cannot be considered part of the handmade process, whereas a band saw used to rough out the neck shape 'freehand' could. Over the past decade, I have been playing, trading, and on occasion making my own acoustic guitars. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.