Build a Guitar with John Whiteside

John Whiteside

North Road Guitars

At North Road Guitars in Fremont, New Hampshire, John Whiteside offers one-on-one acoustic (steel and classical) guitar-building lessons scheduled to suit the student's convenience. The shop is spacious, well lit, well equipped and has year-round humidity control. The student works at his or her own pace, never having to wait for attention because the class size is one. Building sessions can be either weekdays or weekends and are easily changed as the student's calendar changes since John takes on at most three students during any given time.

In a left-brain world, John prides himself on teaching right-brain lutherie, with the goal of making the building process rewarding, serene, and therapeutic in its own right. Through long experience, John has learned that the builder's state of mind profoundly affects the quality of the final product. Besides teaching guitar building skills, John strives to assist the student in bringing a sense of mindfulness, appreciation, and wonder to the building process. Victims of workplace stress report that this approach provides welcome relief and perspective in their lives.

Instructor	John Whiteside
Location	New Hampshire
Class size	individual
Style of Instrument	Steel string guitar
Duration	work at own pace
Contact	(603) 679-5443

Guitars are built from scratch. Wood can either be ordered from a lutherie supply house (students get a 10% school discount from Luthiers Mercantile International) or a trip to renowned Highland Hardwoods (one mile away) may net some fine boards (such as walnut or figured cherry) that can then be resawn in the shop, at considerable savings.

Originally set up for fine furniture making, the shop is well equipped with a full compliment of both power and hand tools. Judicious use of power tools speeds and improves the accuracy of the building process in critical areas, such as thinning the plates to precise dimensions with the thickness sander, or getting the neck backset exactly right with a high-quality table saw and miter gauge. It also means that special purpose jigs are easily built. Of course hand tools are used extensively in guitar making and John has most everything needed. For finishing, John has recently added spraying and buffing capability, using the new non-toxic water based lacquers which are providing extremely good results.

click to enlarge

One of John's special interests is rosette-making, especially the unusual side-grain inlay technique taught to him by master builder Alan Carruth. For a time, John's Greek Key rosette (see photo 1) held the record for the most number of hand-made jigs required to build it (20) until Alan, not to be outdone by his student, designed a rosette requiring 21 jigs!

click to enlarge

Photo 2 shows student Bob V. proudly showing off his top plate and rosette. Mother of pearl rosettes are another popular choice - check out student Mike N's teal MOP surrounded by thin ebony bands (photo 3). The odd blue whales are boatbuilder's drafting weights holding down the ebony bands while the glue dries.

click to enlarge

To build your own guitar, figure on spending about 200 hours including finishing. Come visit the shop, see the other students' work for yourself, play one of John's guitars, and see if this experience is for you!

John Whiteside
North Road Guitars
234 North Road
Fremont, NH 03044
(603) 679-5443