All good advice so far.
Quote:
|
I've been re-wiring and repairing since I was about 14, just out of necessity i suppose. I was also a keen woodworker before I started making instruments
|
Sounds like me - my dad always had a workshop wherever we lived, and I guess it just never even occurred to me that you
wouldn't do your own action, trussrod adjustments, fix jacks & change pickups.
Pay somebody?!? Just to
solder?!? 
I strongly second the recommendation for Dan Erlewine's book "Guitar Player Repair Guide", even before any "building" books. It's about $25, and it will save you
thousands of dollars every decade, whether you graduate to full fret jobs, fine finishing or not. With that book, one way to approach tool acquisition is just to buy what you need for each succeeding job, and eventually you'll have a pretty good setup. A lot of my favorite "fret files" are not specifically guitar tools at all, just a pile of little guys I've accumulated over the years. Funny thing though, for a while I decided to buy about $150 worth of tools every time I built a guitar. 25 years later, I
still need at least $150 worth of tools every time I build a guitar....
The unofficial Warmoth forum is a great place to get practical answers from people who actually build stuff, as opposed to opinions from people who've read other opinions -
Unofficial Warmoth - Index
ReRanch is strong on finishing, though they are centered on a certain line of products and the procedures that use those products -
ReRanch Guitar Refinishing
There's really no functional difference between guitars and furniture (one's
louder....), so antique and woodworking places are a good source of info. The wood finishing "bible" is Michael Dresdner's "The Woodfinishing Book", though on a project-by-project basis, his website might give away the secrets:
Michael Dresdner Home Page
I like to have the actual books on hand, so I'm not always running my computer while trying to work on stuff. That Taunton Press has books on all the specialty aspects of finishing too, if that's the way your career bends.
You'll find there's a hazy gray line between players and woodworkers, there are some people who can turn out a stupendous piece of finishing, but maybe their advice on fretwork isn't exactly geared towards the best playing instrument, and it goes the other way too. Even some of the best makers sometimes pop out with advice that indicates to me that they haven't actually played a gig in a long time... it pays to collect all the advice you can for each specific project then combine the elements that make the most sense for what you're trying to do.