How Acoustic Guitars Are Made

[Emma]

For a relatively simple instrument (simple, does not mean easy) the process of building an acoustic guitar is highly sophisticated and involves the following steps:

Assembling the raw materials (e.g. tonewoods)
Making or sourcing the mold
Making the soundboard
Book matching the top
Marking out the soundhole and installing the rosette
Planing and thicknessing the soundboard
Bracing
Making The back of the guitar
Planing and thicknessing
Bracing the back
Making the sides
Heat bending the sides
Linings
Constructing the neck
Joining the neck and headstock
Adding the truss rod
Cutting the headstock shape
Building the heel
Shaping the neck
Assembly
Fixing the neck to the body
Adding linings
Installing the soundboard
Installing the back
Binding
The Fretboard
Fret positioning
Installing the fret wires
Making the bridge
Finishing
Installing the bridge
Completing the build

[Emma]

Assembling The Raw Materials
The guitar building process begins with the assembling of raw materials, aka tonewoods. When it comes to building an acoustic guitar this means selecting the wood for the body (soundboard, back, and sides), the neck, fretboard, and bridge.
Each component of the guitar plays a different role in how the guitar sounds and plays, and as a result, may utilize different materials and different species of timber that have different characteristics.