I’m one of the lurkers around here.
I’m Manuel, from Spain. I’ve worked as professional electric guitars maker some years ago, in Madrid, where I learned with one of the best masters on the country in that field. But someday I let everything behind me and stared a new life making and learning new things. Here in Spain we have a telling maybe you could understand: “much things apprentice = no one thing master” (please excuse my English writing) and I do feel like an eternal apprentice about everything that catch my eyes.
From time to time I struggle searching for motivation on guitar making again (I do some ocasional repairs but It isn’t my bread and butter) and then one day I knew about the books and that new way of looking into the whys of guitars, so as soon as I purchased them I joined the forum to lurk in, but it hasn’t been till a few months ago that I got deeply onto the reading, made my calculations and plans, hoping I‘ll be able to get out of the “imagination realm” (thinking, lurking, reading, drawing, dreaming…) a place on my mind where I can do whatever I want without facing the reality but in which I also can be trapped on the “analysis paralysis “ by not being sure, not having all the tools and materials I do need, fear about failure, and the last and heavy one: “yes, let’s spend a lot of money and time to make a guitar nobody will buy
“ Those are traps I bet some of you know well.
I’m actually making the jigs, and learning to work by hand, and I’m loving it! Oh, how nice is to make a nice wooden plane, sharpen the blade with ease and plane the wood with accuracy, without noise neither dust! (Since the beginning I’ve got access to all the usual machines on a professional guitar making workshop and never take my time on learning some basic skills as planning).
I’ve made about 70 Selmer style guitars, but it was while working later on a small factory where speed was the key, so I learned a lot about batching processing, and tools and jigs for them but nothing about soundboard propertys, acoustics, and all the small and not so small details that make a great instrument. “Good enough for me” where the words I most frequently listened to when working at that shop, and maybe it was good enough for the business goal, but for sure, it was not good enough for me. So I know nothing about acoustic guitar making but some theory.
The first trials on falcate bracing will be on an electro-acoustic with mahogany hollow body and spruce flat top acoustic soundboard, piezo pickups for the “acoustic “ and one humbucker for the electric side. But unlike most electro-acoustics I know, I’ll try to make the soundboard as in a real acoustic one (thickness, rigidity, bracing) hoping the piezo sound will get closer to a “real acoustic through piezos”. And since it’s an instrument just for the joy of building and learning, I don’t care much about it (but I do really feel it will sound great for my playing style).
I’ve never used epoxy for bracing (neither tested soundboards for structural characteristics) and I do prefer to do it on that guitar that on the Grand auditorium model I want to build next
As soon as I have something to share I’ll let you know.
Meanwhile, I’d like to thank you all for sharing your knowledge and thoughts and helping us the lurkers to get access to your knowledge.
Here you have some photos of the jigs I’m making now
And if you click on the Instagram link you’ll see the G.A. molds. with the electro ac. sketch on the rear wall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYtLww1IwrS ... MyMTA2M2Y=
Have a nice day and greetings from León, Spain
Manu
) but unfortunately my wife's health has taken a massive downturn so when I'm not working to pay the bills I'm caring for her so I don't get much time at all for guitar building. I am currently re-topping a Taylor travel guitar for a work colleague but it's taken me over 12 months to get that done and it's still not completely finished! Thank goodness he's not in any rush for it 
But that's about all really. I've semi-lost the motivation for luthiery at this stage but I hope when things sort themselves out, I can re-ignite the passion as I have a shit load of tone woods just sitting there collecting dust! 
Although I can't see myself using all of it even if the passion does return so you never know, you may see some of my stash pop up on the forum for sale at some stage.
) with a tassie grown redwood top, and claro walnut back and sides. Probably far too ambitious for guitar #2, as was using fancy ebony for #1, but I have faith that Trent will guide me through. Although a few times I have had to tell him "You made this jig idiot proof, but you need to make it Josh proof!!". 
