In June 2016, Ron Hackett completed a guitar building class at the American Archtop Guitars and Nazareth Guitar Institute in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Ron has been playing and working on guitars for years, and he has always wanted to build a guitar from scratch. In this class, the students constructed a hollow-body, arch-top jazz guitar based on the classic Bob Benedetto design with F holes. The class included bending the solid wood sides, carving the top and back, bracing the top, carving the neck, fretting, assembly, and final setup.

The students signed the top of their guitars under the bridge using pencil in a luthier tradition that comes from violin and cello builders. The students also signed and dated the back of their guitars where the signature would be visible through the lower F hole in the top.

Class photo

Joining the sides

Joining the sides

Ready to add the kerfing

Adding the kerfing

Paddle sanding

Recurving the back 2

Scalloping the braces 2

My wood shavings from the braces

Signing the top

Signed top and back

Ready to glue the top

Builders signature through the F-hole

Carving the neck

Cutting frets

Chisling out the neck extension 2

Builder at work

Hard at work

Learning from the master luthier

Playing an early prototype

The master luthier checking the work

Almost Finished, it still needs the finger rest and the truss rod cover

Completed Guitar and Builder