I want to build a 19th century Rene Francois Lacote guitar. I am inspired by the history of guitar luthierie and the precision of guitar building. Wanting to undertake my first guitar build is an anxious one - I'm a totally inexperienced woodworker with only hand tools. I searched the internet for information and was overwhelmed with all the different approaches to a build. Many methods to guitar building use high tech equipment, jigs & tools that go way beyond my skill set & budget. There are many guitar building books but few on romantic guitar building that can be downloaded for free.

I decided to settle for a simple approach outlined in Roy Courtnall's book; tweaking his Torres methodology to a Lacote design. Also to help my first build I bought a kit with pre-bent sides.

The plans I'm using are from a luthier in Japan Makoto Tsuruta. He's a nice guy making them available for free. http://www.crane.gr.jp/CRANE_etc/CRANE_Plan_E.html

I recently found plans here as well http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/am/iwd.html

More images of Lacote guitars http://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/search/Rene+Lacote

Mdf template and 17mm thick board for Solera.

Triple A European Spruce for the top.