To "kit" or not to "kit," that is the question.

There's been a lot of chatter on the forums - and we receive a lot of emails - about the virtues of building from a "kit." Things like: "You should build from scratch before building from a kit"; "Is someone who builds a kit really a luthier?"; and "Professional luthiers don't build from kits." Interesting subject and it leads to a lot of conjecture. To begin with, we've never really liked the word "kit" - it conjures up images of a box of snap-together plastic parts to make a kid's model airplane (not that there's anything wrong with that!). However, until we find a better word, "kit" does, as Webster's states, describe a set of parts to be assembled. Then, it is interesting to note that most major manufacturers of mandolins don't have their builders individually carve soundboards, bend rims, shape necks, and so on. The builders work from a set ("kit") of parts ready to construct. In fact, the builders of the much heralded Loar-signed Gibson F5 mandolins assembled their instruments from a bunch of shaped parts that came from other folks in the plant. And this practice continues to today. In the early '70s I took this photo of a whole bin of Gibson F5 necks already shaped, with truss rod and scroll strengthener installed, just waiting as one component of the "kit" the builders were selecting parts from. In my mind, you can do the heavy carving if that's important to you, but I have just as much respect for luthiers who let us do the initial work with one of our kits so they can focus on building and finishing a fine instrument. Of course, building from scratch provides excellent insight to what goes into building the instrument from the ground up (and that's why I wrote two books about it). But, to set the record straight, I don't shun folks who build from a kit. I equate it to a contractor who builds a fine house but doesn't make his own doors, bricks, shingles, windows, and so on. He's not less of a contractor building from that "kit" than you would be less of a luithier building from a mandolin kit. Just food for thought... PS: If you have another word for "kit," we're all ears siminoff@siminoff.net