Whether you’re dreaming of building your own guitar, thinking about buying a guitar kit, or in the process of carving the spruce top of an archtop, you can now seek the guidance of dozens of skilled luthiers from the comfort of your own home.
YouTube has become one of the most valuable resources for aspiring guitar builders, with skilled luthiers from around the world sharing their tips and techniques.
Below are 10 of the best guitar-building YouTube channels, with a representative video from each channel so you can quickly explore their respective styles.
Guitar Builder YouTube Channels
We’ve listed some of the best guitar-building channels on YouTube below. Check them out!
The channels we have included, are–in our opinion–among the best guitar building channels on YouTube, but there are many others – if we’ve missed out your favorite then let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page!
Just be warned: guitar building is a serious rabbit hole. Watch enough of these videos and you may soon find yourself pricing up bandsaws, routers and enough tonewood to fill up your garage!
StewMac
StewMac is a long-established supplier of lutherie tools, parts, and materials whose YouTube channel provides practical instruction for guitar builders, repairers, and players. Its extensive library covers guitar construction, repair, setup, fretwork, finishing, electronics, inlay, woodworking, and the use of specialist luthier tools.
The channel features detailed tutorials and complete build projects alongside challenging professional repairs, often involving experienced luthiers such as Dan Erlewine. There is also plenty of accessible advice for players wanting to perform their own setups and maintenance, making StewMac a particularly broad resource for everything from basic guitar care to advanced building and restoration techniques.
Crimson Custom Guitars
Crimson Custom Guitars is a guitar-building channel from UK-based Crimson Guitars, featuring professional lutherie tutorials, complete custom builds, restoration projects, and behind-the-scenes workshop content. Videos cover techniques such as woodworking, fretwork, inlay, carving, finishing, gluing, repairs, modifications, and the use of specialist guitar-building tools.
The channel also provides a look inside Crimson’s guitar-building school and custom workshop, regularly showcasing student instruments and works in progress through its What’s on the Bench series. Alongside traditional techniques, there is a strong emphasis on experimental and creative guitar making, including unusual materials, decorative finishes, elaborate inlays, custom designs, and unconventional construction methods.
Crimson Custom Guitars YouTube Channel
Milehouse Studios
Milehouse Studios is an entertaining guitar-building, modification, and repair channel run by luthier Paul Richards. Videos follow custom and kit builds, restorations, upgrades, setups, repairs, and unusual guitar-building experiments, often presented as multi-part projects.
One of the channel’s main messages is that, with the right set-up, a cheap guitar can outperform a vastly more expensive model – useful to remember with the current cost of living being what it is!
The channel also features guitar reviews and inspections from a luthier’s perspective, covering everything from inexpensive and counterfeit instruments to established brands and signature models. With frequent collaborations, build-offs, subscriber projects, and unconventional designs, Milehouse Studios combines practical guitar knowledge with a humorous, informal workshop style rather than a traditional instructional format.
Milehouse Studios YouTube Channel
Highline Guitars
Highline Guitars is a guitar-building channel aimed at helping and inspiring luthiers of all experience levels. The channel combines detailed, multi-part electric guitar builds with practical tutorials covering topics such as wood selection, neck and fretboard construction, finishing, pickup selection and installation, nut making, guitar setup, and workshop organization.
Alongside hands-on building instruction, Highline Guitars explores broader aspects of lutherie, including guitar design, tools and technology, construction methods, and the creative side of building your own instruments. Long-running project series allow viewers to follow custom builds from initial design through to final setup.
Highline Guitars YouTube Channel
OBrienGuitars
O’Brien Guitars is an educational guitar-building channel run by professional luthier Robert O’Brien, with a strong emphasis on acoustic and classical guitar construction, repair, finishing, and setup. Its long-running Luthier Tips du Jour series provides concise, practical instruction on topics including fretwork, bracing, bindings and purfling, rosettes, tonewoods, finishing, woodworking techniques, and instrument repair.
The channel also features workshop demonstrations, specialist tools and jigs, guitar-building courses, interviews and lessons with other professional luthiers, and visits to tonewood suppliers. More technical subjects, such as soundboard acoustics and evaluating instrument response, make it particularly useful for builders looking to develop a deeper understanding of acoustic guitar construction.
Driftwood Guitars
Driftwood Guitars is a guitar-building channel from boutique acoustic guitar maker Chris Alvarado, combining professional lutherie instruction with entertaining builds, repairs, experiments, and guitar reviews. The channel provides extensive guidance on acoustic guitar construction, including neck making, bracing, fretwork, binding, inlays, finishing, setup, wood selection, tools, and workshop techniques.
Alongside detailed tutorials and complete custom builds, Driftwood Guitars features restorations and challenging repairs, acoustic guitar comparisons and reviews, unconventional experiments, and examinations of how production guitars are constructed—occasionally going as far as cutting instruments apart. The channel is particularly useful for viewers who want professional guitar-building knowledge presented in an accessible, highly visual format.
Driftwood Guitars YouTube Channel
The Art Of Lutherie
The Art of Lutherie is an educational guitar-making channel from professional luthier Tom Bills, drawing on more than 20 years of experience building high-end guitars. The channel focuses primarily on acoustic guitar construction and traditional lutherie skills, with detailed tutorials covering areas such as finishing, French polishing, side bending, neck carving, binding, fretwork, brace preparation, and woodworking fundamentals.
There is also substantial coverage of luthier tools and workshop setup, including hand-tool sharpening and use, humidity control, dust collection, workbenches, and specialist guitar-building equipment. With an emphasis on craftsmanship, technique, and understanding the principles behind the work, the channel is particularly suited to builders looking to refine their skills and improve the quality of their instruments.
The Art Of Lutherie YouTube Channel
Tornelli Guitars
Tornelli Guitars is an electric guitar-building channel focused on original designs and creative reinterpretations of classic instruments such as the Telecaster, Stratocaster, SG, and Les Paul. The channel features complete scratch-build series alongside detailed tutorials covering guitar design, wood selection, body and neck construction, neck carving, fretwork, binding, electronics, setup, and finishing.
There is a particular emphasis on craftsmanship and the visual qualities of natural wood, with builds frequently using distinctive timbers such as olive, walnut, ebony, rosewood, and figured maple. Videos range from step-by-step instructional projects to condensed full-build films, making the channel useful for both aspiring guitar builders and viewers who simply enjoy watching handcrafted instruments take shape.
Tornelli Guitars YouTube Channel
Marshall Brune
Marshall Brune is an educational guitar-making channel from a professional luthier with more than 30 years of experience, specializing in classical and flamenco guitars. The channel covers traditional guitar construction, restoration, repair, and woodworking, with detailed build series demonstrating how a classical guitar is made from start to finish.
Alongside building tutorials, Brune provides practical advice on guitar setup, maintenance, tonewoods, bracing, bridges, humidity, tools, and diagnosing common problems with instruments. The channel also explores the principles behind guitar sound and construction, combining traditional lutherie knowledge with practical guidance for both guitar builders and players.
Marshall Brune YouTube Channel
Unquendor Guitars
Unquendor Guitars is a Dutch guitar-building channel focused on the handcrafted construction of bespoke electric guitars and basses. Videos provide an in-depth look at complete custom builds, often following an instrument from its initial design and templates through neck and body construction, fretwork, inlays, finishing, assembly, setup, and final demonstration.
The channel is particularly notable for its long, detailed build series and full-build compilations, showing both successful techniques and problems encountered along the way. It also covers workshop setup, tools, jigs, routing techniques, finishing, and occasional tutorials, providing an accessible behind-the-scenes look at the process of building distinctive custom instruments largely by hand.
Unquendor Guitars YouTube Channel
What Makes A Good Guitar Building YouTube Channel?
The best guitar-building YouTube channels combine real-world luthier experience with clear, practical instruction and an inside look at the craft of building guitars.
The channels listed above cover everything from fretwork, neck carving and guitar finishing to design, woodworking techniques and complete builds.
Many also feature guitar setup and repair—useful skills for any guitarist, whether or not you plan to build an instrument from scratch.
For beginner builders, these channels can help demystify unfamiliar tools and techniques. For more experienced luthiers, they’re a great source of ideas, alternative methods and inspiration.
Can You Learn Guitar Building Online?
Yes. Many guitar builders learn the fundamentals online through YouTube tutorials, online courses, and guitar-building communities.
However, professional luthiers often recommend combining online learning with hands-on courses at guitar-building schools to gain experience using tools and woodworking equipment.
Final Thoughts
The rise of guitar-building YouTube channels has made the craft of lutherie more accessible than ever before. From professional workshops to small garage studios, these creators are sharing the knowledge that once required years of apprenticeship to learn.
Whether you’re repairing your first guitar or planning to build one from scratch, the channels above offer a great starting point for exploring the world of guitar making.
Let us know your favorite guitar-building channel in the comments below!
