Plan Printing Instructions

You have received your PDF digital downloads - Congratulations. You are half-way there. Now what? Since these PDF's are of the highest quality and very accurate full-sized drawings, you should seek out the best printing solution.

While many customers use such services such as Office Max or Kinkos (and many of these stores can do a very respectable job for you), your first try should be with a commercial digital printing company such as the type used by architects and engineers. They often have the highest quality and most up-to-date equipment. You will find that in a matter of seconds, these large digital printers can turn out several sets of drawings for you.

The PDF drawings are all formatted to print at full-size automatically without any assistance from the printer. The typical guitar plan sheets are sized for metric sized paper called A0 (note that this is slightly smaller than the US size of 36" x 48"). Many of the tools are also on this same size paper, but here you will find more variation. If you are printing the plans in the USA, be sure that the digital printing company does not resize the PDF's to fit the paper. They are all pre-formated and should print without any additional input from the operator.

Our Ukulele Plans and other miscellaneous instruments are are sized for 24" x 36" paper, which is also called Architectural Size "D". The page size is noted in the title block of each digital drawing.

  1. Copy the PDF files that you download here onto a read/write CD or DVD.
  2. -or -Copy your PDF files onto a memory stick
  3. Most digital printers will accept emailed files, which can be sent and printed when you arrive to pick them up.

Why do we supply digital PDF's?

We sell plans in many different countries and this is by far the best way to deliver our products. You receive them immediately and don't have to wait for weeks, only to get damaged drawings or drawings with fold lines which are very difficult to work with, especially if you want to use them for templates.

Mailing costs can often be prohibitive outside the United States mainland.
With digital plans you can conveniently print half-sized sets for reference, often called 50% sized sets. Also, if you have access to a personal printer that prints 11" x 17" paper, you can print your own reduced sized sets. Also portions or details of the plans can be printed on any printer at full scale for easy use in the shop.

Note, you can print multiple sheets of a certain area, such as the top brace layout and piece the sheet together. Be very careful to maintain the correct registration though as this can throw the drawing off.