If you're talking electric, yeah, the construction is comparatively easy and the artistry is more in the scultural aspects than in the engineering aspects. If you're talking acoustic it's not much different. Making an archtop is the same process except with a much more complex neck. Making a flattop (the only kind I've made) requires a lot of additional design work in the bracing, since the top alone isn't nearly strong enough to support the tension of the strings.

Making a good, entry level acoustic is going to take you about 300 hours if you have a well stocked, professional workshop with state of the art climate control. A world class one could take 6 months to a year. Neither number includes the finish, which is arguably the hardest and slowest step.

What IS more difficult about violins is that there is a much longer, more conservative tradition behind it so the parameters for what it has to soudn like to be considered good are far more specific.

I've worked in a high end violin factory (shipping, not building), made a couple of guitars myself, and one of the top archtop builders in the world is friends with my family; based on what I've seen, heard and done I'd say making a good acoustic guitar is at least as difficult as any stringed instrument.

That's assuming you're using primarily hand tools and building a high end instrument, like this guy. Mass produces guitars are a whole other story, even at the high end.

Interesting, thanks for the info.

Yeah, no problem. Luthiery and shitty, obscure 70s bands are two of a handfull of things I can and will talk about until I clear a room.

I live with a piano repairman and a circuit bending drum and bass guy who both play like 4-5 instruments each, too, so things can get pretty thick around the house sometimes.