Haven't read through all of the posts but, knowing what I know now I wish I had taken advice given on countless forums and picked up a 14 inch or better bandsaw instead of a 12. The 12" Delta I have is ok for sopanos and maybe concerts but I'm gonna have trouble with tenors. Two other things I wouldn't want to do without, a thickness sander and youtube videos and pages and pages of information dealing with the possible dangers and safety procedures of power tools. Also, all the youtube videos and websites on lutherie and ukulele building. Kathy's site is great. I read and stored about a gig of lutherie info over the years, the net is a virtual luthier's school today. A lot of these cats could make a few bucks selling their knowledge but they give it freely, that's a good sign things are gonna be.... alright...
Start buying clamps now.
I got an older but barely used craftsman benchtop belt sander I absolutely love it for shaping stuff, especially bracing, picked it up for a song.
Nice scrapers are excellent for certain jobs.
Fret crowning file is a must have, along with nut slotting files.
Japanese saw is pretty much a must have.
Stewmac or LMI fret slotting saw blad and templates are wonderful to have.
Router and table and some sort of binding router jig with a trim router ( I made my own for like 30 bucks using drawer slides, including a harbor freght trim router and it works perfect).
Block plane, mini planes, nice chisels (don't have but one but will probably add many), spokeshave... there's a rasp from Lowe's it's about 7 inches long, double sided flat and convex with both fine and course... I love that thing for shaping soprano necks... n stuff. Probably move to a spokeshave in the future but I dunno.
Man I could be here all night. Visit Kathy's site.