Merry Christmas

Well, El Corazon is now completed and hopefully I’ll be delivering it, in person, to Chris after Christmas, weather permitting!

I’ve been very pleased by the way the guitar sounds already. Spruce tops can take months to play in, but this is sounding very sweet already. Each instrument made is a development of the previous; little tweaks and modifications are always made and on recent instruments (whether a classical guitar or mandolin) I’ve become more and more interested in the bridge’s design, the break angle over the saddle and the height of strings above the soundboard. The bridge is the interface between the strings and soundboard and its efficiency in transmitting energy is paramount. More on that later!

Anyway here is El Corazon for your enjoyment.....




Merry Christmas!

Arch-top braces

You saw in the last post how I did the rosette for Andy’s archtop: the next stage is to fit the bracing. I decided to use X bracing, as I like the idea of the bridge’s feet sitting directly above the braces; this is for two reasons. The first is structural, to spread the load over a larger area, and secondly, I think that the X brace helps to transmit the vibrations from the bridge across the width of the soundboard.
The fitting of the braces on an arch-top is really tricky, as the surface of the brace which is glued to the soundboard, has to twist and turn to follow the contour of the ‘board. A neat little trick is to use a washer (see below). The outside of the washer follows the contour and by resting a pencil on the inside, you can mark a line parallel to the surface. I also used a feeler gauge to test for any gaps.

Once you’ve got the two braces fitting the soundboard’s surface, whole problem is compounded by joining them together to make the X.

Richard’s mandolin

You can also see that Richard’s mandolin is coming along nicely; the English walnut back looks great and once polished it will be a stunner.

Ergonomic guitar II

You may remember my exuberance over how well the 7 string ergonomic guitar worked? Well, I said that I’d make a 6 string version and here is the start........ I’ve laminated maple, mahogany and some veneers to make up the straight thru neck blank and I’ve got some cracking spalted maple that I plan to use on the body. Stefano wanted his guitar to be quite understated in its design: this one is going to be a wee bit fancier! I hope to get this one built early next year and will be offering it up for sale on my website.

This week.....

El Corazon

Most of the finishing of El Corazon has now been done. I’m just waiting for the polish to harden before the bridge can be glued on and then the ever-patient Chris will at last get his guitar!

Richard’s mandolin

There has been some more work done on the Richard’s English walnut mandolin which you can see below.

NEVER BUY CHEAP TOOLS! Good quality tools will last a life time and always pay you back. However, here’s an exception; whenever I see these little clamps, at a market etc, I buy them, 6 for £1!! They are really great for gluing linings on, as you can see on Richard's mandolin.

Andy’s arch top

I’ve finally finished shaping the soundboard for Andy’s arch top. It took quite awhile to the get the contours and thickness to what I wanted. The tricky part was the sound-hole and rosette. I made an acrylic template and used a series of template followers on my router to cut the oval sound-hole and rebate for the rosette. I’ve taken the rosette right up to the edge of the hole and bound the inside of it with maple. What potential clients don’t always appreciate is the time taken to do one-off tasks such as this sound-hole; it represents a whole day’s work and the guitar has to be priced accordingly. Fortunately, this is Andy’s 4th instrument from me so I know that he really does appreciate the effort.

I like to effect and will probably do this again on a flat-top. The next test is the bracing.......more on that later.

A good day out

On Sunday we went down to London to see Stefano play a gig as part of the London Jazz festival.
It was great to see Stefano and the ergonomic guitar, which I made for him, in action. I find it quite emotional to see one of my guitars played, particularly by such a talented musician as Stefano. They played a couple of pieces by John McLaughlin; coincidently I’ve still got my vinyl copy of his Shakti LP that I bought in 1976!

We also paid a visit to the William Morris Gallery which contains some beautiful artefacts from the Arts and Crafts movement. Here’s the stained glass window, designed by Burne-Jones, of St. Cecilia the patron saint of musicians (and luthiers?).


YouTube
Those of you who have seen my videos would have realised that I’m not much of a player. However, these two guys are! Check these out for some superlative guitar playing.

Matthew McGee
http://www.youtube.com/user/StupidHatMatt

Per-Olov Kindgren
http://www.youtube.com/user/AndanteLargo

A number of things going on!

El Corazon is currently being French polished or rather the body and head is; the neck is going to have an oil finish.

Those who have followed my blog for awhile, will have noticed that the subject of finishing comes up quite a bit. I decided, when I moved to the new workshop, that I would no longer spray lacquer due to a whole host of health and safety issues. So, French polish or an oil-based finish are now the only types of finish that I offer. They may not be as robust as thicker synthetic lacquers, but I figure if someone is going to go the trouble of having a hand made guitar, they are also going to look after it! Also, I do believe that they superior both aesthetically and acoustically. I’ve been keeping a check on things and I think that I use 75% less material when French polishing compared to using lacquer. It’s got to sound better!

Whilst the polishing is going on there are a number of other projects also on the go. You may remember Andy’s carved top that I started a long time ago? Well for various reasons that has been on the back burner but now work has resumed. One of the last tasks that I did to it was to drill loads of holes in the soundboard!

These holes all stop 8mm from the outer surface and give a rough guide for carving the inner surface. I say carving, but the vast majority of waste has been removed with special curved sole planes.

This Canadian made plane from Axminster was great for roughing out most of the waste: well worth having in your armoury!

Most of the waste has now been removed and I’m now down to some finer work with scrapers and abrasives.

I’ve also started another twin-point mandolin this one is for Richard and will have beautiful English walnut back and sides. Here are a few photos of the work done so far.

Early next year I’ll be making a baritone ukulele for Martin and I’ve been doing some preparation. This is the head overlay: it’s book-matched Thuya Burl which is from the root of tree which grows in Morocco. Pretty eh?

El Corazon’s neck

I thought that I would go through the process of fitting the neck with you. With the body completed, the next step is to route a dovetail slot for the neck to go into. At this stage of construction things start getting a wee bit tense because of all of the time and effort already invested- you just can’t go wrong!

I firmly clamp the guitar body to my jig which gives the tapered shape of the slot. Then using a template follower and straight 6mm cutter the bulk of the wood is cut away.

With the majority of the wood removed, I re-cut the slot with a dovetail shaped cutter. Because of the tapered sides of the dovetail cutter, you have cut to the full depth in one hit which could overload things; hence using a 6mm one first.

Once the slot is cut, I take careful measurements and cut, chisel and file the male part of the joint in the neck. The whole process of fitting the neck joint into the body can take many hours. The neck has to be perfectly aligned in two planes and the heel fit neatly against the sides. I know that some makers cut the neck too small and rely on shims to pack it out but I prefer the best fit I can get. By the way the Jiffy bag is to protect the head from getting damaged!

I have often debated whether or not to use the Spanish method of an integral neck; sound-wise I don’t think that there is any difference and both ways are far superior to using mechanical fixings. However, I am tempted, just for the hell of it, to have a go and I’m thinking of trying it out on the parlour guitar.......we’ll see!

I’ve never been a great fan of classical music apart from guitar and lute music. I guess classical music is a bit like custard; you’re put off by your experiences at school! Anyway, as Radio 4 tends to a little depressing, I started listening to Radio 3 and heard this viola da gamba music composed by Carl Friedrich Abel, “The Drexel Manuscript” and played by Paolo Pandolfo. I had to buy the CD and have been playing it constantly in the workshop this week. Absolutely amazing!! Put in viola da gamba into YouTube an you’ll see this amazing instrument in action.

Ergo electric completed

Stefano’s ergonomic 7 string electric has been completed and I’m extremely pleased with the outcome. Here are some photos: a picture’s worth a thousand words!

Having completed the guitar and spent sometime playing it, I feel incredibly enthusiastic about this design. In the YouTube video you can see how the guitar balances perfectly when you play seated. At some point I shall make a 6 string version (the neck is already glued up!).



One thing I love about this guitar, is the use of mahogany and the Tru-oil finish. Over the years I’ve never been a great mahogany fan, seeing it just as a good wood for necks. However since I’ve been using Tru-oil or French polish, I’ve really warmed to it. The water-based lacquers that I used to use gave the wood a colder hue, whereas these more natural finishes bring out the real beauty of the wood.


El Corazon
El Corazon is being bound and purfled. You can see how the joint between the sound board and sides is completely cut away and how important the linings are in holding the whole thing together. I’ve used a red line around the soundboard, keeping the heart/blood theme going. The bindings are rosewood with a single line of boxwood laminated to it. The single line looks very elegant. Here you can see how the binding is held in place with clothe tape (50 metres!) whilst the glue dries.