Fulani tambin flutes are the newest craze here. We’ve made a few so far, kicked the tires, and will be picking out the top pieces to finish into fine flutes we’d be proud to sell. This particular flute likely originated with the Fula (or Peuhl) people, who live throughout West Africa, with large populations in Guinea and Mali. Their flutes are also used in the traditional music of the Malinké people in Guinea, as a result of their living in close proximity with the Fulani for many centuries.
Native American scale bamboo flutes. The dreamy and healing sound of the Native American flute is unmistakable. Typically, the NAF is front blown. Our bamboo NAFs are side blown, also known as transverse flutes.
Bamboo meditation flutes. Side blown flutes tuned to an array of scales, from Middle Eastern to folky.
Bamboo flutes tuned to specific keys, like Bb minor.
Internodal Spacing.
The illustration says it all. Next time you’re out and about and see a patch of bamboo, notice the inter-nodal spacing. If it’s the length of your hand, it’s wouldn’t be good for making flutes. If that length between nodes, however, is comparable to an arm’s length or more, it’s a treasure trove of potential bamboo flutes. Normally, long inter-nodal spacing on bamboo is quite rarely seen, in my experience. I’ve been growing a particular species of bamboo called tropical blue (Bambusa Chungii).
Yes, guitar strings will make or break your instrument’s playability and sound.
This brief summary is meant to be a stepping stone to answering the very important question, “What are the best guitar strings for me and my instrument? It’s also a sort of addendum to Hart’s Guitars in-depth article on DIY classical and acoustic guitar set-ups, by far our most popular article ever. On to the topic at hand.
Guitar strings come in a wide variety sort of like anything you ‘re looking for in the grocery store. High tension, low tension, or medium tension are the usual decision players have in the forefront of their mind when string shopping. But if you play a classical/nylon string guitar?? For nylon strings, the tension ratings are usually extra-light, light, medium, medium-hard, hard, and extra-hard.
Light/low tension strings
are easier to play but are quieter.
The lighter a string’s tension, the easier it is to press to the instrument’s neck or fret. The tradeoff is lower volume, and thus not too good for the campfire bluegrass session. If you’re on the quiet couch playing for your sweet thing or if it’s just you and a mic in the studio….light tension strings might be your best guitar strings. This article will discuss briefly how to choose the best guitar strings. Then you’ll be ready for the perfect setup.
This nylon string guitar’s best fit is light tension strings. It’s unbelievably easy to play!
Higher tension generally gives an instrument more initial punch, but the duration or sustain may diminish with these strings. So, if you are at the campfire trying to keep up with the other shredders, a higher tension set might be the best guitar strings in that case. But, not all guitars are made to withstand the high amount of pressure these will put on the neck. No truss rod? Stay away from high tension. Over time, a neck will bow because of high tension.
Do’s and don’ts
Can I Use Acoustic or Electric Strings on a Classical Guitar?
No. Classical strings have a lighter tension than acoustic or electric guitar strings. Using acoustic or electric strings on a classical guitar could damage your instrument. Of course, if you are experimenting for a unique sound in the studio, the do as you will. Generally speaking, this is not a good idea.
Can I Use Classical Strings on an Acoustic or Electric Guitar?
No. Classical strings don’t have enough tension to move the face of an acoustic guitar, so they’d produce very little sound. Electric guitars only pick up sound from strings with significant metal content. Again, if you’re experimenting, searching for a one-of-a-kind sound for that extra track on an album, then of course you can.
How do I pick the best guitar strings for myself?
You simply must experiment to find your personal “best guitar strings.”
Different type strings can be used on the same instrument for different occasions or desired sounds.
There is no one-size-fits-all easy answer to this question, which is one of the most relevant questions a guitar player has in the beginning.
Sound and playability are the two biggest factors in choosing. Ultimately, experimenting is the best way to find the ideal strings for your needs.
Luckily, the good folks at StringByMail.com have a resourceful best guitar strings rabbit hole for you to dive into. They are not a sponsor, I just really like what they have going on there.
Click on the links below to learn more about each category of strings.
Fluteholes. A new page by Hart’s Arts & Guitars about the joy of turning a hollow stick into an instrument. Bamboo is simply incredible and can quite easily be transformed into flutes with a little math and the right tools.
Mark Speer of Khruangbin is the best guitarist you’ve never heard of.! He is a musical magician living and playing in our own time. He has a sound and style all his own. No guitarist in the world is doing what he is doing.
Wade had always been building things since he was a little kid. He had a background in machine design and transferred a lot of that background into learning how to construct instruments.
In celebration of two years on this journey, I can think of no better way than to hit the publish button then go grab a spot on the couch with this beauty until it’s bedtime.
Canarywood fretboard with Bird’s eye maple sides gives this guitar its name, The Bird. It also has a sweet song it will sing and will charm anyone within an earshot. It’s in full spring plumage to attract a mate.
Using the same techniques as the ones employed in building classical guitars, Hart’s Guitars is excited to introduce its debut Classikulele!
I’ve dabbled in ukulele playing before when I bought one for $50 fresh off a beach trip, wanting my life to have a little bit more tropical je ne sais quois. There was a songbook as well, Crazy Jim’s Ukulele Songbook, or something to that effect. I learned a song called Chasing Rainbows and it was a lot of fun to play and probably the first jazz-standard feeling song I ever learned. Typical as with most obsessive impulsive hobbies, the ukulele ends up collecting dust and I later loaned it out with the book to a girlfriend and then never saw it again.
Since beginning the study of lutherie, I’ve wanted to build many types of instruments (like the Oud, for example) and on top of that list or near so has been the uke. After finishing up with a recent student and with a few days of downtime to recover from a Guitar Building Intensive, I decided to build one.
I got online to order some plans. Then, I thought. Do I need any plans? I don’t need any plans! So, as with my first guitar build, 001, I decided to simply design my own. I did not need to spend $30 on any plans from the Guild of American Luthiers! So, I sketched my idea for this classikulele in the morning of Thursday, July 2nd and started working on it. A week later I was finished except for the frets, which were somewhere in the USPS backlog.
Do you wanna build your own ukulele? Hart’s Guitars will be offering workshops soon. In the meantime, there is a book you must have if you’re seriously contemplating the idea of taking the plunge into the world of building a ukulele. Here is my book review of The Uke Book Illustrated: Design and Build the World’s Coolest Ukulele. I have to contain myself from a tendency to overhype things I love. But, this book is the sh!+! Let me explain….
Worth the price simply for all of the watercolour paintings in its pages.
Sarah Greenbaum is an artist. John Weissenrieder is a luthier. His shop is in the historic part of Florence, Italy! Sarah went to spend time with John, to observe him working, and paint illustrations of all the steps of the process and over cappuccinos they collaborated in this way to make the coolest book of lutherie you’ll ever see. Don’t be fooled by the picture book feel of the cover because this little tome is full of incredible information including: how to make jigs and tools of various sorts, Pythagorean math as a way to create the perfectly radiused arch in the instrument’s cross struts, and how to flush fret endings to the fingerboard and give them a 60° bevel, what!!?. There are paintings, watercolour paintings, that illustrate these things!
Gluing tone bars into place.From the chapter on attaching sides to the top.How to bend the sides.
I’ve owned this book for nearly two years. I’ve consulted it often as it is an invaluable resource of information and inspiration for guitar builders. I loved it from the moment I opened it. It was only a couple of weeks ago when I decided to build a ukulele that I decided to read everything in the book, beginning on the cover, reacquainting myself with the author’s and illustrator’s name, and then flipping over and starting with the introduction to the book and that’s when I learned something that cemented a perpetual top 5 spot in my favourites for this little textbook.
Before The Uke Book Illustrated was finished, John Weissenreider passed away from pancreatic cancer. In 2015 he received the diagnosis. At the time, he and Sarah Greenbaum were a year and a half into the project. From the moment of his diagnosis until his passing, Sarah Greenbaum writes that he spent countless hours devoted to this book, “making sure there were no gaps left unfilled.” He wanted to pass on to the world, through this book, all of his knowledge. This is the sort of learning one gets through apprenticeships. This book is his legacy, a key into seeing the beauty and details in the handmade. I imagine they were more than collaborators while they worked together on this. The art of watercolour and the secret teachings of lutherie come together. Who new. Even if you have no inclination to get into the world of lutherie, this is a book you could fall in love with.
My first ukulele build.
That is the top, sitting on the solera, next to the ukulele’s neck and headstock, and afternoon ice-coffee..The tone bars distribute the plucked strings vibrations.Tone bars shaped down to a very subjective marriage of perfect flexibility and stable stiffness.Getting ready to attach the sides.Neck joined to top plate, ready for the sides.Attaching the sides.Lining the sides with kerfing using clothespins. The template for the classikulele’s top and back is called the “plantilla” in classical guitar lutherie.Back is made, cross struts with 25′ radius arch are installed with hide glue.Mahogany Cross struts, or back braces, carved to shape.Back glued on, routing a channel to put in a decorative back strip.The classikulele taking shape, Mahogany neck, bird’s-eye maple sides, Brazilian Rosewood binding. Oooh-la-la.Look at the ukuleles top. That is just some good ol’ beautifully quarter-sewn heart pine that used to be a shelf, maybe even with cans of green beans sitting on top of it. It makes a lovely sounding albeit unusual choice for tone wood.The back. Waverly friction tuners, decorative back strip, and a thicker piece of the same heart pine as the back plate.Lots of woods used in lutherie are being/have been over harvested. Brazilian Rosewood is the most famous example. So, inevitably, different species of woods will have to be used. Now, some luthiers have hoarded huge stockpiles of such quality and often endangered pieces of wood and they’ve had them drying in their shops for twenty years at the perfect humidity. I’m new to the game. I’m going straight to non-traditional woods in a lot of instances. My favourite is canary wood, I used it for the fretboard on Guitar 010.Granadillo headstock veneer.Waverly friction tuners.Heart pine back. Could have used it for the top of another classikulele, but….it works here just as well.Brazilian Rosewood (I know a guy) matches the rose-themed “rosette.” It’s coming up all roses I see.Classikulele’s 1st photo-shoot, on the patio.
Thanks for stopping by to read my post.
Coming soon, an article about my experience building Guitar 012….a little bit of tragedy but with a happy ending?
Before there was ever a website, an operational classroom of guitar lutherie, or a logo, there was only an idea to make a guitar I’d never seen or heard anywhere before. I was after something that I struggled to described: a timeless guitar, nylon string but not strictly classical, big-bodied, voluptuousness that you’d want to curl up with and never let go of. A delight to touch, to see, to hold and to hear. It would be perfect for jazz (especially bossa nova and latino jazz), blues, classical, flamenco, Americana, country, jazz country, and maybe even for styles not yet known. I wanted it to be a piece of art. I wanted it to be the one I’d never let go of. I wanted it to be my Trigger.
I never was able to find that guitar but one day the sky opened up and lit an unmistakable path so I could find that guitar. That was about two years ago almost to this very day. Despite having worked as a carpenter, having learned to and made numerous West African drums called sangban, kenkeni, and dununba, it had never occurred to me to try to learn to build a guitar. I thought lutherie (the art of making stringed instruments) was something you were born into, like people are born into wine-making families, farming families, investment firm families. It was for other people who were not me.
Two years ago I was on a short drive from Athens, GA to Lexington to visit friends I had not seen in over a decade. There was a store in the turn-of-the-century brick downtown of Lexington that had a window display of some of the most interesting guitars I’d ever seen. I was on summer vacation as a public school teacher with money in pocket and always open to getting a cool guitar so I pulled into the parking space in front of that store and went in. The showroom was cool. It was perfectly small, cozy, warm and inviting. It was full of the coolest guitars I’d ever seen. Turns out, dude in the store, a guy my age, was the owner of the store and he made all those guitars himself. They were unique in shape, size, and build. I played a few of them and instantly wanted to drop a lot of money into his cash register.
This is the good part. After a few minutes of playing and chatting, he asked me if I wanted to see his shop. We walked through a curtain door into a room that opened up to three, four, or a thousand times the space that was in the showroom. In a space of one second:
I saw a room full of guitar necks in different stages of development.
I feasted my eyes on all sort of old-fashioned woodworking tools: hand-planes, chisels, clamps, you name it
I saw guitar bodies, sides, tops, backs.
I knew I was going to leave teaching and that I was going to make guitars.
Yes, that all happened quickly. Things didn’t start rolling immediately, it took at least two hours for me to get back home to Atlanta, get on Amazon, and buy Guitar Making Tradition and Technology (but I had to be cool and pay triple the price to have the original 1st edition hardback). Then, it took another 5 minutes or so to find a guitar building workshop to attend, one that aligned perfectly with my fall break at school.
But, where to set up shop at home? By the grace of God, I had a full, unfinished basement under my 1200 square foot upstairs living space. Not only was it completely unused space but the basement also has a very clean concrete floor and no moisture problems, at all, which had actually been the tipping point when I decided to buy the house.
I found inspiration in this nook. I wanted to transform it. It would become something special and that would be the kickoff project for the transformation I was about to undergo. I bought a Japanese pull-saw, some framing 2x6s, and found a stash of old wood I’d been hauling from place to place each time I moved for the last 5-10 years. After a couple of days, the nook was something new. I still have not found a perfect use for it, but it has filled many roles.
I quickly decided that I wanted to make the guitar out of an old dresser. These are the first top and back set I ever cut. Not having any luthier tools, what you see in this pick took about 5 hrs of work. I eventually learned what kind of wood you must use to make a decent instrument, so they never made it into a guitar, poor fellas.
The learning curve is quite an elliptically exponential and seemingly never-ending trudge through hard decision$ to make concerning purcha$ing the necessary tool$ and then learning how to use those tools. Millions of videos on how to: use the tools, sharpen the tools, calibrate the tools, fix the tools, but nothing on how to slam the tools on the floor or throw them across the room when they won’t do what you want them to do.
Highlights from the first bend in the learning curve.
Binah
Along the way, I lost a very special friend, soul mate, son, brother, BFF, homie and once in a lifetime sorta pet. I probably might have finished the guitar in 6 months, but the emotional high of becoming a luthier was crushed to bits with the rest of me. Binah will always live inside this guitar. He was there with me through the beginning and all the way up til this moment: As soon as I got to this point, attaching the sides to the top, I put the guitar down and headed out for Thanksgiving. It was the last time I ever saw my little man alive.
There’s no way I can ever tell the story of my first steps into guitar-making without placing this footnote where it belongs. I’ll never forget Binah.
I didn’t have a blog when I finished this guitar, so it never had its own article. Out of all the ones I’ve built so far, it’s definitely the one that deserves it the most. In celebration of two years on this journey, I can think of no better way than to hit the publish button then go grab a spot on the couch with this beauty until it’s bedtime.
Guitar 001. The one I could never find, so I had to make it myself.
I began this making this guitar alongside a student building his in February. Then a pandemic came. We focused on finishing his. To say the least, it has been a very strange gap between my last post and what I have to share today, which is a small gigantic milestone. I want to celebrate the fact that I’ve made 10 guitars.
But, aside from this being a trivial matter considering the moment we find ourselves in, there just really isn’t any reason why the number ten should be any more meaningful than 9. In fact, in some regards, the number 9 is a sacred number (in the Bible and also in other major religious texts and traditions). But, I digress. Let’s get to the pics, shall we.
Hart’s Guitars Ltd Co is back in full swing. Don from Brunswick is coming next week to stay here at The Bamboozle and build a guitar using plans based on an 1864 model of Antonio de Torres, an unrivaled and revolutionary figure in the world of 19th century classical guitar luthiers.
When I get a new set of plans…I trace all the parts, transfer the trace paper to the pieces of wood, cut and sand to shape.
Then I need to make a monstrosity of a jig to bend the sides.
I spend about an entire day building this “side bending machine” for each different guitar. Slicing the wood for the side.Bent side.Tone bars cutLayout for the tone bars.Sitting in place.I came in with big ideas for the soundboard’s appearance. It got off to a slow start.
The guitar is from a set of plans for an 1867 Francisco Gonzalez and he had a much more flamboyant rosette and binding style than most guitars we see today. My intent to make this one in his style really got off to a slow, then ugly start. I almost threw the soundboard away.
I was not even close to happy with the way this was developing. I screwed up. The outer ring is made up of three slices of different species of wood bent to circles. From the outer layer goin in: Brazilian Rosewood, Spanish Cedar, Cocobolo Rosewood. You can see that some of the pieces were damaged especially in the 3 o’clock range. I’ve read that the secret to becoming a better luthier is to become better at covering your mistakes. So, I stayed with it and I’m surely glad I did because I am so proud to say that I turned it into this….Ugly duckling into swan.The big slightly raised outer ring is mahogany with a thing edge of Brazilian Rosewood. The soundboard is Alaskan Yellow Cedar. The binding that flows along its perimeter is made up of three thin strips of different species of wood that I spent forever and a day cutting, sanding and re-sanding, throwing away, re-cutting and sanding (Cocobolo Rosewood, Maple, & Chakte Viga). They meet up at the corner with with a beautifully made vintage strip of binding I found at a local exotic-wood shop, Carlton’s Rare Woods and Veneers.. The sides of the guitar is bird’s eye maple. I’m beyond satisfied with how this all turned out aesthetically. It added a week to the job of building this instrument, but in my attempt to balance the art and the science of being a luthier, I’ll always have my scales tipped to the art side.
A while back I asked people to vote for the fingerboard to be used. It was a very contested result, split down the middle between choices B and D. So, I threw the results out the window and went with the canary wood, E.
The headstock just stands out better with this fingerboard, Choice E. ALong the way, I had to get a new bandsaw blade, one of the costs of doing business..It was my first foray into Covid-19 land adventuring that was anything more complicated than a grocery store run. Some pics of the process of making Guitar 010.
This has been a fun one to play and it sounds really distinct. I’m still letting it “settle in” which is a phenomenon that takes place over a few weeks and longer wherein the instrument plays and sounds a little better with every passing day as you make micro adjustments. It will be available for sale with all of the others, except 001 of course, in the coming days on a newly designed store page, with prices and photo montage videos with audio of the instrument being played.
Brazilian Rosewood center strip.Birde’s eye maple sides. Alaskan Yellow Cedar top.
This instrument sounds amazing. I am ready to sell it with no hesitation for $1795. This is quite a bargain for anyone who knows what hand-crafted guitars go for usually or have seen websites that sell independent-luthier handcrafted classicals. I will personally deliver within a 2 hr radius of Atlanta, GA for gas money and lunch. Honestly, I hate the thought of my instrument sitting in a place where it’s not cherished. If you have buyer’s remorse, there’s a no questions asked 30-day 100% money back guarantee. After that, a lifetime guarantee on anything other than normal wear and tear.
I’ve tried here to compile all that I’ve been able to learn regarding classical and acoustic guitar setups into an article for my students at Hart’s Guitars Co. Ltd. You may not need to read the entire article because you only need to fix one issue. Below, I have color-coded simple questions that can help you navigate quickly to the part of the process you need to jump to. Welcome to Hart’s Guitars’ classical guitar setup guide!
Which type of strings are best for my instrument and my playing style?
If you’re going to go through the setup process, chances are you also want new strings. I wrote a little piece about string choice recently. Believe it or not, your choice of strings can make a yuge difference in the guitar’s playability. Do you have one guitar that is much more of a joy to play than the others. You might wanna think about trying a different type of strings on the instruments that aren’t fun to play (obviously, in addition to the setup itself). Strings by mail is a great website rabbit hole of all things strings. Find your string type suggestions there (and learn a lot about strings)!
At 2:20 am this morning, Jeffrey and I made the last incision into the depth of his high E nut slot to bring the string’s action down at the lower frets 1-3. And…..we were “finished.” HAHAHAHA. If you’ve ever made anything with your hands where you’ve put a lot of time and energy, you know that no such project is every really “finished.” Here’s a shot from around 1:45 a.m., the moment we had been waiting for since we began the journey: bringing out the color of that granadillo and mahogany to its full richness and depth. It was late and the only way we could see it was under the shop lights, which aren’t bad but definitely don’t give the same hues the Sun will.
In South America, it is highly regarded as the best tonewood choice for marimba and xylophone bones and is often referenced as “La Madera Que Canta” (“wood that sings”).
Mahogany soundboard tastefully paired with granadillo sides and back.
Mahoney’s oil wax finish with acrylic paintbrush.
Installing the tuners like a pro. A very excited, wired, and sleepy pro.
In the shop, it was the beginning of guitar 008 but Jeff was student 001 at Hart’s Guitar’s School of Lutherie guitar building intensive. Along the way, I learned that the body style Jeff was building, a Goya G-10 (classical guitar made in Switzerland in the 1950s), is the same guitar, the very SAME! guitar, held by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Jeffrey selected wood that makes it look pretty distinct from that famous guitar. We love the shape and size. It feels so good in your hands. Also, the scale length is 630 mm instead of 650 (which is .78″ or about ¾”). That difference of ¾” is enough to make a world of difference when it comes to playing a guitar. The standard for classical guitars has always been 650 mm (25 ½” roughly). Quick fact: Not everyone’s hands are the same size. Countless people have probably not had success in learning to play guitar because this standard scale length made learning not pleasant for their hands. At Hart’s Guitars, we can build your guitar perfectly sized to fit you.
A very cool guitar. With a few questions and measurements using your thumb and pinky, I can determine the best scale length for your guitar and we can build it to fit your hands!
We worked mostly on the weekends and a few weeknights. We began in early January. Jeffrey was a great student with cabinetmaking woodworking experience. He picked some really nice wood on our trip to Carlton’s Rare Woods and Veneers.
There’s no such thing as too many clamps!
Tons of scraping and sanding to remove glue squeeze out and blemishes.
Jeffrey’s newfound love: card scrapers.
Filing, shaping, sculpting the neck.
Applying Mahoney’s Oil Wax Finish
Coming down to the finish line around 1:30 am.
Cocobolo binding with granadillo back and sides.
Mahogany neck and headstock veneers. Installing the tuners.
Playing the first chord.
Wowee! Look at that beautiful thing. Mahogany top. Granadillo back, sides, and fretboard..Mahogany gives a really special response in the bass range and has been my favorite tone wood.
My first student at Hart’s Guitar’s Co. Ltd has been a friend of mine for a long time. His wife bought him a spot in my guitar building intensive as what must be the coolest Christmas gift ever for anyone who plays guitar. We’ve had so much fun reliving the time we knew each other Athens, GA where we met. For a short while we were even roommates sometime around the year 1999 or so.
We decided on his first visit to the shop that we’d be building a Goya G-10. The Goya brand name was initially used by Hershman Musical Instrument Company of New York City in mid 1950’s for acoustic guitars made in Sweden by Levin, particularly known for its classical guitars. In the 1970s, CF Martin (Martin guitars) bought the company and kept producing guitars under the brand name until the 90s. The “Goya” name comes from Francisco Jose de Goya, the famous 18th century Spanish painter known as the father of modern art (Francisco drew a lot of Spanish guitar players too). There’s a Goya G-10, made in Sweden, hanging in my house that belongs to my lovely girlfriend and it’s a beautiful antique instrument that plays like a dream.
This Goya G-10 was made in 1955!!
Jeffrey has woodworking experience so it’s been a joy to give him basic instruction and watch his mirror neurons replicate through his hands exactly what I’ve demonstrated. He’s putting together quite a fantastic instrument.
Jeffrey’s Goya G-10 will be made with Grenadillo back and sides. It’s a very hard wood.
Refining a piece of mahogany to turn into a guitar neck.
On the bandsaw, carefully cutting out the body shape of the back.
Carving the heel block at the back of the neck.
After much carving and scalloping, the finished soundboard for Jeff’s guitar. Traditional “fan bracing.”
Sanding the headstock before gluing on a veneer.
Bracing the back of the guitar.
After a long battle bending the sides, we were able to attach them to the top.
Jeff perform’s a final inspection of our work before heading home to his family.
A great eye for detail and a luthier’s patience. This will definitely not be the only guitar Jeff builds.
A final cleanup and sanding.
Past the halfway point. This is going to be a beautiful instrument.
Due to the rapid and wildly exponential spreading of coronavirus, Covid-19, Hart’s Guitars will not be attending this months’ Scott Antique Market in Atlanta. It’s a hard but logical conclusion to come to. At the risk of missing out on meeting new clients and pencilling in names for the upcoming guitar building classes, I think it’s more important to do my part to not only keep myself and family safe, but to also contribute in the wider effort of not giving this virus free range in which to disperse itself.
Stay tuned for articles and updates, however as I will continue to work with my current pupils on finishing their classical guitars. We have some really beautiful instruments almost completed here. Also coming soon, maybe in the next day or so, an article on complete acoustic guitar setup.
I’m still open for business, just not in markets where there’ll be thousands of people. There are a coupe of openings in spring guitar building classes, so sign up! i’m always taking in guitars for a nice restring and professional setup.
Current student, Billy, working on the mahogany braces for his guitar’s back.
One expensive piece of wood getting its abalone fret markers.. This Brazilian Rosewood piece is 1/2 of a board that cost $125. Totally worth it.
1869 Francisco Gonzalez guitar entering the final stages of work.
Billy is my new student, “taking a break from the corporate world” where he has excelled at varying positions with Georgia Pacific and Amazon, among others. He found my website online and is coming to build his own guitar during this downtime, a reward to himself for hard work. I have a set of plans from the Guild of American Luthiers and for the first time, I’m building a classical guitar to spec. It’s been really fun to see the excitement on his face during the first few days of class. He has an online guitar business selling collector-quality instruments.
The artist, engineer, and luthier Francisco Gonzalez was a guitar builder in Madrid in the mid 1800s. In 1867, at the Universal Exposition in Paris, he was awarded a bronze metal for his guitars.
The layout of the bracing differs from the “fan bracing” revolution of Antonio Torres which was taking hold of the lutherie world right about the time this 1869 guitar was made.
This somewhat ugly piece of wood is about 1 x 4 x 24″ but will tuen into a piece of beautiful Brazilian rosewood. It’s worth $125.00
On day one, I taught Billy how to square and true wood surfaces to be joined together with hot hide glue. Mahogany neck and headstock.
Lots of clamps.
The heel block is made with several blocks glued together under the neck.
Attaching a piece of limba veneer to the headstock.
The plans are printed on a large poster hanging on the wall.
Over the course of the first week, Billy and I accomplished a TON of items on the list to make his guitar. Then, I had to go home to Greenville, SC to take my mom to the doctor and spend a couple od days up there. When I returned, I fell ill for several days (not with Covid-19) and only days before the Coronavirus became an inevitability. After some delay, we were able to get back to work. Seeing the near future clearly in front of us and the disruption to modern life that was shaping up, we decided to just be casual with our approach, in no hurry. I advertise my guitar building intensive as a 7-day course. That flew out the window and we added to our projects the process of French-polishing our instruments. So, this also added a but more time to the process.
My first student at Hart’s Guitar’s Co. Ltd has been a friend of mine for a long time. His wife bought him a spot in my guitar building intensive as what must be the coolest Christmas gift ever for anyone who plays guitar. We’ve had so much fun reliving the time we knew each other Athens, GA where we met. For a short while we were even roommates sometime around the year 1999 or so.
We decided on his first visit to the shop that we’d be building a Goya G-10. The Goya brand name was initially used by Hershman Musical Instrument Company of New York City in mid 1950’s for acoustic guitars made in Sweden by Levin, particularly known for its classical guitars. In the 1970s, CF Martin (Martin guitars) bought the company and kept producing guitars under the brand name until the 90s. The “Goya” name comes from Francisco Jose de Goya, the famous 18th century Spanish painter known as the father of modern art (Francisco drew a lot of Spanish guitar players too). There’s a Goya G-10, made in Sweden, hanging in my house that belongs to my lovely girlfriend and it’s a beautiful antique instrument that plays like a dream.
This Goya G-10 was made in 1955!!
Jeffrey has woodworking experience so it’s been a joy to give him basic instruction and watch his mirror neurons replicate through his hands exactly what I’ve demonstrated. He’s putting together quite a fantastic instrument.
Jeffrey’s Goya G-10 will be made with Grenadillo back and sides. It’s a very hard wood.
Refining a piece of mahogany to turn into a guitar neck.
On the bandsaw, carefully cutting out the body shape of the back.
Carving the heel block at the back of the neck.
After much carving and scalloping, the finished soundboard for Jeff’s guitar. Traditional “fan bracing.”
Sanding the headstock before gluing on a veneer.
Bracing the back of the guitar.
After a long battle bending the sides, we were able to attach them to the top.
Jeff perform’s a final inspection of our work before heading home to his family.
A great eye for detail and a luthier’s patience. This will definitely not be the only guitar Jeff builds.
A final cleanup and sanding.
Past the halfway point. This is going to be a beautiful instrument.
