The Fingerstyle Guitar - Progress Report #1

By necessity, progress on all of my instruments takes place in fits and starts and typically drags out over many months - or longer!  It's been especially difficult lately to find large chunks of time to devote to guitar building, although I can't complain too loudly: one of the reasons has been a leisurely three-week trip exploring Australia's east coast between Melbourne and Sydney - a long-awaited and enjoyable break from the normal routine.

Diversions and distractions aside, I have managed to spend some time on the claro walnut/redwood guitar I discussed in a recent post.  The back is complete, the sides are bent and, after stealing a few hours away from my day job through the week, I've managed to join the halves of the redwood top and fabricate a zebrawood rosette.  If all goes to plan, I'll inlay the rosette and thickness the top over the coming weekend.  The really fun part - bracing and tuning the soundboard - will follow.

Cheers

Pete

Hot Hide Glue

In an effort to find out first hand why so many luthiers favour the use of hot hide glue when modern alternatives are so readily available, I've finally ordered (and received!) some high clarity 192 gram-strength hide glue granules from the U.S.  I'm sure my Titebond, epoxy and superglue will remain indispensable for many tasks, but I'm keen to introduce this most ancient of glue types into my building process, particularly when it comes to attaching braces to instrument soundboards and backs.

My initial order was intercepted by Australia's occasionally-vigilant quarantine service and ultimately destroyed by them (despite my protestations), but it seems they were distracted by other matters while my second order was entering the country.  I'd be feeling a little guilty right now for having circumvented our quarantine laws, except for the fact that other Australian builders report that their shipments are routinely inspected by quarantine personnel before being sealed up and sent on their way without a fuss. If one-pound packages of hide glue posed any real threat to national security I'm sure they would be confiscated on a more consistent basis!

It's been a long time since I've had any need for a baby bottle warmer; the cheap model pictured will see out its days as a handy glue pot.

Some useful links:
Frank Ford - Using Hide Glue
Luthier's Mercantile - Granular Hide Glue
Wikipedia - Animal Glue


Cheers
Pete

The Fingerstyle Guitar - Prototype #1

Not so long ago, I started a thread on the Acoustic Guitar Forum seeking opinions as to the ultimate fingerstyle guitar with respect to design features and materials; there were some interesting and very informative responses. I have to concede that in the past I've erred in seeking out construction tips from other builders to the exclusion of the views of the people who really matter - the players! It seems to me that the Acoustic Guitar Forum is frequented more by guitar players than by guitar builders, so the opinions offered were particularly illuminating. With the benefit of that feedback, I'm setting out to build the best fingerstyle guitar I possibly can within my own limitations and accepting of course that opinions as to what such an instrument might look and sound like will vary markedly.

Perhaps it's my own slightly flawed tendency to focus on the visual aspects of the guitar which made some suggestions stand out from the pack, but within the comments I received I noted an emphasis on the ergonomics of the instrument I was proposing. As well as responsiveness and lightness, a slightly wider string spacing at the bridge and a wider nut stood out as worthwhile features on a guitar destined as a fingerstyle instrument.  Depending on how adventurous I'm feeling, I may attempt an arm bevel for the first time too.

Where wood choices are concerned, I sense a preference for the responsiveness and warmth of cedar or redwood soundboards, while for back and sides, walnut seems a popular choice, perhaps because its higher damping and tendency towards shorter sustain results in greater clarity and separation of notes when in the hands of a fingerstyle player. That being my summation of the opinions offered, I'm opting for a combination of claro walnut and redwood together with the wider string spacings generally preferred by those who responded.  I'm favouring my take on the ubiquitous Martin OM body shape together with that model's 25.4" scale length. 

I hope you'll join me as I begin my quest for the "ultimate" fingerstyle guitar. If the outcome is anything less than brilliant, I can always laugh the offending instrument off as "a prototype" in an attempt to salvage some self-respect!

Cheers

Pete

A Belated Gift

If first impressions count for anything, there are a lot of things to like about this guitar which I strung up for the first time last weekend.  I'll let it settle for a while before I make final nut, saddle and action adjustments, but even in its current incomplete state I'm able to play it and assess its tonal potential. I look forward to enjoying the full experience - however briefly - before I deliver it to its new owner.

There were more than my usual number of blunders along the way and I'm still refining my finishing technique, but overall I'm pleased with the outcome.  The minor cosmetic flaws are disappointing, but after riding out the obligatory post-build period of self-recrimination, I'm now able to look beyond them and enjoy the fact that the sound of this guitar surpasses anything I've built previously.  My hope is that where bracing and tuning of the soundboard is concerned, what I've achieved with this guitar signals a permanent leap to the next level.

The guitar is a gift to a very patient musician friend in Melbourne. Maurice is an old rocker with a soft spot for Marshall stacks and Gibson Les Pauls, however, I hold out some faint hope that he'll be impressed enough with this guitar to suppress his natural tendencies and learn some more subdued acoustic pieces. The message will be clear when I present it to him: if he's inclined to mount a humbucker in the soundhole and plug into a wall of Marshalls, I'd rather not know about it!

Soundboard: Engelmann spruce

Back and sides: East Indian rosewood

Neck: Queensland maple

Fretboard and bridge: ebony

Bindings and trim: koa
Rosette and fretboard inlay: green abalone

Tuners: Schaller mini

Fretwire: Gold "Evo"

Cheers
Pete

It's All About the Music!

As a would-be luthier, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the guitar is a means to an end rather than an end in itself, and that as a builder of musical instruments, the role I play is to facilitate the making of music. Accepting that I gain immense enjoyment from my contribution to the process and that my efforts are worthwhile in their own right - at least at a personal level - ultimately it's the musician who (hopefully!) creates the real magic.

I was privileged to experience some of that magic on Friday night when Tony McManus was in town.  While I don't hold out much hope of ever having my guitars in the hands of the likes of Tony McManus, seeing a player of his calibre play in person strengthens my resolve to build the best guitars I possibly can in the hope that I can contribute in some small way to the creation of beautiful music.

Coincidentally, it was at this same venue that I watched the owner of my one and only commission so far - a 12-fret 000 - put his new guitar through its paces.  That was some years and several guitars ago, but the experience lives on in my memory as the highlight of my guitar building "career" to date.  Perhaps, one day, I'll have the opportunity to repeat it!

Cheers

Pete  

Hand Tools: Out With the Old, In With the New

I've known for a long time that guitar building will be an activity I'll pursue until failing eyesight, a wayward bus or the grim reaper himself finally put an end to my efforts. Despite that certainty, I've always had great difficulty parting with my hard-earned cash to build a collection of high quality hand tools - second-hand shops and flea markets have been the source of many of them until recently.

I've justified my tight-fisted attitude by reasoning that spending five times as much on a decent hand plane, for example, would be unlikely to result in a corresponding five-fold improvement in the standard of my instruments. While there's still truth in that argument at a superficial level, thinking a little more deeply on the subject leads me to conclude that there are other more subtle benefits to owning quality tools beyond their ability to perform their intended function so much more effectively than the poor substitutes I've made do with in the past. 

In fact, finally clicking the "Buy Now" button on a set of LMI's chisels and a couple of Veritas hand planes - a low-angle jack plane and a #4 smoother - has been beneficial on many levels.  The simple fact that my chisels and planes are now of a much higher quality has instilled a sense of pride in their ownership - a new and pleasurable experience!  That in turn has added to my enjoyment of the job at hand which in itself can only have a positive effect on the standard of my work.  I might also add that acquiring quality tools and experiencing the warm glow their ownership brings has provided the incentive to develop a much more disciplined approach where sharpening is concerned - I've been pretty lazy in the past on that score.

When I'm about to undertake a task demanding the utmost care and attention to detail, I find that clearing my workbench of its usual accumulation of tools and firing up the shop vacuum seems to unclutter my mind as well as my immediate work area; I seem better able to concentrate and my chances of success with whatever task I'm about to begin seem vastly improved as a result.  I'm finding that the joy of using a well-tuned, good quality plane or a sharp, finely made chisel is having a similarly positive effect on my attitude and ability to focus.  Any doubts I might have had brought about by the not-insignificant cost - including the predictably horrendous shipping charges from the U.S. and Canada - are fading rapidly.  Besides (I tell myself!) my amateur status shouldn't stand in the way of my pursuit of professional results.

If there's a downside to all this - other than the hit my wallet has taken of late - it's that I can no longer blame poor quality tools for any work I judge to be less than perfect!

Cheers

Pete

Claro Walnut - a Musical Thud

After joining and thicknessing this walnut back set it was difficult to muster enthusiasm when assessing its resonant qualities, however, the attachment of braces has elevated the response when tapped to a more pleasing musical thud!

Unlike the much-prized rosewood species, claro walnut isn't known for its ringing glassy tap-tone, but with this guitar destined for a fingerstyle player, that's not necessarily a desirable trait anyway. When discussing fingerstyle guitars, popular opinion seems to be that each note should do its thing then get out of the way relatively quickly to make way for those to follow. With a relatively high damping factor, claro walnut supposedly satisfies that requirement well by limiting sustain - or at least not contributing further to it. It's also said to impart little of its own sonic flavour to the completed instrument leaving the top to produce it's signature sound unhindered.

Paired with the tonal warmth and richness characteristic of a redwood top, I'm hopeful that the guitar this back is destined for will be as successful as my previous claro walnut/Engelmann spruce instruments.

Cheers

Pete