The Fingerstyle Guitar - Installing the Rosette

I'd probably still be fitting abalone rosettes to my guitars but for the fact that the shell blanks are now unavailable from my usual U.S. sources.  Perhaps that's a good thing: the radial designs I've adopted make a welcome and attractive change - at least I think so!

Routing the rosette channel

Dremel rotary tools attract criticism from some quarters due to their questionable robustness (this one is my third), but when combined with one of Stew-Mac's soundhole jigs and their router base, they're well suited to the task and I'm able to achieve a near-perfect fit of the rosette and the adjoining purfling rings.  If there's a secret to success, it's in exercising patience and "sneaking up" on the final channel width in tiny increments, checking the fit of the rings after each cut until they slip into the channel with light pressure.

Dry-fitting the rosette and purfling rings

Once the rosette has been glued in place and allowed to dry, I feed the top through my drum sander until the rosette and the rings are at the same level as the top. I can easily check when I've arrived at that point by holding the top at an angle such that the the scratches left by the sander are clearly revealed against the light from the workshop door. I want to see continuous scratches along the full length and across the full width of the top, including the rosette.  Once that's achieved, I bring the top to the desired thickness using the drum sander to remove material only from its inner face.       

The zebrano rosette - glued and levelled

Click on any of the images for a closer look.

Cheers

Pete

Guitars for Sale - Perhaps!

Either through ignorance, foolishness or a surplus of enthusiasm, I was only too keen to offer my early guitars for sale - thankfully, none of them have come back to haunt me! I've often wondered what became of the instruments I sold so many years ago, so it was with pleasant surprise that I received an email from a past "customer" who discovered this blog and decided to get in touch - thanks Laurence!  It was great to hear from him, but I was a little startled to hear of his continuing affection for the guitar I built him - now more than ten years ago - given the degree to which the quality of my guitars has improved over the intervening years and how those first few instruments must suffer - quite naturally - by comparison to more recent efforts.

Frequent "reality checks" in the years since I built Laurence's guitar have served to keep my feet on the ground and have convinced me of the wisdom of building instruments for my own use, or for friends and acquaintances free of charge.  It's a cautious approach that's allowed me to gather a much better array of jigs and tools and gradually improve my skills to a level comparable to other emerging builders.  If you've followed this blog over the past couple of years you'll know that improving the standard of my finishes has also been a major factor in my decision to prolong my self-imposed apprenticeship.

Perhaps the two guitars I've recently commenced herald a new era and will give me the renewed confidence - hopefully deserved this time - to offer my guitars for sale.  Both are modelled after Martin's iconic "Orchestra Model" (OM) series of instruments and feature combinations of East Indian Rosewood/Sitka Spruce and Claro Walnut/Redwood respectively.

If there's even a shred of truth in what's written about the tonal characteristics of the various wood species, the finished instruments will be worlds apart when they're eventually equipped to sing. Assuming I work on the instruments concurrently and complete them at the same time, I'll be well placed to make useful comparisons and judgements.

Cheers
Pete

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