Made a couple shot time-lapse videos during the planing of backs and sides for two new guitars. I also made a new removable wedge for my Solera to control the geometry while building an elevated fingerboard.
First Coats of Shellac on the New Guitars
Lots of Photos and Binding Time-lapse Video
I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy working all the time! Here are some photos of the latest two guitars coming together. I also made a quick little time-lapse video of me trimming and gluing binding. It's a tedious and messy job.
Backwards Through the Making of a Romanillos Arches Rosette
Here are some photos of through the process of making José Romanillos's rosette inspired by the arches of the Mezquita mosque in Cordoba. Admittedly, way too much work, but very pretty!
Visit to Nicolo Alessi
I was visiting friends at Lago Maggiore in Italy and discovered that Nicolo Alessi's shop was only ten minutes away from their house! There are a series of small villages surrounding the lake and he happened to live in the next one up from us. If you are not already familiar with his tuning machines, they are beautifully handmade and hand-engraved. He was very nice and welcoming. We got a short tour of the shop, he showed us some of his latest prototypes and even let us to try out his 1960 Hauser and 1978 José Romanillos guitars!
Trip to Siccas Guitars and More Romanillos Rosettes
Took a trip out to Karlsruhe to visit Siccas Guitars and drop of the latest concert model with them. They have a beautiful shop with a great collection and everyone there is extremely nice. They also have a repair and restoration shop around the corner. Very happy and excited to be working with them.
In other news, I'm starting new Romanillos rosettes. Had to make new jigs and cut everything by hand. Here are some photos while gluing the laminations and cutting the test pieces.
Joining and planing tops, backs and sides
Moving right along. Here are some photos from the start of two new guitars. Carefully joining tops and backs. I take my time to get a perfect fit with a freshly sharpened plane blade for the cleanest joint possible. After that, I spent some time planing two spruce tops and a two sets of rosewood back and sides down to thickness and cleaned them up with a nice sharp cabinet scraper. As much as my hands are sore after all that scraping and planing, it's very satisfying to see the curls.
New Concert Model
New Concert model strung up today and headed for Germany in a couple weeks. This guitar is bold sound with a big dynamic range and a balanced frequency response. That being said, it still has an open and lively Spanish character and plenty of color.
- European spruce top
- Indian rosewood back and sides
- Spanish cedar neck
- Ebony fingerboard
- 52mm nut width
- 43mm string spacing at the nut and 58mm at the bridge
- 20th fret
- Rubner superior series tuners with black MOP buttons
New Torres Model
Strung up the newest Torres model today and I'm really happy with how this one turned out. It has a lush open voice with plenty of clarity and liveliness. Custom rosette of dark natural tones by request of the client. The motif is inspired by the Torres guitar owned by Miguel Llobet and is made of maple, rosewood, padouk, cherry, walnut and spanish cedar.
- European Spruce
- Indian rosewood back and sides
- Spanish cedar neck
- Ebony fingerboard
- Gotoh premium tuners with ebony buttons
Binding, Fingerboards and Necks
Back home from the GFA and pluggin' away at these two guitars. One is a Torres model and the other is a new Concert model. Here are a few photos from the last couple weeks cutting binding and purfling channels, slotting fingerboards, carving necks and wiping on the first wash coats of shellac. Happy to see these almost done and excited to string them up.
