There is still one guitar in the shop for repair, with the other repairs out the door I have some extra time to catch up on other work, like glueing a stacked heel onto the shaft of a neck for a copy of an 1830’s Rene Lacote guitar...
Custom Classical Guitars and Guitar Repair in Denver, Colorado
There is still one guitar in the shop for repair, with the other repairs out the door I have some extra time to catch up on other work, like glueing a stacked heel onto the shaft of a neck for a copy of an 1830’s Rene Lacote guitar...
This guitar received a new Western Red cedar top and I moved the sound hole, which is traditionally in the guitar top at the end of the fret board, and made it into to sound holes, one located on each side of the neck in the upper bout. This gives the performer immediate feed back to the sound of the guitar and the music that they are playing.
I am in the process of making a bridge for this guitar, I am excited to see how it sounds!
A new East Indian rosewood bridge for a “Brahms” eight string classical guitar and some of the tools needed to create it.
retrofit verb
ret·ro·fit | \ ˈre-trō-ˌfit , ˌre-trō-ˈfit \
retrofitted or retrofit; retrofitting; retrofits
Definition of retrofit
transitive verb
1: to furnish (something, such as a computer, airplane, or building) with new or modified parts or equipment not available or considered necessary at the time of manufacture
2: to install (new or modified parts or equipment) in something previously manufactured or constructed
3: to adapt to a new purpose or need
The top is glued on!
Since the owner has ordered and bought three other classical guitars from me, and is a good friend, I decided to upgrade the bindings on the guitar. Originally they were cherry, to match the back and sides, but to honor what this guitar has been through I am using ebony.
The ebony goes well with the cherry.
I still have to install the ebony bindings and black/white purflings on the top, I need to make and install a new fret board, a bridge, and basically French polish the entire guitar again. It's a lot of work for a prototype, it will be worth working out all the bugs to make future "Brahms" guitars better.
After installing the new redwood top and re-glueing the fret board extension on the 1991 Manuel Contreras guitar, it was time to make a new bridge.
Few realize the influence of the luthier on the life and career of the artist.
Andres Segovia, In Memoriam of Hermann Hauser, The Guitar Review, 1954
Recently, a classical guitar made by a well known, highly respected Spanish maker came into the shop for evaluation. The current owner had removed all the original lacquer finish from the top and sanded so much that areas of the top were less than 1mm thick. The first day it was in the shop I spent over an hour scrubbing the top to remove remaining finish remover and other chemical crud that was leftover by “a home repair”.
I called the owner with what I discovered and we both concluded that the guitar deserved a new top. The owner stopped by the shop later that week, he selected a nice redwood top and a new rosette.
The biggest challenge with this guitar is the original binding had to remain to preserve of the guitar’s integrity. My typical procedure is to rout off the binding, cut off the top, replace top and re-bind with in-kind wood binding. After some research for different techniques I found a short photo essay on top removal by John Greven and a video by Fritz Damler, both master luthiers. I am very grateful that they shared their knowledge and techniques!
The original top with bracing.
I didn't try to match the original bracing, this bracing has worked well for me on other guitars that I made.
The new top fits like a glove...
The new top glued on an ready for purfling.
Everything worked!
Close up of the original binding and new purfling. I am quite happy with the result!
To conclude Part One, I present some photos on how I glued the fret board extension back onto the top.
Again, my thanks to master luthiers John Greven and Fritz Damler for sharing information on their top removal techniques!
In Part Two, I will cover installing the bridge and maybe a few other things!
There is still one guitar in the shop for repair, with the other repairs out the door I have some extra time to catch up on other work, li...