Julia's Guitar, Part 2 - Making A Copy of a 1933 Santos Hernandez Guitar
Spain is the ancestral home of classic guitar. The world's greatest guitars have come from the workbenches of Spanish luthiers and Spanish composers have contributed a rich literature for this favored instrument.
Irving Sloane, Classic Guitar Construction, 1966
Work continues on Julia's guitar as I can make time.
The neck and upper bout have been leveled with sanding blocks for the fret board. I put down the tape to keep the glue squeeze out off the wood. I learned to this long ago, if you don't you can spend a lot of time carefully scraping away the glue and the wood.
The fret board is ready to go, it has its final shape and level. I decided to use at piece of 3/4 inch MDF for the clamping caul instead of the piece of Douglas fir that I have used in the past. The MDF is more flexible and more likely to conform to any irregularities of the fret board and neck. I want the fret board to have good contact with the neck!
Gluing and clamping the fret board.
After installing the frets. I bought a new fret hammer from LMI, my old Sears-Roebuck cobbler's hammer tended to mar the frets, and I got a pair of fret nippers from StewMac which are absolutely wonderful. Finally, a tool I don't have to send back to StewMac because it was poorly made!
The head stock. I tried to make the crest as much like the original as I could.
Carving the neck. As a classic guitar player, I know that the neck must be comfortable, it's probably the most important part of the guitar! I'll spend some quality time to make this the best neck I have ever made.
Carving the neck and the back side of the head stock.
Irving Sloane, Classic Guitar Construction, 1966
Work continues on Julia's guitar as I can make time.
The neck and upper bout have been leveled with sanding blocks for the fret board. I put down the tape to keep the glue squeeze out off the wood. I learned to this long ago, if you don't you can spend a lot of time carefully scraping away the glue and the wood.
The fret board is ready to go, it has its final shape and level. I decided to use at piece of 3/4 inch MDF for the clamping caul instead of the piece of Douglas fir that I have used in the past. The MDF is more flexible and more likely to conform to any irregularities of the fret board and neck. I want the fret board to have good contact with the neck!
Gluing and clamping the fret board.
After installing the frets. I bought a new fret hammer from LMI, my old Sears-Roebuck cobbler's hammer tended to mar the frets, and I got a pair of fret nippers from StewMac which are absolutely wonderful. Finally, a tool I don't have to send back to StewMac because it was poorly made!
The head stock. I tried to make the crest as much like the original as I could.
Carving the neck. As a classic guitar player, I know that the neck must be comfortable, it's probably the most important part of the guitar! I'll spend some quality time to make this the best neck I have ever made.
Carving the neck and the back side of the head stock.
This is looking great Wilson - hard to believe that the shapely instrument developing on your bench was once just pieces of lumber.
ReplyDeleteThat's a handy looking knife - to you use it a lot? What length is the blade? Is it a Mora? I think I want to get one of those.
Thanks for the comment, Rob! This is going to be a simply wonderful guitar! It is a little amazing to think that just a few weeks ago that this guitar was "once pieces of lumber"!
ReplyDeleteI am posting about the knives, have a look-see!