1816 Martinez "Salon" Guitar: Gluing on a New Bridge

Everyone seeks in the guitar his own twin soul...

Oscar Ghigilia, classical guitarist






We got about 8 inches of snow here in Allen's Park with the last storm and the temperature dropped down only to -1 degree Fahrenheit yesterday. Today, the wind is howling, I can't keep the walk clear because of the blowing snow and worse, the humidity in my shop has dropped to 30 percent. I do need to refill the humidifier and hope that I can get the humidity back to at least 35 percent. Oh, well...




This little beauty is a copy of an 1816 Martinez "Salon" guitar originally made by Jose Martinez. You can find the plans for it by clicking here.

I deviated a little from the original plans, the peg head is contacted with a scarf joint, not a V-joint; the back and sides are maple; the top is Douglas fir and has a Honduran rosewood fingerboard. In this photo I am gluing on a "modern" bridge, not the original lute-style chordal block bridge. I did put that kind of bridge on it when I first made it, but it was nearly impossible for me to adjust the string action. At least with this new bridge I can adjust the string height to suit that player.

I made a new bridge from padauk, arched in the center by 1.5mm and glued in on the other day. I used fish glue and everything worked the way I wanted, when I took the clamp off the arching of the bridge stayed. This give a slight arch to the guitar's top and should give it more of a singing voice. It was a wonderful sounding guitar with the last bridge, it should be better now.




There is some French polishing left to do on the neck and the sides, then she will be ready!

I will be asking $1395 for this guitar.

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