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Showing posts from February, 2017

On the Bench - Redwood/Black Walnut Classical Guitar

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Redwood forests were California's second Mother Lode, and like Sierra Nevada gold they are inextricably linked to the state's history. John Evarts, et al, Coast Redwood, A Natural History , 2011 Today, I glued the back onto a redwood/black walnut classical guitar that I named Luisa , after the flamenco bailaora , Luisa Maravilla. The top is redwood that I purchased from Paul Carroll at Redwood Bears and Burls in Gasquet, California. The back and sides I re-sawed, by hand with a Disston D-8 rip saw, from a board of black walnut that I purchased at a flea market in Longmont, Colorado. The neck is Port Orford cedar, the top braces are from a 50+ year old white fir 2x4, the back fillet is sycamore, the back braces are black cherry. All of these species grow in Tehama County, California, which is where I am from, either as naturals or exotics. It is a "green" guitar, meaning that all the wood comes from sustainable sources. Here are some photos of building t

Making Wooden Capos/Cejillas for Classical/Flamenco Guitars

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The musician that looks upon the capo as a cheater, becomes much more limited in his playing than the capo user. Anders Sterner , musician Thought you might be interested in a short post on how I make capos, or cejillas, for classical/flamenco guitars. First thing I do is roundup some black and white strips of veneer; a piece of nice wood for the core and even pretty wood for the outside laminations. I plane pieces to proper thickness, align in proper order and glue all pieces together. Here are two capo templates I came up with, I copied historic original Spanish capo shapes, I draw these onto the block of wood I just created from the veneer, laminates and core. Then I drill holes for the violin pegs and have a violin/viola/cello peg reamer handy. Here is a photo of a shop made violin peg shaver that I made. I use 1/2 size violins for the capos. Once the violin pegs fit perfectly in their holes in the capos, I cut them to proper length, drill a hole in the peg

Guitar Capos/Cejillas for Classical and Flamenco Guitars

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Any prejudice that may exist against the use of this device (capotasto) with the classical guitar should be dispelled by the knowledge that Giuliani's nickname given to him by a frivolous secret society to which he belonged was Vilax Umo Capodastro. Frederick Noad, The Classical Guitar , 1976 I made eight capos/cejillas for classical or flamenco guitars. These cejillas/capos are based on a traditional Spanish design that dates from the 18th century. The peg is made from rosewood, the center section of each capo (capodastre) is carved from either hard maple or East Indian rosewood and the sides of the capo are either curly maple or East Indian rosewood. Current capo inventory consists of two with curly maple sides and four with East Indian rosewood sides. There are two capos made from solid Vermillion, a very gorgeous hard wood from Africa. All pegs are attached to the capo with LaBella brand flamenco "G" string, the faces that go against the guitar strings ar