I've had the new guitar finished and strung up for about two weeks now. New guitars need a period of time to "play in" before the sound really starts to open up and mature. A freshly strung up guitar really does sound pretty crappy!

I am really appreciating this new guitar! The sound is very rich and crisp, and this has even been commented on by people who don't know guitar. My present opinion is that this is my best sounding guitar to date. I said that about my last guitar too, and the one before that, and the one before that! It is also very easy to play, the action and string tension are a treat.

Final accounting: no new money was spent. I used inexpensive, or free wood for most part, and a lot of the small pieces I salvaged from the scrap box. If pressed to put a value on the wood used, this guitar totaled $32

They look like this.

I got the old lathe set up and had a chance to try my hand at turning some wood. Of course I started with guitar pegs for my current project.

Time to get back to the bridge. The string holes are measured out on masking tape, as its much easier to see the marks.

A drill press is used to drill the holes. I am running the bridge along a fence to ensure that they all line up properly.

Masking tape is used to protect the soundboard finish from the sanding that is being done in the pace where the bridge will be glued. This location is VERY carefully identified.

The props that are inside of the guitar enable me to simply use these cam clamps to glue down the bridge. Without the props the soundboard would never be able to take the pressure. Of course, the better the fit the less clamping pressure is needed.

And this is how it looks.

I like side markers on my classical guitars. I don't have the training to navigate the entire fingerboard without them. I don't want too many of them, though, so just the 5th, 7th, and 10th fret get them.

The end of the fretwire is cut to allow it to overlap the fingerboard binding.

On this build I wanted to try epoxying the frets in place. The fingerboard face is first coated with wax, then the fret slots are filled with resin..

The frets are placed into the slots and clamped down.

As the fingerboard face was waxed the resin is easy to remove. The frets require only the basic dressing and we are good to go.

The back binding is glued on, too.

And it looks like this.

Lest anyone think that everything goes perfectly as planned, these are the pieces that didn't get onto the guitar.

The back binding at the heel can be done any number of ways. Torres often mitered them into an extension of the back that is glued over the heel. I forgot to leave the back long enough to do this, again, so I had to cut the miters into the binding and fit a piece of wood fit. I chose a piece that matches the back wood exactly.

And it looks like this.

The back is glued to the guitar, and its time to glue on the binding. Really, there is a guitar inside all of that rubber clamping!


These are some of the tools used to prepare the binding rebates.

This is the binding rebate ready to receive the binding, which on this guitar will be a simple walnut line.

The Bison bone worked out really well, the wall of the bone is nice and thick making it easier to get usable pieces from it.

I could have made much more, but for now I will content myself with making just as much as I need right now.

The Tornavoz is installed using a fillet of epoxy mixed with cotton fiber. Traditionally they would have a lip that is trapped against the soundboard by the circular wooden rosette reinforcing ring.

In order to glue the bridge later I have to brace the soundboard. Typically clamps are fitted in through the soundhole, but with the Tornavoz in place this will not be an option. Each prop has a string to pull it out with. It is essential to remember to secure the strings out at the soundhole in order to pull them!

Now the back can be glued on.

The copper has a nice glow when viewed through the soundhole.

I did some processing of the Bison bones. Step one is to cut it into smaller pieces, then into the slow cooker to boil off the meat residue and some of the marrow. After a good number of hours I cut it down into smaller pieces and boil out what is left.

After it dries I cut it down into even more manageable pieces. Now I study these pieces to see how to best further process them.

And this is the result. I have many more pieces that I can cut out of my bone supply, but for now I will content myself to my present needs of one tie block cap, one saddle, and one nut.

The saddles and nuts of a guitar are made of many materials, but bone is considered the standard for good guitars as it is hard and long lasting.

My neighbour raises Bison, I had asked for some bones next time they harvested an animal. I didn't expect two full legs, hoofs included, to show up on my doorstop last week.

Notice all the meat still attached?

For that I need a little help. Patou loves the fresh meat! Good thing because there's still lots left, but she's making progress.

I decided to use an ebony bound maple fingerboard for the new guitar. I liked the black binding on the natural maple, but it didn't "work" with the Rosewood bridge. So I stained it. At this point I have two coats of CA glue to build the surface finish. The fret is just sitting there to pre-visualize the end results.

The bridge as it looks now, with a little CA (cyanoacrilite) flooded on the fill any small pores.

Now I am ready to close the back, fret the fingerboard, glue on the fingerboard and bridge, binding, finishing, etc...

Oh, and I need to make the tuning pegs. For that I will need a lathe.

The back linings and back braces are done. The photo shows that there are just two back braces. I will be using just two back braces, but its the back brace near the slipper foot that is to be removed, not the middle one. This is remedied now. Lots of head scratching to do on this guitar!

I have decided that, before I close up the back on the FE17-ish guitar, that I need to have the bridge and the fingerboard made. This is because of the Tornavoz. You can see it sitting in place and you can see how it will interfer with clamping the bridge on later. Well, I can.


I have decided that, before I close up the back on the FE17ish guitar, that I need to have the bridge and the fingerboard made. I may choose to glue on the bridge before installing the tornavoz and closing the back.

I had a scrap of Brazilian Rosewood that I bought in an offcut table at a local lumber vendor, but it was not the right dimension for a bridge so I had to re-cut it and glue it up the way that I could get a bridge blank out of.

So, after I cut the basic shapes out I find myself wondering how hard it would be to do it like the original? You can see it in the lower left photo of my notes, note the decorated wings. So I'm thinking I have some laminate leftover from making my herringbone that I could use for the little borders-just sandwich it between some veneer, border an offcut of the bridge, and inlay it in the wings.


Here is is just sitting on top of the rough cut bridge wing. The original had a lozenge shaped pearl inlay in the center. Here is my paper pattern sitting in place. I don't have any pearl, so I'm thinking that I will use some figured maple instead, and the colours will blend in nicely, too.

The heel on this old neck was originally carved for a slightly deeper guitar, so I had to cut about 6mm off the bottom, which required me to re-carve the whale. Which is OK because I feel that it is more refined now. But it did take extra time, which is something that I wanted to avoid.

Oh well. It serves us no good to count the hours in the service of Art.

Finishing the carving allowed me to get the neck installed.

One small "modernization" is my use of the double wedge instead of just the skinny slits. It is a little more work, but getting the little slits "just right" has its own complications. I really like how tight you can get the sides against the outer portion of the heel.

Freshly glued in, I'll be cleaning it up later. Or not. Haven't decided. The Tornavoz will eliminate any opportunity to see how nicely shaped it is.

I tried something new on this build. I've been thinking that it would be easier to glue in the harmonic bar after I get the sides on. I was right, it is MUCH easier to fit it into the sides than to fit the sides to the bar. Gluing it in is the same process either way.

And now I'm gluing in the dentellones. Its easy to do, and is as fast to do as you can pick them up and glue them in.

I'll be continuing this today, we'll see how long it takes. Once I'm done I'll be fitting the lining for the back.

Somehow I got it into my head that a carbon fiber Tornavoz might be a good idea. So...of course I had to make one to find out! Carbon fiber fabric cut to the pattern.


CF Tornavoz off the mold, sitting beside the copper/fiberglass one that I just made.


This is how the first one looks in place.


Both sides in place on the solara waiting till I can get all the parts ready to assemble.