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Hi folks,

I'm emerging from the background since this subject is of great interest to me. I also read about Eugene Clark's methods and am planning to incorporate them to the best of my understanding. A couple months ago I send a question to AL asking for some clarification about Mr. Clark's methods and Mr. Mattola kindly passed my inquiry along to Mr. Clark, adding that we may, or may not get a response as Mr. Clark is somewhat reclusive and has neither email or a telephone (I wish he would write a book and pass his knowledge along!)

I'm guessing that one reason that Clark glues his fan braces with a rubbed joint is that he shapes the braces before gluing, making it difficult to clamp. He also mentioned that he uses a clamp to push the soundboard into the solera before gluing a brace on.

Another point that I think is important to Clark's method (because he mentions it frequently) is that he uses no relief (forward tilt) in his necks. So, to proper bridge saddle height is achieved by the dome in the top alone (hence the importance of dishing the solera deeper to allow for springback).

I'm making a new solera with a dish per Clark's dimensions and see how it goes...

Regards to all,

Bart Hovis

If my opinion matters, you need some 3mm, maybe more, of depth for a no-tilt neck. For such a deep solera (and maybe even for a regular depth one) you should ditch the '37 plan and try a later type of Hauser, as they have thinner tops. In any case Hauser did not use a deep Spanish type of doming. He built flat, I have to repeat it. Forcing a near 3mm thick top in a deep solera really risks a lot of springback.

Combining a tilted neck and a deep solera will result in a too low bridge.

To summarize, if you want to stay true to your plan, use a slight tilt (I think 2mm), and very shallow doming. I don't know what is the string height for that plan but the normal height for a classical is from 10 to 12mm at the bridge. You also want the plane of the unfretted fingerboard to touch the bridge at about 3-3.5mm. Some builders might use a sightly higher point. Some use a lower but that must be avoided as you might get that "low bridge with no saddle sticking out" situation.
It might sound a little better but it has two major drawbacks: you will often touch the soundboard with your nails, and in case the neck angles up in time, or want an extra low easy action, you wont have enough saddle left to lower it.

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Build log

Fillipo,

I've two soleras right now and I used to have a third. I no longer have the first one, which I actually made under Eugene's guidance. I have diverged a bit from Gene's basic way of arching, my arching right now is flatter. I have one solera with a larger plantilla and the it has 3/32nds of depth and the other a 1927 Santos pattern which has about an 1/8th of depth.

I think I remember Eugene making his solera at 3/16" deep. That would allow for some spring back. My Santos solera used to be that deep, but I cut it down around the edges to make it shallower. Eugene also shapes the sides and cross section profile of the fan braces by planing and sanding, then he presses them in and cuts the relief on the ends after the glue sets.