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Hi all,

Here are some picture of my work on my first classical guitar (spanish method). As I said elsewhere, I'm french and my english is really bad, I apologize for it. I had not woodworking skills so there is a lot of mistakes, my work is really a beginner work, so you can comment it and tell me where are the big errors i did (I think that my braces are too slim ... right ?)
Many thanks,

Cyril

That looks mighty fine to me Cyril. What are the dimensions of your fans and closing braces, and how thick is the top? Also, is the top thinner at the edges?

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Looks good to me Cyril, the fan braces may be slightly less than the Torres 7mm but they are definitly wider than Hauser 3.5-4mm who also uses the Torres kite pattern. Nice clean work so far.

Many thanks guys

Thickness of my top is 3.1 mm (0.122 inchs) at the center (near the hole) and 2.7mm (0.106inchs) at the edges. I've taken a safety margin (around 0.3mm) because I didn't know how much I will remove in the final sanding ... that's why it's a little thick. I won't do it next time, 0.3 mm is to much .
My fans are around 5mm, i was affraid that it was to slim, but you comfort me .

Looks good to me and your English is just fine

The first one I built had low wide profile bracing like yours and she still sounds wonderful today.

Do you have a close-up of the rosette?

Mine were 3mm wide, per the Romanillos plan.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy : what a nice work ! I've heard a romanillos like guitar several months ago ... very clean and pleasant sound, very near of the Bouchet sound (even if the fan braces are really different).

jfmckenna : Here is a closeup of the rosette ... the picture quality is not really good. I tried to do something really simple to do, just showing beauty of wood. It's a plate of olive tree (0.6mm) with 2 circles of african mahogany. Very simple as I haven't enough knowledge and skills to do better for the moment .

That rosette will be quite beautiful under finish. Nice job.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Cyril;
What wood are the back & sides?
Looks like nice work to me.
Make sure you put support braces or brackets on the braces above & below the sound hole.

Mike

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Mike Collins

The first is always exciting and fearful! There is so much to learn, just do the best that you can, learn from it, and move on.

Even though we have more guitar built than you do, we all started with out first, and we well remember the exhilaration and the fear.

What plans are you using?

Where in France are you? My wife is French, my children go to French school, and I struggle to learn as much French as I can. We spent 3 weeks in France last summer: Paris, Vimy, Jura, Provence.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Congratulations Cyril It appears to be a fine first effort so far. Take careful notes and document any and all aspects of your build. That way you will have the first data set by which to judge the results of your completed guitar.

I'm sure that this will be the first of many. Enjoy yourself and don't become anxious. The reward will come when you first hear it sing. Keep up the good work !

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Peter

Félicitations Cyril!

Everything looks OK to me .
I am about to start my first too. Please keep posting your results.

thank you all, very great for me to read your comments.

douglas : Yes, the first one is very exciting and I'm already thinking to the next one. I'm between Nantes and the sea, in britany. Where does your wife come from in france ?
The plans I'm using are plans from Neil Ostberg (http://mysite.verizon.net/nostberg/plans/index.htm). I've read the very good Roy Courtnall book and the "cahiers d'ateliers" (workshop notebook) from Robert Boucher to have a little of informations before to start the work.

Mike : my back and sides are made with african mahogany. I've put on the braces above & below the sound hole, i think that they do reinforce the sides too. They were note glued on my pictures but now they are.

Peter : I try to take notre during the process - especially concerning the thickness. I'm currently making some tests to fill pore with the white part of the egg. I've seen some old violin luthiers doing it, I hope I will found the good way to do it ... anyone having issues with it ?

It's very, very encouraging read your this topic. many thanks again ...
More pictures when it will be closed .

I like that rosette. After years of struggling to build complicated pixelated rosette designs I started doing solid wood designs like that and I really love how they look.

You should be proud of your first effort, building a guitar, especially a classical, is not an easy task, but you seem to be going in the right direction. If your fans are 5mm wide then just make them a little taller, say 4mm or so and everything should be fine. I do use the Torres 7mm x 3mm fans but a thinner top about 2.2mm grading to 1.9mm. However top thickness is always governed by the wood, so your thickness may be fine for your top.

No matter what I will guarantee that your guitar will be the best sounding one you've ever heard.

Good work.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Salut Cyril,

For the benefit of others, Neil Ostberg presents FE19 on his very good site.

My wife was born here, in Canada, but her family comes from all over France. Her father's family is from Normandy, her mother's family is from both Brittany and the Jura.

Enjoy the guitar building!

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I agree with all of them, that this is going to be a great guitar! Good job!

Keep up the good work, Cyril!