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Two classicals I recently finished, a WRC/EIR with koa bindings, and a BRW/european spruce. Thanks for looking.








Also, two soundclips, one from each guitar (don't expect much, it's my playing recorded on a handheld recorder).
Romance
Adelita

Beautiful guitars, Marc! What are the machines on the BRW guitar?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks Waddy, those are antique Landsdorfer/Reischls

Absolutlely beautiful Marc !!
How about some specs?
Top bracing-wood thicknesses --etc..!!
How do they sound??

Great work !
Mike

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Mike Collins

Thanks Mike, they have a nice sound, the WRC has a lot of sustain, the BRZ has a more piano like sound, there are some sound clips at the end of my original post I guess I should have put them at the top.

They're traditional spanish construction, span. cedar necks, spanish heel (Romanillos wedge type), french polish, hide glue, Torres/Hauser kite style fan bracing, v-joints (Romanillos style). Top is graduated from 2.6mm to around 2.1 at the edges. I made the EIR/WRC very light a little thinner on the backs and sides, smaller heel and tail blocks and all WRC bracing even on the back. The BRZ/Spruce I used spruce bracing. and span cedar on the back.

Really nice work Marc !! EIR/Koa is one of my favorites. The V-joint neck really stands out nicely with the backplate on the headstock. Is the finish FP?

Keep up the nice work

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Peter

Delightful!
Nice light 6-fan brace pattern...

Beautiful look and sound on both guitars!

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Bobby Masten

Actually 7 not 6 braces, last is obscured by the side.


They look great (especially the spruce / Brazilian, all 3 elements (face, B&S and rosette are warm and blend in so nicely) and also sound very nice.

Now let's turn on the interrogatory lamp:

Which is which? Spruce for the Romance?
Top bracing is Sitka or did you "paint" it.
Lower bout width?



Thanks!

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Build log

Beautiful guitars!!!

Marc beautiful workmanship, I particularly like the BRW/spruce guitar, but then I'm a bit of a Spanish traditionalist. What's the plantilla you're using? Lovely sound from both guitars, and the playing isn't bad either!

Colin

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

Thanks everyone for the nice words.

Peter, yes everything is french polish

Alex, your right the bracing has a lot of contrast to the top. This was some really old spruce bracewood I bought a few years back from lmii, it isn't sitka because I can't recall ever buying sitka bracewood, anyway I chose it on this guitar because it had very straight annual rings and was stiff and light. I've now switched to buying adi bracewood from Colonial Tonewoods. The lower bout width is 14.5" (368mm). Yes, Romance is played on the BRZ, was that just a guess or could you tell? Adelita on the WRC (my apologies to Colin, I know, Tarrega should be played on spruce).

Colin, thanks for saying the playing isn't bad, I take that as a high compliment coming from you. I learned Adelita after hearing you play it on your CD. After listening to your recording and trying to play it I realized how far I have to go. I'm still learning, long long ways to go. The plantilla is my own. I based it on a few arbitrary geometric rules, circles with centers lying on the max and mins of the bouts. I minimized the straight segments, I like curves and soft transitions. Turns out to be almost identical to a Hauser, mine is just a few mm trim in the bottom part of the lower bout. Its easily exactly reproduceable with a compass and ruler. LB - 368 mm Waist - 238 mm UB - 280 mm.

I have some extra dark Carpathian spruce. I found a beam which was lying in my garage for nearly 10 years in a pile of planks, leftovers from construction scaffolding. The typical tan of old spruce has gone quite deep in it. It is not as dark as some Sitka I have but close. The beam was a hefty 4x4" and 3 feet long, after I cut the checked ends, most of it is perfectly usable for bracing. 15-18 lpi, no grain twist, light and stiff and the pieces I split from it ring very nicely. When split or planed it has a sort of crispy feel to it.

Maybe aged spruce is not coveted for nothing, after all?

Here is a pic on top of some clean German spruce.

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Build log

I won't claim I can tell spruce from cedar, and on a recording too! Rather ridiculous. But the Romance guitar seemed sweeter. People often say "spruce clear/bright, cedar warm" but I don't really buy it. But in general, I do find spruce guitars to be sweeter.

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Build log

Nice! Do you have any pics of the Rosettes?

Thanks Chris, here's a couple of pics of the rosettes.

Beautiful tone! I actually found your playing to be quite nice. Very simple and very nice.

Thanks for sharing.

Marc,
I'm assuming you made the rosettes, is that correct?

Thanks Peter, I'm glad you like the tone. I love to play but at my level the music has to be fairly simple or I can't manage it.

Chris, yes I made both rosettes, the one with the wheat is one I've made before and plan to keep using. The one with the spiral is the first one I've made of that design. I have a new design I'm working on that I plan on trying to build in the next month or two, it's going to be a little more challenging, hopefully it works out.