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One of my kids was wanting a classical guitar so I thought it would be fun to give one a try since I mostly have built steel string guitars. This one is Engelmann on Zebrawood. It has East Indian Rosewood finger board and bridge, carbon fibre re enforced Curly Maple neck. Bracing is Sitka based on Bogdanovitch's book. Maple and Zebrawood Rosette and Gotoh tuners. Nitrocellulose lacquer(unfortunatly). I would have liked to have given a go at French Polish. I wanted a bit tougher finish for my 13 year old daughter to use and abuse. She'll be mostly playing pop music and singing, which is just fine. Maybe the next one will see FP. This was a really enjoyable build. I took the easy route and did a bolt on neck. I'm glad I did as I set the action too high and had to take the neck off for a reset. Most everything else went pretty well. I was a little small short on the peg head. The tuners just fit. I would add at least 1/2" to the next one. I also could have used a either a little less headstock angle or deeper slotting. The strings are touching a bit. I would have liked to have gotten the bridge a little lighter. I couldn't get it under 24 grams. Well I guess I could have but I would have had to hollow it out.

I'm happy with the tone. It seems to be very bright and well balanced. I'm looking forward to trying different strings. It's a little light on the bass but has cheap strings on now for setup. I'm also looking forward to playing the heck out and hearing it open up.









Thanks for looking and I would welcome any critique.

Cheers,
Danny

Beautifull work . Love that Zebra wood look ! Shes gonna love it Im sure

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Very nice, Danny. I really like the rosette - it is a nice departure from the usual on a classical guitar. The curl on the neck and zebra backstrap look great! Lucky daughter!

Alex

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Awfully nice guitar for a 13yr old. She's very lucky

Delightful!
Get some decent strings on and some playing time and I bet it opens up just fine...

I like the curly neck with the stripy body...

I think it looks great! Your daughter must be very happy!


Posted using two tin cans and some string.

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Nice work. Lucky daughter.

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Well done! She's gonna love it.

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George :-)

nice looking guitar Danny!!

Thanks for the kind words. She is a pretty lucky kid but I am fortunate to have 2 great daughters. I suppose the Maple neck is possibly a little unconventional in the classical world but this thing sustains like crazy! I'm sure when word gets out that you can use woods other than Mahogany and Spanish Cedar it's going to shake things up. Remember folks where you saw it first. Actually, the neck was destined to be wood flooring stair bullnose. I rescued it from one of my friends who manufactures flooring here. The Zebrawood is from PJ White in Vancouver.

Thanks Again

Real nice

Fred

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Beautiful. The zebrawood and maple compliment each other well.

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I like it very much!
Mc

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Danny, that is very nice!!!!

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Thanks again you guys! I appreciate it. That was my 10th guitar. Funny. I've been woodworking on and off all my life and thought I was pretty good at it. Building guitars is very humbling. My builds are starting to get more consistently clean but I know there is some silly feau paux waiting around the next bend to bite me in the bum.

I do wish I had a talented wife like you Rod to do my photography.

We are both really enjoying this one. It is opening up nicely. Engelmann is sure a lot different than Cedar. It seems to be much, much brighter. I think I have to do another classical soon. This time with French polish.
Cheers,
Danny

Ya, she makes my guitars look 1000 times better

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson