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Looks immaculate. Lovely workmanship. I am sure that this will turn out! Can't wait to hear it!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Looks just right, Filippo! Good work.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Looking good Filippo!

Just a question, I thought it's more common to notch the brace over the bridge pad rather than notching the bridge pad.
Any special reasons for it?

Sen

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

That's very fine work Filippo.

Coln

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

Phillipo, I'll ask the same question as Sen. In your second photo it appears as though you are notching the bridge pad for each of the fan braces? I've always been a proponent of the bridge pad acting not only as a brace and stiffener but also allowing the energy of the string input to be transmitted across the grain of the top. The speed of sound in wood transmits much more quickly along the grain in contrast to across the grain. A continuous bridge pad will transmit input across the grain of the top much more effectively than a segmented one.

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Peter

These guitars work great without the pad there at all, so I wouldn't rate the bridge pad transmitting vibration along its length is more important that having good structural fan braces. The pad is directly under the bridge which is contributing a lot to the equation.

Looking good Filippo! This is the fun part, from now on its just work!

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

Looks excellent thus far.

What is your primary reference as to construction detail??

Hauser used a spruce bridge pad around 1.5 mm at it's thickest and feather edged at the periphery.
As per the discussion though, he notched the fans to go OVER the plate and, importantly, left the cross section of the brace (which is "gable" end shaped otherwise) square only in the area where it crosses the pad.

The Brune' plan clearly shows this, that is why I was curious as to which one you are using.

Best

Filippo you have my support on this one - I wouldn't notch my fan braces, pad or not, even if the Flood follows it.

What I would change though, is to use a more triangular shape instead of the almost square now, and increase the taper behind the bridge. Of course it all depends on the top etc etc etc. You should build it as your gut feels and after it's done and a bit aged in (6-12months) you will have a good comparison start for your next one.

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Build log

Your work looks very nice. Regarding the bridge patch, Marcelo Barbero sometimes cut the patch also, rather than
notching the braces, so that's pretty good company too. Looking forward to seeing the finished guitar.

According to Dake Traphagen, Hauser II sometimes didn't glue the patch but still notch the fan braces at where the patch should have been.

Your work looks very nice. I'm sure you'll like her sound.

I agree with the approach (in general) of keeping the fan braces as intact as possible by not notching them, thus in my own guitars I do not use a bridge plate.
I think the value in building other makers designs is to better understand their approach in order to further inform one's own. This excercise can lose some of it's value I think as a learning experience if too many modifcations are made in the construction or materials from the original concept.

That said, considering this is your first classical, you should attain very satisfactory results with what's been done here and hopefully take away important experience to inform your future building.

I've always wondered if a signature in ink can bleed through to the top over time.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Filippo,

The Hauser has a flat top join between the top and sides? You could have used a kerfed lining? (Just wondering - I'm working on a Romanillos-style guitar now that has the top fall away from the plain of the upper bout, with the top sitting inside of the unprofiled sides, and the little tentellone buggers are a neccessity.

Your work looks very clean - very nice! I think the question of whether to notch the braces or the bridge patch almost begs for an experiment. At this point, I'd do what you did on the strength of (1) heh, these are important structural elements - I'm not thinning them right at the point where they probably matter most, and (2) that bridge patch thing isn't even there on the one's I'm building now anyway.

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I agree about moving to the wide slot and double wedge, although ... I've been using the single thin slot so far, and I do enjoy the freedom of setting the neck angle as part of the back glue-up, following David Schramm's process.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I've always been impressed with David's work but his opinion is dead wrong on this one. Notching the brace on the side that contacts the top has almost zero effect on brace strength. Look up the engineering of trusses to understand why it doesn't.

I can't tell from the pics the grain orientation of the bridge plate but if it's 90o to the braces, cutting it will effectively drop the long grain stiffness of the plate to zero.

Not trying to imply anything about tone, just stating some engineering facts.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Looking really good Filippo! Your workmanship looks very clean and the photography is well done. It's a pleasure to follow you (and everyone contributing) on this.

Cheers,
Danny

Thanks a lot for shearing and posting so much pics of your work... It's very useful...

It looks great...

I have a question with the CA pore filling... Don't you have an exothermic reaction using such quantity of glue at a time ? I did notice these kind of reaction when filling the maple burl holes of my guitar in process...

Maybe, there is a specific type of CA glue to use for these purpose ?

Have a nice day,

Cheers,

Ben

Some questions and suggestions.

-What did you use to cut the neck slots with. I think you can get a much cleaner joint using a quality Japanese dovetail saw like Razorsaw (Gyokucho) 371. To guide the cut I clamp a beveled hardwood block while proofed by a trysquare. Optionally to make sure the saw doesn't wander you can clamp another block on the other side of the saw, block with a reversed bevel. This is only necessary when the saw is dull or decalibrated.
-you don't need that much cut angle, seems to be at least double now. Just a little bit, enough to follow the direction of the side curvature nicely, only.

-are you going to inlay a backstrip? The tiny and asymmetrical sapwood leftovers look less than ideal.

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Build log

Perhaps you can post a straight-at picture of the back so we can see it better.

Regarding the neck joint, even if you use the wedge method, you still need to make a clean cut
I only used this method on all my 6 scratch builds but I might try to traditional method soon, when i think at it it seems to be easier given how nice the Japanese saw works. As an example, using a simple spacer jig and a Ryoba (spineless saw) I sliced 6 sheets of veneer less than 1mm thick from a figured rosewood fingerboard.... I'm not bragging, just presenting a hard fact in favor of a J saw. It can be probably pulled with a good English extra-thin saw too, but the J are also *very* fast.

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Build log

Thanks for the neck Filippo

You're pics a useful to me, because I'm preparing an acoustic project and I got the mold to do, etc... So I'm picking ideas and tips everywhere...

When using CA to fill the holes in the burl maple top, I noticed "fumes", bubbles and heat... but in fact you're right, it is not that much glue with your method and purpose (pore filling and not burl's holes filling)...

What is the quantity of CA needed on one acoustic guitar ?

Yes, that was perfectly clear. I was saying that his opinion was contrary to fact.

As to the grain direction, what I really wanted to know was if the long grain was running parallel or perpendicular to the fan bracing.

BTW....excellent work so far. Looks great.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Yep, that was my method. Don't know if it's original or not, but I did it for the same reason. No place to put a deck big enough for a solera to sit inside. Works fine for closing the box.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Filippo

Thanks for posting pictures of your build, please continue. I have enjoyed it and the information.


Dwight

FIlippo: What a wonderful thing your doing to let your son help with the guitar.He'll learn lots and will remember that forever....!Your a good father...! Take care.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!