Official Luthiers Forum!

I finally got my first classical guitar built, finished nicely (after an abortive first attempt I had to sand it right back to bare wood and start over ), and all strung up and setup properly, ready to deliver to it's new owner tomorrow! I think she'll be pleased - it sounds really nice to my ears - seems to have good even tone across the whole fretboard, and is plenty loud enough

I call it my model HD-1 (Hauser Derivative #1) since it's based on the 1937 Hauser shape with some John Bogdanovich inspired adjustments to the design. It has a mortise and tenon bolt on one-piece mahogany neck (with a carbon fiber rod in it) that's disguised to look like Spanish heel construction, body built in a dish rather than on a solera, EIRW back and sides, spruce top (I forget whether it's Engleman or Lutz now....either way, it's a truly wonderful soundboard), ebony bindings, ebony fingerboard, BRW bridge, spalted maple headplate and rosette, zipflex blue paua purfling back and front and around the rosette, Schaller tuners, D'Addario strings, Z-Poxy fill, Enduro pre-catalized urethane finish.

Click on the pictures to see the high-res versions. Enjoy.







I'll try to get a recording of a real guitarist playing it and put it up in this thread shortly. Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Dave,
That's a very beautiful guitar, congratulations
I'm absolutely sure the owner will love it.
The zipflex is really very tasteful, understated and suits the guitar.
Excellent!!
Mat

Dave, that's a beauty. It looks very well executed.
Keep up the good work!
I look forwards to the soundclip arriving.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Outstanding Dave!!! She's a beauty and you did a great job my friend!!!

Thanks for the kind words guys! I can't wait to see Jamie's face when she opens the case tomorrow

A quick question - it's been strung up for about 12 hours now, the wirewound strings have stopped stretching and are staying in tune, but the nylon strings seem to still be stretching....the rate of stretch has slowed down a lot, but it doesn't seem like they'll stop for at least another 12 hours or more. Is this normal? I have no frame of reference, having never strung up a classical guitar before today! How long the nylon strings continue to stretch and go flat?

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Dave, they won't be stable for about a week. They don't get changed often the way steel string guitars are. Some people change the wound strings but leave the unwound strings on for much longer lengths of time.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Like Jim says, they take about a week to start to settle down. Try over stretching them a bit and relaxing them back to pitch.

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

Beautiful work Dave !!! Very nice and the zipflex sets off the ebony binding quite well. The rosette looks great and the silking on the top is beautiful. Nice wood selection and keep up the great work.

In regards to the strings; like Doug says, stretch them a bit and they will settle much more quickly. Pull each of the unwound strings up about an inch of displacement from it's at-rest position and then tune again. Do this a few times over the course of the first few days and they should be great.

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Peter

Dave, it's beautiful and exciting. Congratulations! I love the rosette and bearishclaw top.

Nice job Dave. Good looking instrument. Everyone is right about the strings.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Another beauty! Zip flex ..very tasteful.
Yep....a week for the strings to totally stretch....However, most of the loss in intonation on fresh strings are the wraps themselves not clinching tight. I always do a string pull on each string a few times after they get strung up. This tightens the wraps on the peghead and bridge Do one string at a time...just pull it to add additional tension and retune. Takes about 6 times and that minimizes the issue.
Don't pull real hard. It doesn't take much...and you'll see what I mean.
Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Very lovely work, esp. the rosette. 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

dave-absolutely beautiful guitar!
And workmanship!
Did you leave alot of windings on the treble string posts?
Use very little on those 3 strings -it helps them to settle in faster.
The more windings you have the longer it takes for them to settle because the windings keep tightning up like a knot.

Keep up the good work!

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Mike Collins

Thanks guys! Jamie, the new owner, was over the moon (mainly because it was finally finished, I think!) when I delivered it to her yesterday. She seemed to know all about breaking in a new set of strings. Mike - I had 2 turns on the nylon strings (pure luck) and 3 turns on the wirewound ones, so I think that'll work out fine. I think Jamie's taking the guitar to her group class today. She seems to think I'll get more orders from the people at her college.....we'll see!

Onwards. I'm building two OM-C guitars next. Looking forward to using some exceptional woods on those....

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

That rosette is among the most gorgeous I have seen. Great looking guitar.

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Always remember you are unique......just like everyone else.

Very nice David!

Your first classical looks like it could be your 100th.

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Wow!!!!
Great job - wish my #1 Classical looked like that
Love the rosette as well - that is inspiring.
Post a pic of your headstock if you get around to it.
Thanks for posting!!!

beautiful top! looks great!