Official Luthiers Forum!

I was inspired by Mike O'Melia's recent post to ask the same question with regard to classical guitars. I have a grand daughter and children of friends that I would like to make small classical guitars for. I have had no luck so far in finding any plans for such in the usual places. Dave Hurd in Hawaii had made a beautiful (and beautiful sounding) little guitar based on a Baritone Uke' plantilla a few years back which I saw and heard at GAL convention. However, when I asked him recently he couldn't help me with any plans, building details, etc.

Consequently, does anyone out there know of any plans for a classical type guitar that would be suitable for a child in the 6 - 10 age range?

Thanks,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Max, the GAL offers some plans for smaller guitars. I'm specifically referring to plan #54 for a requinto. That may suffice. The only issue is that the body of a requinto is as deep as a regular classical but that can be easily adjusted as necessary.

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Peter

Max-
I found some info about sizes and scale lengths at
http://www.smallguitars.com/results.php?CategoryID=24


Acoustic Guitars:

7/8 size - good for kids ages 11-14 and smaller bodies and hands.
3/4 size - good for kids ages 8-11 and small bodies and hands.
1/2 size - good for travel, and kids ages 5-8.
1/4 size and Mini - good for travel and kids ages 3-5.



With the Suzuki Method classes for guitar (I thought they only did violin...), I guess there are quite a few smaller guitars being sold.

Strunal in Czech Republic produces a wide range of smaller guitars, apparently....
http://www.strunal.cz/new/index.php?cat=products&id=5

I'll try to post the specs separately....

Let us know how your research progresses on this!

Cheers
John

From the Strunal website:
SIZE A B C D E F G H
4/4 1000 650 368 490 100 52 22 24
7/8 940 620 346 460 95 48 21 23
3/4 885 570 325 435 92 45 20 22
1/2 825 530 313 400 88 43 19 21
1/8 720 440 262 343 75 43 19 21

ALL DIMENSIONS IN MILLIMETERS

(sorry about the table formatting...)

Max

If you have plans for a standard size classical, you can take them to any copy center, such as Kinkos, and get them copied at a reduced size for the body size.


Bob

You can also take any image off the web, convert it to vector image, and resize it. This
works great because you can take a jpeg, convert it to a vector image, and then use it
in a standard CAD program. I used Win Topo freeware to do the vectorization.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I am a BIG fan of the Torres SE117 type of guitar for younger players. I recently built three of them. They may be small in size, but not in sound! These are still serious guitars.

The Panormo would be a good middle size for a slightly older player.

I would offer that there is much more to making a small sized nylon string guitar than just reducing the size of everything.

In the photo the SE117 is on the left, a standard size Torres classical in the center, and a Panormo is on the right.

SE117 scale 604mm
Panormo scale 630mm
Full size scale 650mm

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

Thanks, everybody for your input.

Doug, I'm really intrigued by the Torres SE 117. I will have to see about getting a set of plans.

Peter, I had forgot about the requinto. I will have to go back and take another look.

Best regards,

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Does anyone know anything about the Courtnall plan being sold by LMI, of an 1888 Torres with a smaller body and a scale length of 604mm? This is not the SE117 is it? Thanks, Wendy

Wendy-
I checked in my copies of the Courtnall book and Romanillos' book on Torres and the specs match the SE117.
It's the only 1888 guitar Romanillos lists that has a 604mm scale length.

Cheers
John

Thanks for asking this question.

Wendy,

Thanks for mentioning that plan! Sounds like it is indeed Torres' SE117.

Regards,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Great info. Thanks to all.

Ed

I always thought that it was the same, but have never had the chance to check.

I built mine from the Courtnall book. First time that I saw those plans I thought to myself, "Why would I want to build THAT little guitar?". I ended up building three, so far...

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

Doug, I really loved your SE117 triplets, and I have been thinking of building one for a friend who struggles to play due to very arthritic hands. What kind of tuners did you use on the slotted headstocks? I'm assuming that regular classical tuners are too large. Thanks, Wendy

I used Rubners on one and Taiwanese eBay tuners for the other, but they were Rubner knockoffs. I chose the Rubner as being a good tuner at low cost. the Taiwanese tuners suited my other daughter, didn't cost a lot, and are not as good as the Rubners.

They are standard size classical machines. choose tuners to suit your interest. The only caveat that I would offer is to consider light weight as an additional issue. The guitar is small and you don't want to get the head too heavy.

These guitars don't have the BIG sound of a full size classical, but that is mostly found in the depth and resonance of the bass. For playing at home-perfect, and so easy to play. I'd play mine more, but I've go this new FE17 thing that is sooo captivating-I can't bring myself to play anything else

Good luck with your build!

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