Official Luthiers Forum!

Excited about my first fan fret completion. I have 6 classical guitars (one custom made for me) all ranging from 640-660 scale lengths and this one plays easier than any of them. Can't wait to hear this puppy open up over the next few weeks and months. I went with a 640-655 scale length and decided to do my first with a straight nut and compensate at the saddle. I was very worried about spending all this time and the possibility of a poor final intonation/setup....but, all works great. I also created a violin tie for this guitar for a reason. This way, I was able to actually prestring the high and low E over the unglued bridge/saddle and test my unsure measurements for more exact intonation/location of the bridge/saddle prior to gluing it down. Great ease of mind.
Back and sides are a Amazon rosewood. Sinker redwood top. Curly maple binding and curly/birdseye maple and rosewood rosette. Pau Ferro fretboard and tie. Evo Gold frets. Cheap tuners.....didn't want to buy expensive tuners for a guitar that might not be worth playing when it was done.

I had trouble AGAIN with the gluing of the bridge. I scratched the top twice with my Xacto knife when prefitting the bridge. ARGH!!! I HATE prepping and gluing the bridge. I haven't had a good, clean looking fit yet on any of my builds. You'd e think a pro woodworker could pull this off. Butt-Not yet!

Overall...it turned out pretty good. I might actually build another one and use some of my more prized wood sets.
Kent Bailey

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

http://www.kabart.com

Kent,
Very nice work, I love that roset, it looks like marble... and some really nice carving too.
Forgive my noob question, but what is Evo?

Jeff

Nice work. I love the banjoesque carved heel and headstock...Mike

Nice one, very unusual. I like!

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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.

RE: bridge...violin tie
Actually the bridge is a little longer than normal because of the angle of the saddle but the tails are pretty thin and actually weighs less than a standard classical. I made it thinner on the tails because I knew I only needed to counter the stree of it rocking forward a little because the strings still route through the back of the bridge and over the saddle....unlike a arch top or violin. I didn't need to worry about the PULL from the strings themselves.
The Violin tie is only supported (glued) to an area slightly less than the width of the tie and on to the soundboard 1 inch. which would take it just a little past the heel block inside. the rest of the tie is relieved underneath leaving a 1/16 space between it and the soundboard. I then tried to keep the strings exiting the tie at the same level as entering the bridge so string stress would pull horizontally and not upward on the tie. I'm relying on that theory when I estimated the tie glue surface necessary for nylon string tension. Had I used this tie on a SS, I would have glued and inset 1-2 screws thru into the tail block and done an inlay of some sort over the screw.
Yes...it is a Banjoesque carving...That's what I do. I'm an artist and have e been carving banjos for companies for 30 years. I just can't help myself. I plan to carve any guitars I make in one way or another. It's different from everything I see and doesn't hamper any of my playing ability.
Kent

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

http://www.kabart.com

AND.....I really like the Evo gold fretwire from LMI.
KB

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

http://www.kabart.com

I love it. I am now wondering if I should use your bridge idea instead of the string retainer I normally use, on my current build. The carving looks really nice.