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Yes! Young fingers are sensitive, and it's nice to keep them that way if possible (my sister doesn't play guitar just for this reason). I doubt there's any way to avoid callus development with steel strings, but low tension, low action nylons are soft enough that they might not.

Oh, and in your size calculations, don't forget that she'll be taller by the time the guitar is done

And I vote 3 fan braces. The outer two should pass under the ends of the bridge wings so you get good linkage for strength (the fans and bridge make a sort of lattice-like structure), and no unnecessary bridge wood past the braces so you have good cross grain flexibility (strong cross dipole motion).
I wouldn't bother with an internal bridge patch.

Here's my take on the small Torres shown in the first chapter of Courtnall's "Making Master Guitars.
604 mm scale, Sitka and ribbon sapelle with a rose pattern rosette. I modified the plan to incorporate
a bolt-ion neck, but otherwise it's true to the original dimensions. Nora is 7, and while it's a little big
for her right now, she's doing fine on the basic chords, learning from her Dad.

_________________
Gene

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

I come at this from the ukulele end, mainly sopranos and sub-sopranos. And I got to play a guitalele on Saturday, so have some idea how that sounds.

Tenor and baritone ukes are made with three fan braces and a bridge patch, so I'd stick with that. But make the bridge patch really light.

Spruce tops on ukes sound very brash and trebly whereas cedar offers a little more in the bass, so you might want to consider cedar after all (but it will, of course, show every ding). For spruce I might go even to 2.2mm, as it can sound very banjo-like at 1.8mm from experience. Cedar could be 2.2mm or even a little more without losing volume. I recently made an 11-inch scale sub-soprano witth a cedar top which was easily as loud as most sopranos, and that came in at 2mm.

I'm here in Puerto Rico and coincidentally saw a guy playing one yesterday. Spoke with hima and he told me it was a Requinto guitar tuned to A instead of E. didn't get a scale length but it sounded sweet !

Always nice to check in and see lots of replies! Thanks to everyone!

Michael, Great to see a full width fretboard on it, darn, she could be using this thing for longer than I thought! And I'm sure you're right to keep my expectations down. As long as it doesn't sound worse than the Yamaha, I'm happy.

Doulgas, You're absolutely right. How good it sounds really only matters to me. She's interested in it looking pretty and she's going to choose from mockups I print out of different designs. The most important thing is that it's comfortable to play! No way I'll forget that, I had the same experience as you with an unplayable guitar! I'm going to have the lowest action possible for her... And it will obv be nylon strings. Even her dad's fingers get sore after a few minutes playing my (SS) guitar!



Dennis, That's just the kind of input I'm looking for! That's all going straight onto my plan!

Gene, That guitar is a beaut! I'm hoping the little one will still be playable when she's 6 or 7 (in the way a Baby Taylor or Little Martin is playable for us) and I'll make her a bigger one then. Probably the ES117. Though I may have to build on of them sooner than that! Loving it!

Steve, Glad to hear it sounded good, I'm trying to get away without tuning it up to A but it may be necessary in the end. Chances are, the strings will be very floppy tuned to EADGBe, so I was thinking of using extra high tension strings to make up for that, assuming that it still won't feel like normal tension. If I still have to tune it up to get decent playability/sound (which I suppose I probably will) then we'll just have to capo our guitars when teaching her. I was thinking of using my old Baby Taylor to teach her with, just so a full size guitar doesn't over power hers completely.

Chris, Great to hear from you! The cedar top crossed my mind for just those reasons! I'd certainly like a bit of extra warmth. 2-2.2mm sounds reasonable and lines up with Douglas's advice. 1.8mm was a little scary.

Still interested in hearing other opinions though! Particularly regarding spruce vs cedar. I've also had one vote for an incredibly light bridge patch and one vote for none at all. I'm tempted toward the latter based on the fact that the bridge itself will be a significant brace in that location.

Maybe something like this, with outer sticks that run from the UTB down?


This is really wonderful help, guys! Thanks so much. There's no telling how I'd have built it without all your input!

(I was going to be building another before this but Ill focus on this one now, my brother can wait for his. I've based all my measurements on the assumption I get it built for her in the next few months. I'm going to order the MOP and start the fretboard inlay ASAP.)

Hurry, hurry! If you don't get it built in short order she'll have outgrown it and you'll have to build a bigger guitar. Wishing you all the best!

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

Bit of an update:

Managed to sort out permanent power in my garage for the first time!
Nearly finished building the thickness sander.
And the wood for this guitar arrives within the next few days.

Here is how the plan is looking now, I've drawn it out on stiff paper too...



It's a genuine 3/4 size (unlike most "3/4 size" guitars )

480mm Scale length [nylon strings], 362mm body length, 260mm lower bout width

Modified 12 fret 00 shape
European Spruce top - 2mm flat top - purple [dilute] water based aniline dye - 64-66mm soundhole size.
European Spruce bracing
Mahogany neck - bolt on butt joint
Rosewood back and sides - 2mm 15 foot radius back, 2mm sides 72-78 mm depth
Rosewood head veneer
Rosewood bridge
Rosewood fretboard with MOP inlay - 44mm nut width (for small hands)
Rosewood rosette with black ABS outlines
Black ABS binding
Schaller MK mini single tuning machines
Liberon finishing oil finish - no pore filling
Bone nut and saddle
No truss rod - are CF rods essential at this size?

Erm.. can't think of anything else...

Questions:

1. Bridgeplate or no bridgeplate?
2. Does the bracing look ok? Fans in right places?
3. Is the upper bout/headblock area going to be properly supported?
4. Fretboard thickness?
5. Best way to make my rosette? No fretboard to cover it so I'm going to join and cutout a rosewood ring. Just not sure about the black ABS outlines to match the binding?
6. Any suggestions?
7. Will I need extra narrow frets? Mando frets? Uke frets?
8. Soundhole size roughly ok? a beritone uke plan about the same size had a 64mm soundhole.
9. Bridge footprint big enough? Currently 170 x 27ish I think.

I was a bit worried it may look toy-like but the cutout plan looks great to me and I think the purple top will work with the rosewood nicely. (Just to be clear, she has her little heart set on a purple guitar, bt I think this will still look classy.)

Thanks for reading and for any help! Can't wait to get started. My first classical so I need to get the neck right! Any advice at all would be most welcome!

Cheers,
Nick

I tried tuning down my guitar with the really tight carbon strings (Galli GR95) and capoing to approximate 480mm scale... it's pretty darn floppy and dull sounding. So then I tried tuning up one more fret so it's about 520mm E to E, and it sounds half decent. So I'd say go at least that high if you have any hope of standard tuning. Otherwise just plan on terz tuning (G to G), in which case 480mm should be good.

Neck reinforcement... depends on the thickness of the neck, string tension, wood, and length of the neck. Given your stats, I'd say skip it.

I like purple, and using a dye rather than opaque paint should look beautiful And these little guitars are definitely real instruments, and not mere toys. Just have to avoid cutting too many corners on the decoration so they look like it.

Now the questions.
1. Either way is fine. Go with your gut after you have the plate thinned down and ready to brace.
2. You're cutting it pretty close on the bridge wing/fan overlap... I'd say bring the lower ends in a touch.
3. Not by my standards, but lots of guitars are built that way and seem to hold up.
4. Depends on the string-height-at-bridge, and I've screwed it up several times before. Err on the thin side.
5. Do you have a router with circle cutter? If so it should be pretty straightforward.
6. I'll put this down below
7. Nope.
8. Looks about right.
9. That's plenty.

And now, my suggestions...

Give it 19 frets. Move the soundhole down a bit if necessary (see my coral snake guitar). Give the fingerboard end a nicer shape too, not just square.

Bevel the tail block glue surfaces so the part that's actually in contact with the soundboard and back is about the same width as the linings. Frees up more soundboard vibrating area, while keeping the tailblock thick enough to support a strap pin (the only purpose of it having a significant thickness at all, IMO)

A-frame braces connecting the headblock to the upper cross brace. Optionally continuing under that to the lower cross brace instead of the flat grafts (see my coral snake guitar)

Something lower density for the bridge. Padauk, mulberry, Taz blackwood, koa (not curly), pecan... maybe walnut or mahogany, but both of those are pretty variable in terms of damping/tap tone, and mahogany might be a little on the soft side, so look for a high density piece.

Light colored wood binding. Plastic screams cheap toy to me... even on expensive Taylors. Black plastic against rosewood = ick, and not girly. Curly maple would be ideal, but harder to bend. Straight grained maple would still look way more classy than any plastic. Do a single layer of rosewood veneer as purfling. Dye the soundboard before you round over the bindings, and the rounding will remove the dye from the binding, and the purfling gives you a little safety so you don't cut into the dye on the soundboard. But test on scrap to make sure the dye doesn't soak into the maple deep at all. Use purfling strips as tall as the binding to avoid having to route a separate channel. Skip the back binding if you want to save work, it looks fine either way. Personally I'd do 3/16" (4-5mm) tall binding, given the small size and shallow body depth. 1/4" would look clunky.

More feminine headstock shape... not all square and pointy.

...that's all I've got for now Can you tell I love guitar design? Don't feel obligated to do any of this... just my opinions.

Thanks so much Dennis, just the kind of input I was looking for! I can tell you love designing guitars! I'm still pretty unsure of myself in that area... And most other areas! (btw, I was thinking it would probably have to go up to G. Are your strings higher tension than the Pro Arte extra high tension ones? - I'm actually going to tune it to an open chord (G?) to begin with and get her playing some one finger barres chords! Sound ok?)

I need to get some inspiration to redesign the head and fretboard (I'd like to redo the bridge a bit too) but I've changed the binding scheme, moved the lower brace ends in a touch, modified the tailblock, and added the A frame braces to headblock area (that was in my initial design, does it look ok?). I'll start work on the headstock and fretboard end shapes, but may I ask why you think it should have 19 frets? I'm willing to be convinced



Interesting about the lower density bridge. I guess I'd have to choose one that matches the rosewood as best as possible. Gonna have to work out where I can go to pick one out.

If I go with maple binding with rosewood outline purfling, do you think I could go for a maple rather than mahog neck? I'm still getting used to designing guitars - not sure if that will blend nicely or look weird? I'm still not 100% sure about light binding but I think you're right about the plastic.. Need to think it over some more. How does it look to you now? (Obviously only a crude drawing ) (I'll definitely go with your advice and making the binding 4-5mm and I'll do the back binding with just maple.)

Dying before rounding the binding edges is a great idea, I'm still a little worried about bleed into the binding but I did have a little voice at the back of my head saying exactly what you have about the plastic (I was silencing that voice with excuses like: well, it will offer more protection from dings and dents )... In which case, maybe the rosette should be maple with rosewood outline, though I guess I'd have to mask it darn well to avoid bleed when I dye the top. I've got a circle cutter and dremel tool... Maybe I'll cutout the maple and inlay it into rosewood, and then cut it out again to get the rosewood outlines. Is there an easier way?

By the way, the coral snake guitar is gorgeous! Love the shape in particular... Does my modified 00 shape look ok to you?

Glad you think it has some potential! Thanks for helping it reach that potential!

Just though, the bracing on that plan is all about 5mm thick? Sound ok or can I go thinner? I'm adapting the heights and shapes from the 117, I think. I'll run the upper A under the UTB... I'm guessing it wouldn't be wise to try to run them all the way down?

All the best,
Nick

Nick, I'm a little late to the party, but since I have a couple of grandkids that are interested in learning, I'll throw this out.

Children don't develop some of the fine motor skills necessary to play until they're 5 or 6 years old, building for much younger than that doesn't make much sense. The width is more important than the scale length, they're fingers are shorter and narrower, so a string spacing too close for an adult finger works better for them. I'd consider 38mm width at the nut. The downside is they would outgrow it when their fingers get bigger.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

This is going to be for her forth birthday and I've made it so it should still be a comfortable size at 5 and 6... Even better, I think, from what I've read 48cm is slap bang in the middle of that recommended for 4 and 6 year olds, so it should make it slightly easier for her to reach down a fret or two when she actually can. She's mainly going to wildly strum this for a long time I'm sure! I could throw together a little uke or something but I want her to have something lovely.

They go to on holiday to a static caravan regularly so this can continue to be a "travel guitar" even when I make her a bigger one! (She aint gonna play no factory guitars )... I can play a Baby Taylor perfectly well so I'm sure she'll play it... Hope Who knows... She may never take to it. I only started playing when I was 21 but I had had guitars around me since I was a kid (but a father who kinda put me off them because of his impatient teaching methods - something I'd never let myself do) so I learnt much quicker than a couple of mates who started at the same time just because I knew a few chords but not what to do with them.

38mm nut is smaller than I was planning... There's a good article that says 43 is quite safe, but maybe 41 would be a good compromise. I'm going to tune it to open G or so and teach her twelve bar blues with one finger chords... That should keep her occupied for a bit... She's a really cool kid. Conducts full conversations already (I didn't say my first word till I was older! ha), I'm sure she'll manage one finger over the strings. What i'm saying is I don't mind risking it. Thanks for your advice though! I may be utterly wrong and maybe I'll regret one thing or another but I take full responsibility if it turns out to be a bad or mediocre idea and I'll learn something from it. Her father and I have already ordered all the bits I need anyway!

This all started because she loves strumming on a uke. I was going to make her a nice one... Then I though, heck, I can't even show her anything on a uke, build her a guitar! Why not. No one I'd rather build one for right now.


EDIT: I also meant to thank Dennis for actually testing out the scale length for me!!!

Never tried extra high Pro Arte, and I can't find any tension listing on the Gallis

Open tunings are indeed fun. I keep one of my guitars in DADEAD all the time. Much more intuitive than standard for freestyle playing, so making open tuning her first experience will hopefully encourage that

19 frets to encourage freestyle playing and composition, and avoid frustration when trying to figure out how to play known songs. Limits are bad for creativity. Plus the 19th fret is a musically logical stopping point, so it intuitively teaches theory On the other hand, she might never use anything above the 3rd fret... you never know with kids.

Bridge wood needn't match fingerboard wood, but on second thought rosewood should be good. The main effect I'd expect is a little quieter, and kids have sensitive ears so that may be a good thing, especially when smacking the strings on the frets by accident.

Maple or mahogany neck would both be fine. Straight grained maple would probably be a bit cheaper, plus you could cut your own binding strips from the board to save even more cash Although you do have to study the grain of the board and possibly waste some wood to get yourself aligned so there's no runout in the strips (makes them break or twist when bending). Use a scraper and block plane to refine the thickness and height of them after sawing.

In drawing form, the light colored binding does look a little odd, but in my mind's eye of the finished 3D product with rosewood visible... definitely better.

Test the scrape-ability of the dye bleed before committing to maple. If it penetrates too much, run another test giving just the binding a careful coat of finish before dyeing. If that fails, go back to dark.

Durability is a fair concern. A few dents wouldn't bother me personally, but everybody's different...

Maple rosette would definitely would look better, especially being next to the end of the rosewood fingerboard. IMO, best would be maple with just a rosewood veneer line (like your picture looks right now), rather than wider routed rosewood borders. But that would be cutting it really close on the masking. Again, careful brushing of finish over just the rosette would probably keep the dye from penetrating, so you could carefully scrape it off the surface if the masking fails. A little bleed ain't the end of the world either.

Your shape looks good to me. Definitely worthwhile to round the tailblock like that rather than having a flat spot at the bottom.

5mm sounds good for the fan braces. Cross braces maybe a mm or two thicker if anything. The fans running all the way to the headblock is something I've wanted to try myself. Probably with pretty wide "overpasses" cut into the cross braces, so they hold the soundboard in the middle and at the very outer edge, but maybe free up a little vibration of the long braces. But that would be more fragile, so in this case it might be better to do the upper bracing just like coral snake and the lower fans as separate pieces, even if they do continue along the same lines.

As it happens, I've done a parlor guitar pretty similiar to your design. Actually, it's 14 frets to the body, so it's not a true parlor.
The shape is Hauser's Munich model from about 1850. Bracing is my design, pretty close to what you have shown.


IIRC, it's a 24" scale length, so you could shorten the scale by losing the top two frets and make it a 12 fret.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Very cool bracing, Rodger! How does it sound, how old it is, and how is it holding up? Risky business leaving out the big cross braces.

Can't thank you enough mate, so helpful of you! You answered every question and now I'm struggling to think of any more!

The idea of putting some finish on the rosette and binding is brilliant! I'll do some tests and see if the dye can get under a bit of wiped on liberon finishing oil. Makes perfect sense. Water based dye. Oil based finish. I'd mask too obviously.

The lighter binding has really grown on me actually. I've shown a couple of people and they agree! I'll see what her dad thinks, I think it improves the overall design considerably.

I'm going to take nice photos of every stage and get a nice photobook printed showing how it was all made. Like a story book. One day she'll appreciate it fully. Only the adults around her will really know how nice it is compared to what most kids have to play until she's older and she sees other people's guitars. Even then it won't fully click for ages. I'm happy with that. I'd rather she played (or played with) a guitar made by me than Yamaha!

Glad you think open tuning is a good idea. I thought it would be the easiest way for her to make a few decent noises with it! I think I'll stick with 16 frets and save some of those considerations for her next guitar. I think it looks quite pleasing the way it is and I doubt she'll be composing anything that requires the 19th fret. Another thing I've learned though so thanks for that.

(Oh yeah, the bridge isn't totally symmetrical on that drawing, only out of laziness. But hopefully when both sides reach out to the same point, the fans will be in the right place... If I need a bit more, I can make the bridge slightly longer?)

I'm thinking 40mm for the nut now. I'm going to make her a Torres 117 as soon as she's remotely big enough for it so I'd rather it was comfortable for the next two years or so and she'll start to grow out of it. 52cm scale length was recommended for 6 year olds and 44cm (I think) for 4 year olds. Maybe the next one I make her will be 57cm or so. That could be a travel guitar even in adulthood. But she won't want her name on that!

Once again, it's great to have someone to bounce ideas off. This forum is a revelation for me.
Still open to suggestions/thoughts from others, too!

Oh, just thought. anyone object to the bolt on butt joint neck?
-----

Just saw your post Rodger. Lovely guitar! What do you reckon that form of bracing has done for the sound? I know it's all speculation of a kind but I'd love to hear the theory behind it. Do you vote nay or yay for a bridgeplate on Rosie's guitar? I really like the idea of braces running all the way down from the heel but I was a bit worried about the bridges in the cross braces. And of course I'm trying not to get to experimental so early in my building journey!

It sounds good to me, but I don't have a very good ear. It's a couple of years old, and is holding up just fine. It's way overbuilt, I did a SS with the same size & shape and basically the same bracing, and it's also holding up OK. That one has a redwood top, salvaged from the railings when the were replaced at the National Acquarium. The SS has a yellow cedar top.

I've learned a lot since I built that one, I'd certainly leave out the bridge plate if I did another. I built it for myself, as sort of a travel guitar. I've got several other guitars, but this is the only nylon string. What I had in mind was something similiar to a SS, only with nylon strings. The neck is more SS than classical.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Rodger,
That makes me think; is the plan I've drawn going to be overbuilt? I'd like it to sound as good as it can. I'll definitely leave it with no bridge plate now.

Cheers,

btw, that redwood top is lovely! I'd love to get a bunch of that May ask how you got it? I'm starting to keep an eye out for potential reclaimed wood.

"Overbuilt" will depend on the wood you have and thickness you use. That top is ~0.12", and the long braces are 1/4"x 5/8". I probably could have gone with 0.09" and 1/4"x 3/8". That one is my 3rd acoustic, so I was mostly concerned about refining my woodworking and construction techniques to make a playable guitar that didn't fold up when I put strings on it. How it was going to sound was so much of an unknown to me at the time that I didn't really think about that with my design. My philosophy was to first learn how to make a guitar that looked good and played nicely, once I had that down I could start the quest for tone. I'm about at that point now, and the learning continues.

I got the redwood from my local lumber supplier, he salvaged it when they replaced the railings at the the National Acquarium. I got one decently quartered piece about 2"x6"x8', but I don't think he has any left, I got it several years ago. It had been in service as railing at the Acquarium for 30 years, the engineering firm where I work did the original design for the project when they were installed. I've got some left, but there's lots of cracks and knots, so I may not get another top set out of it. Only about half of the board is close enough to quartered for a top, but one edge is almost exactly quartered. The best of it is on that guitar.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

This is my third guitar as it goes. I'm trying to do the same thing you were; make progress! I won't risk under building it.

I love the idea of guitars being built from wood with history. Gonna have to use my "churchwood" one of these days!

Still not had the inspiration for the final touches. Been getting my thickness sander together. Will update soon.

Many thanks, Alan! I'm definitely going to get the Gore/Gilet books and I have no doubt they will be worth every penny but, at the moment, it's either build a guitar or buy the book, so building the guitar won. Hopefully I'll get them before I start my forth.

I knew the short scale would be a problem compensation-wise but I guess I mistakenly pacified my fears. I discussed the guitar here and didn't get any stark warnings about intonation so figured I was ok to go ahead. I also mentioned to an experienced guitar tech that my Baby Taylor was susceptible to the problems you've listed and he said it was just a compensation issue. I must've misunderstood him.

I've bent the sides, prepared the braces, made the rosette, and I'm ready to join the top and back, so there's no going back now. I'm going to have to look into building a test platform such as you suggest or maybe a StewMac-style "intonater" so I can rout the saddle slot last.

The shame I'd feel if it didn't play in tune is too much to contemplate!

I was thinking of using Pro Arte extra hard tension strings and tune it to open G, and if those strings didn't work nicely I'd buy individual lute strings and experiment, but if the problem doesn't relate to initial tension maybe that won't help. Am I right in thinking a capo at a low fret will simulate the scale length, intonation issues n'all? I'm guessing not entirely.

Thanks again for your advice and in advance for any more!

All the best,
Nick

Or as it turns out, get them as an early christmas present!!!

Even now with this new wealth of information at my fingertips, assimilating enough of it to inform my current build is a challenge. I've only had 16 or so hours of study so far.

I thought I'd give everyone an update: I'm making decent progress on this current build considering the number of days I've actually had to work on it: side assembley is together and profiled, braces ready to glue, rosette installed, top and back thicknessed, all currently stored at 45% waiting for me to brace, carve, fit, and assemble the box. Here is how the design is looking now...



- 5mm fans (8mm high at peak) - no bridge patch
- 8mm UTB, LTB, and all back braces. Height ~ 14mm ??? [Can't reach through tiny soundhole to 3rd back brace]
- Soundhole reinforcement patch
- A-frame inlet into headblock and running over UTB [capped] to LTB around soundhole
- Top-side of headblock thinned to kerfing width
- 4:1 Peghed tuners
- 2mm back, 16' radius
- 2mm top, feathered around edge slightly
- 38mm nut
- 47mm string spacing at bridge
- ~ 2.2mm action at 12 fret [in the drawing, not sure about final] with 10mm string height at bridge

I'm going to make a "dummy fretboard rig" to work out compensation.

Here is how I'm planning to do the bridge...



I'm really pleased with it! [there are one or two errors in the drawing, mainly in the headstock area and bridge, but I think it's doing its job.]

I still need to work out the dimensions for that bridge (and how much wood need to be left around the saddle slot, oh and how far below the saddle slot the string holes must be], and I've got 4 days till I brace, so there is time for adjustments!

I'm mentally exhausted from thinking about it! I've been told off by the Padma for thinking before but I'm sorry, I just can't help it! My brain is frazzled!

Any thoughts/suggestions?

It isn't going to be a christmas present now, but it will be finished long before her birthday.... Also, how's this for genius? She's never going to grow out of it.......... because once her fingers are too big for the string spacing, I'm going to hack off some of the headstock and convert it in to a baritone uke with a new bridge and nut!

So pleased about that!!!

Still need to work out process for dying top.. Did a test the other day and obviously alowed way too much water onto the test piece... It pringled badly! Need to test with multiple lighter applications and with a sealer of some sort.

Thanks to everyone on this thread who has helped me design it so far!

I was just working out the tuner arrangement on the headstock and realised I'd not layed them out well at all... On this one I've given it a straighter string pull, which will be ok with the pegs and offer its own benefits... First draft of new headstock, still needs work but it's close I think. But the bridge just looks wrong with it now.... I have read about it but now the head stock is asymmetrical ... anyone thing it's a bad idea to do an asymmetrical bridge to go with it?

Like this (also with nice maple rings inlayed around pegheds):



Yeah, me likey!

And I dyed another test piece.... mucho improvo ... no curling and lovely colour

It is shocking to me that it was so long ago that I started planning this guitar. I spent 5 months of weekends and hours here and there to do to 2 months of work... That should've been done in a month! I had it ready for her birthday but for various reasons, there was a delay in getting it to her.

Anyway, I'm just going to copy and paste my last message from the build thread, just so this thread has a conclusion and those who helped me here know it's finally with her.....

------

Don't ask about the delay, but Rosie finally has her guitar!

Here it is wrapped up....

and ready for the train journey....


Here's the card I put in the case compartment...


Here's a pic of it next to her old [toy] guitar...

Is that an upgrade or what?!






She was really excited! Really enjoyed unwrapping it! Got some nice photos. She said it was like pass the parcel! Just what I was aiming for! She was a little nervous once it was out of the case. Her parents had explained to her before I got there that it is very special and has to be looked after carefully. Her dad thinks she was a bit surprised at how... "real" it is. He thinks she was expecting something a little more toy like. (I like to talk up to kids, so I figured I could make a guitar that would appeal to her but that also wasn't garish in a childish way.) I think she'll be able to enjoy it a lot more tomorrow and onwards. Being extra careful with it is better than swinging it around!

Stayed for a couple of drinks with her parents when she went to bed and we all said how nice it would be if it lasts to become a uke (for those who haven't followed the thread, the bridge is predrilled to be strung as a 4 and 6 string uke, so it can live on even when her fingers outgrow the narrow 6 string guitar spacing.) If it gets that far without catastrophe, it could last for a very long time.

So glad she finally has it!

Great stuff Nick, something for her to treasure for a long time, and memories that well last even longer.

_________________
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.

Thanks for the comment, Colin, it means a lot!

I'm just so relieved that I got it done and it's with her! I was worried at different points that I'd made it too big or too small but now I've seen her playing it, I'm pretty sure I got it just right. It's not ridiculously big for her but she can grow into it for some time before she starts growing out of it! Even then, it can still be a travel guitar for a while before the day comes and I spend an hour or so making it into a uke!

I made lots of mistakes a along the way and to say I'm entirely happy with it would be a lie. You know all about the great deluge and the miracle survival, and it still hurts a little so I won't revisit that!

The delay in getting it to her has at least allowed me to check it for any top deflection. All seems totally healthy, so I'm not worried about that now. It sounds better than I expected it to but I wonder how much better it could be if made by more experienced hands. The binding went really, really well (even my miters were tight for the first time, albeit slightly misplaced in one case) and I'm happy with the neck, head and frets. I'm mostly disappointed that I didn't manage to bend the sides 100% accurately, which led to difficulties along the road, but at least I didn't get any kinks or flat spots, and, thankfully, now I know for sure that I mostly made the right compromises where they had to made. Anyway, I'm bending with a bender and blanket next time!

The thing I most need to improve on with my next build is my assembly process. I managed to get myself a little unnecessarily flustered this time. These fingers are still more used to keyboards than wood. I'll get there!

Soundclip for those who weren't following the build thread (difficult for me to play due to narrow neck!):

Much better sound clip: http://picosong.com/eKRE/