Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all,

I going to try to build a flamenco guitar. Spruce top, EIR back and sides, cedar neck etc.
This is the second guitar I will be starting, I am still working on no.1. (a blanca, same plans) Due to some fairly massive "learning curves" I am still at early stages of build no.1. I like the idea of working on two at the same time as I am quite new to woodworking and need as much practice as I can get. Also, I have an interview for a two year guitar making course next month.
I will be building it in my bedroom. On a coffee table.
Honestly, I don't know if this will end up being guitar no.2 or no.1. Any more major "learning curves" on no.1 and I will be essentially, starting them both at the same time!
Just to clarify, they are two separate builds and will not be using anything previously prepared for this challenge build. But I will be doing some things for both at the same time.
I bought the top and back stock yesterday. This just got serious. I will post photos of them when I figure out how to do it.

Very best of luck to everyone, I hope you don't make anywhere near as many mistakes as I have been making!

Will

Hello

Welcome and Good Luck from a fellow Brit

I used to live in Worthing, before heading up to Scotland a few years back. If building Flamenco/Classical and need some advice, give David Whiteman a call - he is based down the road from you in Shoreham and contact details are on his web site - he is a fantastic guy and internationally respected as a classical builder - He takes on students during evenings and helped me out with my first build a few years back - he does charge obviously but well worth the money to learn and also where needed, use his space and tools - he is always happy to chat to potential newbies etc. Really decent bloke and if you mention me Frank he will probably curse my name!

I am down next week and will probably try and catch up with him next Tuesday evening so can mention you if this is of interest?

Good luck and keep going - mistakes are what we learn from afterall - although if that is true I should be a master!

Welcome, Will! Glad you joined the challenge. Once you figure out the picture thing, post some pictures of your #1 build as well, and let us know what you learned while building it.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Wow I think we now have 7 Brits signed up for this challenge.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Nice to see a lot of people from the UK in the contest. All the best!

Thanks people,

I still cant get photos to upload, I don't really get along with computers very well. I will figure it out eventually and post pictures of some of my mistakes thus far for comedy value. It might cheer somebody up on bad day.

Frank, thanks for the info about David Whiteman, I've come across his site before and heard very good things about him. I will contact him soon for some advice and stuff. I seem to remember watching a short film about him, some of which was filmed in Brighton. But I could be getting confused.

Anyway, so far progress is fairly slow, but I'm learning a lot. Primarily, Building guitars is actually quite difficult. Every mistake just makes me more determined to to improve.

Hope everyone's build is going well.

Will

Yep that will be David wih his video on the video on the beech! - I joke with him that he comes across as quite stern

I spoke with him last night and mentioned you might call him, which would be no problem. IMHO Building a guitar is not that difficult, building a good one is, and building the highest quality instrument does require the years of experience - you will probably surprize yourself just how good a first build can be, when you compare to factory builds - keep going as teh mistakes is what we learn from

photo upload attempt test

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92925195@N ... hotostream

Wow! I think I uploaded a photo!!! As you can see, I haven't finished thicknessing the planks in this photo. Or glued it yet

Still can't upload directly from my computer though, tried everything and it just says "image file invalid" or something.
I guess this will have to do for now. Almost launched my laptop out the window trying to post photos.

Welcome aboard, Will. Glad to see another flamenco guitar enthusiast. I've been doing this for a few years and still make lots of mistakes. I guess the good news is that we learn from these mistakes (hopefully). I love the colorfulness (is that a word?) of your rosette.

Good luck,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Thanks Max, I do feel I'm learning from most of my mistakes. I don't really have any woodworking experience, so this all pretty new for me. I'm not sure how the rosette will turn out yet, still in process. I actually tend to prefer much simpler designs, but really wanted to learn this method, feels like something I need to be able to do. It's a bit of an experiment really..

If it's a jpeg and not too huge, can you not "upload attachment" (ie select filename, then"add the file")??

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Dave
Milton, ON

Been trying that. no joy. Is it a Mac-related issue do you think?

testing..



Ok, bit small but we're getting closer! Stay with me people

Design for mosaic tile

Ok life-enjoyers, finally figured out the photo thing. We are now officially in business.

So I've been mainly working on my rosette tile so far. This is my second attempt at making these. The first one didn't work out. I'm over it.

The two main issues I've had with this are thicknessing the planks accurately and gluing up the final log so everything stays in line.[

The first log glue up didn't really go as planned. Somehow in the heat of the moment whilst clamping, I must of got over excited and put too much pressure on one of the clamps resulting in a very uneven tile log. Looks more like a squashed tomato than a flower. Oh well. Such is life. Waiting for 2nd attempt to dry now.. I will NOT be beaten by these tiles. Hopefully.

Ok, first tile curved and tapered..

Looks great! - Nice to see you making your own rosette in the traditional fashion - should be stunning!

William, looking good. I'm interested in trying to make a rosette and had difficulty on my first attempt also. Yours is going very well. Thanks for the pictures!

Thanks Martin. Which aspects in particular did you have difficulty with? I've struggled with almost every stage so far! I guess it's just practice though..
Having said that, I'm finding it to be a really rewarding process. I'd love to get good at this kind of detailed work.

A little more progress.. Will need to adjust the taper a bit when I inlay them.

Wow, making your own rosette on guitar #2. OK, I'm jealous and inspired - I haven't gone there yet and I'm on classical or flamenco #11 now, including everything still in the shop that already has a rosette.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

how you stain does strip for rossete making,and what tipe of wood is that?

Nice!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.