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Here are some shots of my first completed. This is an LMI unserviced flamenco kit with pre-made rosette and pre-slotted finger board. I did everything else. I followed the instructons and plan from the John Bogdanovich book. I altered the sound board bracing by not using a ring rosette patch but rather two verticle patches on either side. I also did not use the two closing bars. My goal with these changes was to possibly open the sound a bit and make the guitar louder. With nothing to compare it to, I do not know if I succeeded but it IS loud and bright sounding. It has a nice even sound with an amazing low end and solid trebles.




I have been playing it for about three days now and am very pleased. I went to the local guitar store and played most of the classicals that they had. I say that my guitar sounds better than all the ones I played there. I am curious as to why. I did nothing special, just followed the plan. Is it that I made everything as close to plan as possible? Who knows. It is also not that it is my guitar. I fully expected it to sound like a tin can attached to a string but it really rocks. When I know a little bit about what I am doing-LOOK OUT!

For first time builders thinking about a kit, here are some observations.

Most books start with building the neck, then sound board, then back etc...I found that actually every part of the guitar depends on the other parts. This means that building is not linear. The neck cannot be finished until the final top thickness is determined and the sides are thicknessed (do they fit in the slots?)(spanish heel) What this means for me is that I can work on everything at once. When glue is drying on part A I can be working on part C and part B....and so on.

Order extra nut and saddle blanks. It is extaordinarily easy to screw something up and then you have to wait a week for delivery to complete things right at the end and the shipping costs more than the part.

Do not order a water based finish in the winter if you live in Montana or the like. The stuff freezes on the truck and then it is ruined. I ended up using Minwax wipe on poly. I love the stuff for my regular wood working and I found it went very well on this guitar. (Pore filled with z-poxy) Time will tell if it was a good choice. It is not as protective as laquer I think. It is thin like a french polish but not as tricky to apply and not as reactive to heat/sweat etc....

It IS possible to insall tuners backwards!!!!!! The screw holes do not line up the same.(I am lucky to have figured this out before actually drilling the holes-whew) It was almost tragedy right at the end.

Building was a lot easier than I thought it would be. With all of the resources available through print and the web it is possible to pick the brains of truly great makers (some of whom frequent this forum) and have any problems discussed with others. I found the process straight forward and methodic. If I got stuck I found that I was able to re-read the books I had with new eyes and find the answers to my questions. Experience helps to ask a better question so I say research on your own as much as possible.

It is one heck of a lot of fun to show people you know your just completed, good looking, great sounding guitar and say "look what I just made" Make sure you show non-builders as much as possible (they wont know where the flaws are like you do) I had a local professional classical player play mine and he was very impressed.

It really is a great feeling to have done it and worth all the cussin.

You might as well order two kits, you will need the second one right away. I started my second build the day after I strung up this one-two days ago.

I am happy to help anyone I can if there are any questions.

Thanks for looking!

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congratulations! That looks like a pretty guitar.
Hope my first classical comes out so well.

Congrats Stephen my friend she is a great looking guitar!!!

The reason why your guitar sounded better to you than the others in the store is likely the old factory guitars are over braced thing. Once experienced, meaning you know that you can build a great sounding guitar the factory jobs will simply not interest you anymore.

Great job!!!

You did an outstanding job, Stephen. Following a plan is a good thing, if it is a decent plan. Hesh is right about overbuilt, manufactured guitars, particularly classical guitars. Anyway, you did good!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Stephen: Very nice. I have considered that kit for a future build. A couple of questions:

Did you use a mold? Did you construct a mold following the book or use the LMI Mold?

Did you follow the classical tradition and use a Spanish heel?

Woods: Is that the monterey cypress?

Greg

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Greg Hatcher
North Carolina

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

Hesh, I already have turned my snobby guitar builder nose up at the idea of a factory guitar. Never again! I am working on a pure flamenco right now per Santos Hernandez. After the flamenco I am going to build an OLF SJ. I just got the plans in the mail a couple of days ago with my extra nut and saddle order!!!!! The plans are very nice and I recommend them to those who are considering it.

Steve Davis, thanks! I am sure you will do well. The biggest issues I had were with the binding. That is a real tricky job. I got greedy and tried to put glue everywhere at once and had a heck of a mess and a few gaps. The next one will be better.

Waddy, thank you sir! I appreciate it.

Greg, I used a mold/solera combination per the book with a spanish heel. Yes, it is Monterrey cypress. I laminated the sides per instructions in the book with Alaskan yellow cedar veneer. The linings are laminated mahogany. On my current build I am using a spanish heel with a traditional solera as described in Making Master guitars. It took a week to make all the molds and such. I feel that the time was worth it but I learned so much I now feel like I can build in a more "free form" manner. Time will tell.


I forgot another observation that I had. I do not recommend going to final dimensions of the several parts. IE. If the sides call for 2mm make them 2.2 or so. Bending by hand is tricky and you will appreciate the extra beef if you need to scrape flaws, burn marks etc... There is plenty of sanding to be done and a little extra material is a good thing. Of course more experienced builders will not need this insurance.



This is my best photo of the solera/mold combination.

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Stephan, Wow, great looking guitar!!! You did a fabulous job.......I know you are proud.

What will you build next?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Thanks Darryl,

Here are a couple of images of the current build, Day 4.



Top joined, glued, and thicknessed with rosette inlayed. Western red cedar.





Monterrey cypress back joined and thicknessed




One side partially bent.



The other side bent. I feel my bending iron was still too hot on this bend. Bending is the toughest thing for me. The side that I did not finish today is bending better and I think it is because I lowered the heat a bit. Patience!!!

I will finish bending it in the morning

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Nice job!! Congratulations.

Stephen,
Nice. I really like the solera/mold picture.
Mike Fleck

Nice job! And a nice looking work bench as well. I'm super busy with work right now (not complaining, mind you) and have had very little time to work on finishing my current guitar project. Frustrating, but patience is key. Must... not... rush!

Thanks for sharing the pics and info. Good work.

George

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George :-)

Thanks Robbie, Mike, and George.

I like to make my workbenches with cabinets beneath. Those particular cabinets were on sale one time so I got four of them, screwed them together back to back and side to side, leveled them and put a four by six platform on top with a spacer to provide some clearance for clamping. I laminated the platform with counter top laminate. This work station is in the middle of my shop and my main place to work.

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Very nice!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Very nice work Stephen. She looks great!

I'd like to build a Classical one of these days, but the whole Spanish heel idea makes me nervous.
One of these days though.....

Great job again. You should be very proud!

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

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

Thanks Blaine, I am curious what makes you nervous about the Spanish heel. On my current build I am using the Romanillos wedge method which, so far, is coming out fine and with a test fit is very, very strong even with no glue. Anyway, I am apprehensive about a non-Spanish heel build. Probably just because I have never done it. Number three will have a bolt on neck and I will have that under my belt.

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Build a classical with a dovetail or bolt on then. The tradition police aren't all they're cracked up to be...kind of like those music theory cops.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Just wondered what you meant by closing bars

The closing bars are two diagonally placed braces near the end block. They go "opposite" of the direction of the main fan bracing and "close" the ends of the fan. In my studies these bars seem to be the most "optional". I took a wild guess and figured that the sound board would be louder? more dynamic? Who knows? I will see if I can find an image if this does not help.

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Thanks
I know the ones you mean now

Stephen, I'll second that last post and add to it: Fabulous guitar!!! It must feel so good to have it strung up. It's really exciting to hear that it sounds so good! You got the bug now, man.