Building a Guitar

What follows is the construction of a guitar which is mostly patterned after a 1937 Hauser plan and which was a guitar favored by Segovia. The instruction is offered by David Schram in an on-line class, the book "guitarmaking" by William Cumpiano and Jonathan Natelson, the drawings of the guitar by R.E. Brune from GAL plan #33, and by my associates in the class. Details on the class can be found at:

http://schrammguitars.com/Online_Apprentice.html and http://www.schrammguitars.com/

The Rosette

Ripping the tiny strips which will be glued into "planks" for making the rosette.	Sanding the strips so the thickness is exact.	A variety of strips ready to be ripped into widths.

If you like rather picky, detailed, but creative work you will like making a rosette. First I designed the patterns using an icon editor, for after all, the little pictures you make in the rosette are made of little tiny squares. First you need to make very thin strips of wood and then they need to be made into thin square strips.

Now the strips have been glued into combinations of planks so when they are stacked on top of each other and glued up they will make a heart. These are some of the planing's as the various planks are planed down so they are all the same size. Here is a close up of one of the tiles. They result from the planks being glued together and then they are cut off of the end of the stacked planks.

This is the "rope" part of the rosette.	The rosette is constructed on a cutting board which has been routed out to the correct size. Spacers are used to hole the shape while parts are added.	Here is a section of the rosette with the "rope", a walnut burled circle, and the hearts. In between are steamed and bent pieces of ebony.

Making the Head and Neck

So far the head and heel are nearly done but the fingerboard and frets need to be added. Jigs assisted me in making accurate cuts and drilling precisely for the tuners.

Jig for cutting side slots. Other jigs are used for drilling the head, shaping the heel, etc.	Finished heel. The rest of the neck is finished after more of the guitar is constructed.	Finished head. The little carving of a tree at the top has tiny red hearts hanging from it.

Making the Workboard

A board must be constructed which has a shape that can be used for putting the arch in the top and the back of the guitar. It is a small arch, a 25 foot radius or about 2-3 mm at the highest. The workboard is also used to hold down the top while gluing on the sides and to hold the back when gluing that to the sides. The pictures below show the beginning of the workboard and you will see further pictures.

You can see here how the workboard is "hollowed out"	I used a jig which had the appropriate slope on which I placed a router and then rotated the jig and router around the workboard	This shows the soundboard placed on the work board. The large dowels have a cam so they can be turned to hold down the top	This picture shows the cam arrangement. The screw end goes into the workboard.

Making the Top/Soundboard

The top is being made from Engleman Spruce. In theory, the tighter or closer the grain the better the sound. The spruce comes from a Luthier shop about 1/4 of an inch thick and is a book matched pair. It needs to be joined and planed to 2 mm.

Planing the top	Measure the thickness	Mark the high spots by sliding an aluminum level around it.	Finish the top

		Once the top is planed to the proper dimension, bracing is added. A method of "clamping" the braces to the soundboard for gluing is the use of a gobar deck. I used pipe clamps to connect a sheet of plywood beneath the workboard to a piece of plywood above. Dowels are then flexed; running from the top piece of plywood, down to the brace being glued.
Gobar arrangement clamps	Fans and braces added

Making the Back

The back usually comes in two book matched pieces and must be joined together and then planed down to about 2 mm. In this instance, because the back is made of Madagascar Rosewood, it is actually four book matched pieces because this rosewood does not grow that large. Fine guitars were previously made using backs and sides of Brazilian Rosewood. It is no longer legal to import this wood as these forests are being ravaged. On the other hand, I read of a prominent maker using papiermache for the back and sides, playing different guitars behind and screen, and asking the listeners which sounded best. The answer indicated no significant differences.

The back has now been joined and planed then it is arched and held with braces that hold the arch and provide strength.

Gluing the Sides on to the Top and the Back A piece of mahogany is heated and bent to put around the sides to hold the back when it is mounted. You can see the way the top or soundboard is attached to the sides and also see the mahogany where the back will be attached. This piece of mahogany is called the lining. The sides and the lining have been tapered to accommodate the dome of the back. The lining is notched to accept the braces on the back. Then it is glued on which is an exciting step to say the least. . Adding the Binding and Purfling The binding is a strip of wood that frames the raw edge of the front and the back. The purfling is a decorative trim that sets inside of this frame. To attach the binding a groove must be made around the perimeter of the guitar so the binding and the purfling can be inset. The binding and purfling have been installed on the back. A strip of the the wood left over from making the sides is used as the binding with a small line of walnut separating it from the remainder of the side. Here you can see how the top has been routed out with a groove so the binding and purfling can be installed. I used a rabbet bit on a laminate router which caused a lot of anxiety. Then I touched up the groove by hand. Here you can see the ribbons of wood used to make the binding and the purfling. The purfling has a strip of Iroko, then a strip of Redheart and then another strip of Iroko. On the outer edge is a wider strip of Madagasscar Rosewood. Each one must be pre bent. Sometimes they are laminated together and then installed or glued up separately into the groove. The strip of Madagasscar Rosewood is separated from the rest of the side by a thin strip of Walnut.

To see the next steps of my guitar building click here

For details on building a guitar and some suggested sites please go to: 

http://schrammguitars.com/Online_Apprentice.html

http://www.schrammguitars.com/

You may also like to visit:

JC Jones Workshop to see his side bender.

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