Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Evening folks,

Here's my second classical guitar. I really enjoyed the building process over the last year or so. This one is for the missus. A fair bit of work remains, and perhaps some aspects were overly ambitious (I'm such an amateur that, among numerous other gut wrenching decisions, I mucked up some of the string spacing, drilled poor slots, irreparably stained the rosette area with CA glue getting into the end grain, bent some flat spots into the sides, drilled poor string holes in the bridge, and, still fresh in my memory due to the sudden increase in heart rate, dropped a small chisel on the top just after glazing the French polish finish. Nice ). I really needed to hear the sound though, so I thought I'd post some pics while I'm at it (the pics are backyard kinda stuff I'm afraid, though I'm happy with #3). Many more mistakes are of course obvious. It's clear my hand skills need much development, and I only have a Dremel and a cheap Ryobi drill press and router for power tools... Onwards and upwards as they say, the next one will be better (famous last words). Anyway, here goes it. Be gentle.

Specs:

German spruce top
IRW back, sides and bridge
Mahogany neck
Ebony fretboard
Tiger myrtle bindings, rosette, centre back strip and head plate
French polish finish
Schaller tuners
(Built following Natelson and Cumpiano)

Looks alright from where I'm sitting Kim! Admirable (and ambitious) effort for a second one. Your purf mitres e.t.c are spot on. I can only detect a slight flat spot on the lower bout which you could say "Helps stop the guitar from rolling on the leg when in the playing position." Well done and I'm sure your wife will love it

Hi Kim
Great effort second time around looks good from here.
We all make mistakes just learn from them.
You will be surprised how quickly your skills will improve the more guitars you build.
Regards Steve

Well done, Im sure it sounds great and much better than any beater down at the local music shop. I really like the finish, you have done well. The thing with mistakes is that you are the one who knows about them in detail and they will always stare out at you. Its kind of like a diary of the time period you spent on the instrument. I make some classic fuck ups and the only person getting tortured by them is me, go figure....

Looks good to me, too........But then, most of mine have a sort-of squished/melted look to them anyway, so what do i know?

+1 on the mistakes. Whenever I show one of mine to someone, I cringe, waiting for the inevitable "What happened here?"

They never come. Rest assured that your mistakes and corrections (more important) are MUCH more visiblt to you than to anyone else.

Your wife will love it......

nice work for number two mate. I am working on number five and believe me the stuff ups get less and easier to fix the more you do, so well done mate

Nice work Kim. Ive just finished Classical No 5 and I still make boos boos......