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At the risk of setting myself up, I’m posting pics (I hope) for my first two builds. I retired about a year ago and began these in earnest around June. I started building two guitars for fear of a fatal flaw along the way, plus the repetition was a good thing. Decided to go with Classical guitars for a number of reasons, and used Cumpiano and Natelson as my main reference. I relied heavily on the OLF and U-tube along the way. My #1 guitar has an Adirondack top and royal mahogany back and sides, and #2 has a red cedar top with zebrawood back and sides. Used EIR for head plate, fret board, bridge and bindings and made the neck of mahogany. The rosettes were pre-made and I just routed the channel and glued in. I used reverse kerfing, and Adirondack spruce bracing. As for finish, I French polished the tops (as best as I could) and foam brushed satin PolyWhey on back, sides and neck – didn’t fill any pores; just relied on the PolyWhey. Finishing could be better and the end grafts and binding need work, and there are numerous, unintended “design features” (e.g., big wedges on the mahogany guitar due to poor slot cutting by hand -went with table saw on #2). Put the stings on both of these Sunday. I have an attachment to the royal mahogany guitar since we’ve been through a lot together. Both guitars still need to be tuned and the action probably needs some adjusting – should mention that I don’t actually play guitar; will be working on that during my second year of retirement since I now own a guitar or two. Anyway here is what I ended up with. Enjoyed the entire learning process, and plan on starting two more Classicals this week beginning with the rosette – have a year to get my Christmas presents ready.

Thanks for all the help on the OLF.

Marty

Nice looking instruments. Especially for your first! I really like the zebra wood one. Congrats!

Wow! Very nice.

very nice work !

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Sweet body shape, your own design?

Yeah I find the body shape interesting too. The spruce one has the more pronounced upper bout. Nice looking guitars. How do they sound?

Well done, Marty! Congratulations are in order--for the guitars and for making such good use of your retirement.

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George :-)

Very nice work. A bit different shape from most classicals, but certainly acceptable!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks to all who have commented. I appreciate the encouragement and kind words.
With respect to the shape of the guitars, I didn't have detailed drawings, but I was attempting to follow the guidance given by Cumpiano and Natelson in Figure 3-2 of their book. The upper and lower bouts are about 0.5" wider than suggested, the waist is 9" as suggested, and the body length is 0.25" shorter. Differences in shape between the two guitars are just a reflection of my side bending ability (or lack thereof) using the ole BBQ bending iron. As a far as sound, I will get one of my buddies to review, but they sound pretty good to my untrained ear, and are actually louder than I expected they would be.

Marty

That's what counts!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Ah yes, well as some one mentioned on this forum the first two guitars are wood working projects so to speak. For me it was more like the first 5 or six. I still am not very good at bending but I get it close enough to only have to apply a bit of force to get it on the lines. You can correct a mistaken bend but it can be tricky and actually make things a lot worse. The first few guitars I made were not pretty, not as pretty as yours in fact, but they still sounded and played good.

BTW from what I understand Leo Fender never could play a note on the guitar too so your future could be bright

Martin,
I am impressed and jealous of your skills!
These are real beauties!
First builds? Wow!
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Congrats on two beautiful builds! I hope my first two come out as good.

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

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