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New headstock design with a wash coat of finish on it. I forgot to show this before. So in the spirit of actually showing what we guitar makers are building these days.......
Thai Rosewood face veneer, Spanish Cedar neck, Sloane Tuners. The Thai rosewood is a lot like Cocobolo, although I have not been able to id the exact species.
What are the other makers working on these days? Throw it up here!
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Oops, I just popped them in for the photo and to show the client. He dropped by the other day to see it. When I screw them in I'll switch them. But good eye.
I found this glued inside an Archangel Fernandez I had to fix recently.
It's a religious tract of some kind with picture of a priest and some writing in English. I just left it, it was not bothering anything. There was a lot of glue squeeze out between the glue blocks, and you can see how he used the strap under the bridge. It had fairly sizable fan braces. Wonderful sound. Lots of interesting things to see, his tail block grain runs vertical.
And it makes me wonder if there were some milled trim pieces available at a mill shop that were used to make glue blocks. The profile of the glue blocks are rounded and uniform as if thy had been made on a mill cutter and then sliced with a hand saw. Wouldn't have been clever a fast to find a pre milled piece of trim to make those blocks? Has anyone seen anything like this to compare? Aaron?
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Here's a shot of a fan and strap. At some point I'll borrow this guitar and measure it and take more interior pictures. Something about this one is fascinating. That pencil line is under the saddle. The whole strap is tapered down to nothing on both sides, it extends about 2 inches past the bridge.
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Thanks for the photos, Stephen. Its a bit unclear from the photo...is the bridge strap continuous or interrupted? It would seem that fitting those fans cleanly over a rounded-to-nothing strap would be tough.
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Peter Tsiorba Classical-Flamenco-Guitars tsiorba.com
In the first photo you can see the strap moving off to the right and diminishing. The the strap is cut and the fans are set between the sections very tightly. I would have taken a picture of the braces, but the instrument has a huge white tap plate on it. If I get it back for A day of documentation I'll be ready with a different camera and I'll trace the brace layout.
Otherwise it's pretty much the "Reyes" style, that Reyes probably did not invent. I think this goes back to Barbero, but I'm no expert because have not seen enough of them in person. If you know, for a reference we all have, that Barbero that R.E. Brune' drew and published in the Guild of American Luthiers this guitar looks like a direct descendant of that one. The fan layout, almost identical. And the ends of the transverse braces are the same height where they hit the ribs, etc. Many many things to see here. It's refreshing to get back to a primary source guitar which is this old and be able to study it.
It's Archangel #160-something from 1963.
One more detail on the fans, they were rounded over on the ends not scooped and tapered. On the rosette end the fans started to taper about 3/4" from end of the fan and then to about half the height of the fan. Then an abrupt round over. So instead of a scoop on the end they rounded over more like an airfoil shape. Same thing on the other end, but the taper started about 2" for the end of the brace. The rest of the brace was rounded over from a blank about a 1/4" square. There are five of them. They end somewhat short of the tail like the GAL Barbero, they are kept quite in inboard of the ends of the bridge are splayed out a bit. I think the round over is different from the Barbero.
You can see the taper treatment on the cut off fans quite well. Apologies for the bad pics.
Interesting conjecture on the tentellones. Very possible. I've seen a number of spanish guitars with rounded over glue blocks like that. I assumed they just made a long strip of it and cut them off. A belt sander would do that very quickly or you could make a holding jig and do it with a plane.
The vertical block is not all that uncommon although I think it's not a great idea. The theory is with the grain running vertically you would get some measure of protection if the guitar should be dropped or a crack was running through the sides. I don't like it as I don't like gluing the top to end grain, even though you can and should size the hell out of it. I restored an old Lopez where you could see a pucker in the top from the block expanding and contracting with years of changes in humidity etc..
The Barbero in question looks a lot like that one. I'll have to double check my records to see how he treated the ends of the braces.
And it makes me wonder if there were some milled trim pieces available at a mill shop that were used to make glue blocks. The profile of the glue blocks are rounded and uniform as if thy had been made on a mill cutter and then sliced with a hand saw. Wouldn't have been clever a fast to find a pre milled piece of trim to make those blocks? Has anyone seen anything like this to compare? Aaron?
I rout an ogee profile in the tentallones before sawing them then round the edges to eliminate any roughness. No particular reason, I just like the way it looks. Vertical grain on the end block doesn't seem logical. I've never understood why makers use such enormous end blocks. It seems like overkill to me.
Violins use large vertical blocks, but of course the plate is thicker in that spot.
I've seen the same glue blocks in other Spanish guitars of that vintage, I think there was a standard sized mill trim used for something, like bordering plastered walls or trim around doors and they just bought it an used for blocks. It's inspiring me to change and make a bunch of this stuff on the router table. ( I know, a router)
I've only ever used vertical grained end blocks and know for sure of 5 others that do to. never seen any of their older work look too bad. I know what you mean but I think it can happen to any guitar.
I would post some work but Havent really done anything visually different for a long time now.
I found a new wood to play with for bridge making. Jobillo or Goncalo Alves. It's lighter in weight than most other rosewood. It reminds me of Brazilian, looks like Brazilian sap wood. I said almost. It does have nice qualities, strength and lightness. it can have mild figure too. This one is roughed out and weighs 18 grams. I just finished one with saddle and tie block that weighs 18 grams after all the refinements are made.
Who else has been using alternative woods for bridges?
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I've only ever used vertical grained end blocks and know for sure of 5 others that do to.
I read vertical and thought quartered. Of course there's nothing wrong with using vertical grain as long as it's not quartered. In my opinion the grain on the end block should not be either parallel or perpendicular to the grain of the sides.
Goncalo Alves, interesting! I've only ever seen it used for backs and sides on acoustic steel string guitars. Interesting also to see a lighter colored bridge - I'm not sure I've ever seen one quite like this on a flamenco.
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