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Posts: 36
Joined: Feb. 29 2016
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
The 3mm wide saddle slot is routed in the Bog Oak bridge blank with this jig together with another 3mm at the front edge of the tie block:
A piece of African Blackwood is then glued into this slot. This hard wood cap will stop the treble strings digging in to the tail block:
A piece of bone is thicknessed to just under 2mm, marked for the 18 string holes and drilled with a 2mm brad point bit. This will be the template for drilling the tie block string holes and act as the back edge cap:
The bone template is stuck onto the bridge tie block with double sided tape and the string holes drilled through with the 2mm brad point bit:
A 3mm wide slot is then routed out just in front of the African Blackwood insert:
The two wings are then rough cut, the saddle slot area reduced to 6mm high and the bridge is shaped and ramped:
A tie-block cap was made matching the headstock inlay and rosette – twin rope purfling framed with black/ pear/ black purfling and Coyote Wood strips. This was glued onto the tie-block:
Finally the bone template is glued onto the rear of the tie-block after carefully matching up the string holes:
The bridge is carefully positioned on the top and masking tape used to form a “nest”. Two 2mm holes are drilled in the saddle slot through the top so that parts of cocktail sticks can be super glued in to hold the bridge in the correct position whilst gluing:
The bridge is then glued on using hot hide glue with the caul to span the fan braces positioned underneath:
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Posts: 36
Joined: Feb. 29 2016
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
Here’s “El Xiprer” strung up “in the white”:
The saddle is down so that the strings are just under 8mm above the soundboard at the moment and this gives an action of just about 2.75mm. Neck relief seems fine - plays well up and down the neck with no buzzing.
I used La Bella 2001 Medium Tension strings and the bass strings sounded fine but the black nylon trebles were rubbish. I some spare trebles from a set of Savarez Alliance Corum 500AR strings – normal tension fluorocarbons – so put these on instead and they are fine. So here’s a recording of me playing some “flamenco pastiche” on “El Xiprer” in the white and strung up for the first time. This was recorded straight into my Zoom H4n with flat EQ and no added effects:
Forgive my amateur playing, I’m hoping a friend who plays flamenco will come and play “El Xiprer” when the finishing is complete and I can get some recordings then.
This thread is now back in the "present" so will go slower - on to the finishing.
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RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
This thread makes me want to go chop a tree down and build some stuff! Maybe a nice mid-century entertainment center for my new turntable! Now to find a tree no one will miss in Los Angeles........
Posts: 36
Joined: Feb. 29 2016
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
The top is carefully sanded down and polished with micromesh up to 12000 grit. The first coat of Liberon Finishing oil is then applied. With lacquer the finish is applied to the wood and then the finish levelled and polished. With an oil finish the bare wood is levelled and polished and thin coats wiped onto this. At this stage the lovely silking of the medullary rays on the top shows through::
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The conclusion is that "El Xiprer" is a bit too resonant in the trebles so I may put back the black La Bella treble strings that I didn't like and see how it sounds with those.
Posts: 1706
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
Nice going, Dave.
Interesting bridge design. Your tie block should be very strong and resistant to wear by the strings. But beware that one of the nice things about a 12-hole bridge is that the strings can be tied so that the ends don't rest on the soundboard. Having them rest on the soundboard tends to damage that area.
Posts: 36
Joined: Feb. 29 2016
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
Mark, Yes - a small tree goes a long way. Here's some of the other instruments it has enabled - a cittern and bouzouki to the left of "El Xiprer" and a Piccolo guitar to the right. The cittern and bouzouki have top, back, sides and neck from the tree and the Piccolo guitar just the top:
Thanks Ethan. There is a small rectangle of clear pickguard material just behind the bridge so the top won't get marked by the string ends.
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RE: Making my first flamenco guitar ... (in reply to Dave White)
Dave, many thanks for this most interesting thread, so much stuff to go through here. Actually getting to hear is is the cherry on the top. Thanks for sharing and bests for the future builds.