Advise needed on assembling classical guitar

[Bart van Weperen]

Hello to all of you!

I’m trying to build a copy of a classical guitar (see my blogs, but beware: becourse of a lot of photo’s it takes a long time to download them). I’ve read the treat started by Donald A Fortune (http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/classical-guitar-construction) but that doesn’t answer my questions.

I want to have the neck bolted to the body and have some questions on that.
Is it ok to use a piece of sollid wood as a neck-block or not, and what should be “safe” dimensions for that neckblock ( Hight= 4.25 inch, wide = 3” deep =?) (The original has a non-removable neck so I can’t use that as an example)

I think the best order to assemble the instrument would be to first glue the top to sides, then attach the neck and finaly glue the back on. Am I right on that assumption?

And finaly (for now): I take it t be far more easy to inlay a rosette while the top-board hasn’t had the braces glued on (so is still flat) and hasn’t been glued to the sides. How far off is that assumption?

Thanks for bearing with this “newbee”,
Bart

[Tim Mace]

go to William Cumpiano Website for great ideas concerning bolt on technology....

[Len Biglin]

Hi Bart, to make it your way is probably harder than normal, you should search for a book called "a guitarmakers guide" by Jim Williams , I think you can view it on line.Len

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Bart -- I just completed my first classical guitar but it was a body into the neck insted of the neck being a seperate part
The person to get ahold of here in this forum is a fella by the name of Bob Webster and I'm sure if he cant help you then there isn't a person alive that can.. He got the "stuff"

If you look in past posts you can see that I posted a thing with the name classical guitar construction, dated in July of this year.
peace,
Donald

[Bart van Weperen]

Dear Tim, Len and Donald,

Thanks for your replies.
My search for guitar building-sites/ books will probably not stop for a while... I already knew the cumpiano-site, but had overlooked the bolt-on-neck part, so thanks !

John Williams’ book will surely be one of my next purchases. (The only guitar-building book available from the public library here is Irving Sloanes “classical guitar construction” 1966)...

And Donald: I followed your post with great intrest (or is it interest? You’ll know what I mean) from the day you started it. I second you on valuing Bob Websters input (as of others).
By now I’m sure that I realy underestimated the process of building a guitar... But: every (little) step I take is one. Learning by trial and error may take it’s time, but lessons learned remain lessons learned.
One of these lessons could verry well be to think better before I cut/ saw... (I just forgot to ad a dovetail-joint to the length of the neck, so it ended up short. In trying to hide that mistake I thougt of bolting the neck on).
I’ll finisch this neck.for reasons of practise and will thereafter start building a “real” dovetai-joint neck.

Again thanks for your input,
peace,

Bart

[Tim Mace]

Cumpiano's bolt on system is very good but another set of hardware I like are the inserts/w bolts on
LMII site. You'd probably need 2.

[Ron Frazier]

I cut a neck to short once so I just reversed the neck and cut a dove tail pocket in to it and cut a dove tail and glued it into the neck and cut it the right length and started over.

Ron

[Ned Knepp]

Just something to consider, Bart. A dovetail neck joint is much less forgiving to make than a bolt on joint. If you're good at woodworking it might not be too bad but a bolt on like the one Cumpiano shows is a lot easier in both time and the level of frustration involved

While you are looking at his site, you might consider purchasing a copy of Companio's book on guitar construction too. I wouldn't call it a quick read but it is pretty complete . You really can't read too much about this "hobby".

Ned

[Bob Webster]

Hi, Bart. I'd just echo what Ned and others have recommended, that you get the Cumpiano/Natelson book. It deals with alot of the questions you're going to have as you go through your build.

As for the rosette, it would have been better to inlay the rosette before you even cut the soundhole, just because it's easier at that point to ensure that everything is concentric. Indeed, you don't want to attempt it after you glue on the braces.

If I understand the neck situation correctly, your neck is just long enough to get to the 12th fret, with nothing left over to get into the body and the neck block. If that's the case, you might want to take a look on my page at my neck joint blog. I think it would work fine for you. I use a neck block that is 30mm thickX70mm wide at the top and 40mm wide at the bottom and includes a traditional Spanish foot on the bottom.

Best of luck,
Bob

Oh, yeah, and forget the dovetail joint. It's a pain in the butt and overkill from the standpoints of both strength and challenge at this point.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Bart- This is the fellow that I mentioned in my post-- In my openion he is top shelf-- PERIOD
peace,
Donald

[Bob Webster]

Donald, you're a bad man. You're gonna make me blush.

Bob

[Donald A. Fortune]

blush is good Bob-- shows something that I haven't done in a while :)

[Bart van Weperen]

Thanks again for all your input.

I know I have to read (a lot) more on building guitars...

As for the neck:
Bob, you’re right: it’s just long enough to get to the 12th. I’ve just taken a look on your page to see your neck joint. I must say it’s impressive and it could well be the rescue of my allmost too short neck. (Thanks for sharing !) It’ll save me a lot of time (and effort and frustration)
Bye Bye to the dovetail thought for now.

I think I know enough for now to carry on with my project. I’ll keep you informed on my progress.

Thanks!

Bart