DVD_Booklet.pdf

Making a Concert Classical Guitar with

John S. Bogdanovich

Copyright 2010 John S. Bogdanovich

Tis booklet may be used as a guide to the purpose and content of this DVD instructional series. Here you will also find a brief overview of the content for each disc along with some background behind the making of this DVD series and on guitar building in general. Tere are also sections that may be helpful for first time guitar builders and aspiring luthiers as well. Tese sections were added to address some frequently asked questions received after the release of the book.

able of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Background Behind the DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 DVD Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Disc 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Disc 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Disc 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Disc 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Disc 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Disc 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Disc 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Disc 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Disc 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Disc 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

 Accessing the Drawings on Disc 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22  Advise for First ime Guitar Makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22  Advise for Aspiring Luthiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Business Necessities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24  Assessing a Guitars Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Pricing Your Guitars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Guitar Players and Your Guitars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Getting Noticed

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27

Selling Your Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Introduction When I built my first guitar I already had a fair amount of woodworking experince. Tis experience included a full apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker, successful completion of two years of schooling at the Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Redwoods with James Krenov, and years of designing and building studio furniture. Te furniture I made typically did not have flat surfaces, often required some carving, and had pretty complex  jointery. I also had solid musical background having been a classical guitarist for over 30 years and real world design experince as an electrical engineer at A& Bell Labs for ten years. And my first guitar was still the most challenging project I had ever tackled. In building that first guitar many years ago I remember gathering up as many books and resources as I could find. I looked for anything that would have helped me to better understand what I was about to do, or provide me with more options on how to do it. Understanding the difficulty in the project before me I searched everywhere for any new information that would have helped to improved my chances of success. At the time there seemed to be some pretty big gaps in the information available on classical guitar building in particular. Many years later when writing the book “ Classical Guitar Making: A Modern Approach to a Traditional Design”  I consciously tried to close some of these gaps. Writing about something that you do everyday has its challenges. Especially when you realize that a good majority of the things you are doing are done automatically without thinking about them in any verbal way. After the release of the book I was deluged with mail from people all over the world telling me of their guitar building experiences using my book as a guide. Many had questions and almost everyone asked when there would be a DVD. I realized the book was a good start and that a DVD would be necessary to clear up what was still puzzling to some. Even with the book my intent was not just to show how to make a guitar, but how to make a successful musical instrument. After all, spending all this time on your guitar building project you would hope to end up with something that can you can play and make music on, not just something nice to look at. Hopefully this video will fill in the remaining blanks and help you make a successful musical instrument. Tis 10 DVD series demonstrates the construction of a concert classical guitar from start to finish. Nothing has been omitted. Unlike the book, where it was not possible to include full size plans or acetates, plans and acetates for the guitar as well as most of the jigs and fixtures used in the video have been included here in PDF format on disc 10. Printing instructions (read me file in the drawings folder) are also included. Simply have the drawings printed and bring them into the shop with you as you work. Successful guitar building is the result of applying information and techniques that you have been accumulating over the years, with or without your conscious knowledge. My first guitar was a copy of a 1960‘s Ramirez guitar similar to the one my teacher had years ago. I would get to play it at my lesson every Saturday and I would wonder what made this guitar sound so much better than mine. I could literally sit there just plucking the strings and listening to them ring endlessly enjoying the sounds they made. At the time I didn’t know much about guitars, but I never forgot that sound. Once I had built my first guitar I was tr ying to reproduce the sound that was still in my head from all those years before. Te more guitars I listened to here and there, I began collecting sound impressions, and gradually my sound preferences changed. Now from the perspective of a guitar maker not only was I collecting sounds, I also was collecting information on building techniques, wood and countless details. As career as a guitar maker grew I was able to meet other builders and share information with them. Over the years I have picked up many things from many people and added them to the arsenal of tools I employ on a daily basis in

making guitars today. I am sincerely thankful to everyone that has generously contributed by adding something to my toolbox. Te summation of all these things contribute to the success of my guitars today . In creating this video series I hope to give back some of what I have collected and assimilated in developing my own process to help people fulfill a dream of building their own guitar, or possibly to help aspiring luthiers start off on their journey. Either way, my goal is to aid in making these first steps successful.

Background Behind the DVD In the winter of 2006 the book Classical Guitar Making a Modern  Approach to a raditional Design was released by Sterling Publishing. Te response to the book has been far beyond anyone’s expectations, so much so that the book has recently gone into second print which is unprecedented for a book of its type. I still receive letters, phone calls, and e-mail from readers from all over the globe. I have received countless photos of guitars people have made using my book. I am still overwhelmed by the response. When writing the book it was my intention was to try and demystify the guitar building process. So much information was available in one form or another, some of it useful, some not. Rarely was there a single source for enough information to confidently build a guitar for the first time builder. My goal when writing the book was to present the material honestly, and try to simplify what I considered to be some essential and sufficient concepts to get started. If you are new to guitar building the best way to get star ted is with a few basic concepts and some solid techniques to help you do the work. When I built my first guitar one aspect of the process I found most lacking in solid information had to do with the neck angle and its function in producing an instrument that was playable. I too, was not happy with the results in this regard my first time out. I sought help in understanding the problem and how to avoid it in the future. I found out from the builders I asked that this was the number one complaint heard from first time builders, their guitars action turned out to be either too high or too low. So years later when writing the book I tr ied to explain this aspect of the process as clearly as I could so that everyone would have an easier time than I did. In this respect I think was only partially successful. Te truth of it is that all the information was there but much of it was in the text and I can only surmise that not everyone read it all. It goes without saying that it would be unreasonable of anyone to expect to produce a world class instrument their first time out, but creating one that can be played is not. After the book I kept this in the back of my mind. I wanted to improve on this aspect of the instruction and a few others I had gotten some reader feedback on. All I needed was another opportunity.  Almost every response I received from the book included the question was there going to be a DVD. At the time I hadn’t thought about it at all, but I received enough of these requests that it could not be ignored. Te logistics of this kind of undertaking had to be thoroughly researched before anything else could be done in order to determine its feasibility. Just as with the guitars, the book and the products I wanted this to be a first rate production. Terefore no compromise would be made as far as quality of the presentation or instruction was concerned. Te decision was made to shoot in HD. Tis would put the hooks in for a future release in HD without the need to re-edit if the technology becomes affordable. Te necessary software and equipment were set in place and it was time to give it a test spin. Right from the start it was apparent that two cameras were absolutely necessary to capture all the action. Luckily I was able to get a highly skilled camera crew to fit me into their busy schedule and shoot the video. Te project was on.

Once it was determined that the project was doable with the resources available and all the technical issues were addressed it was time to concentrate on content. Filming a video version of the book was not what I wanted to do. I felt for it to have real value it needed new content. Having heard from so many readers it was surprising to me how many had fully equipped woodworking shops, some better equipped than my own. Combine that with the fact that most guitar making books on the market use fairly outdated hand tool techniques to preform most of the processes I thought why not show people how to use their equipment to get faster and more accurate results. Perpetually involved in a search for design improvements in my guitars, I am also constantly looking for better ways to do any one, or all, of the processes involved in guitar making. Not to automate them, but to get better results more consistently in a way that is comfortable to me. A s I constantly reminded readers in the book, if any technique is uncomfortable in any way, seek out another method that feels better to you. You will never get good results from doing something in a way that makes you uncomfortable. With this in mind why not demonstrate all the techniques I currently employ to build guitars, some of which required the development of fixtures and jigs to be used with power tools and equipment. Between this and the book viewers would have some good choices for various processes. Now I not only had the opportunity to readdress some of the instruction points I had received helpful suggestions on from readers, but I could improve on some other points I felt were not as successful as they could have been, such as the aspect of the neck angle. It logically followed that the guitar design should bring something new to the table, so why not use the current design. Spruce is used on this soundboard, and the new bracing pattern features an open lower transverse brace with patches to improve sound and involve more of the top in sound production. Improvements were also made with fingerboard placement for more consistent playability, a new rosette design is introduced which includes two motifs derived from the same wheat stick, a new detail scheme, and even a new finish. Tis video shows exactly how I build my current design. Te design of the solera is also new to accommodate the design changes. Its construction as well as that of the back workboard are clearly demonstrated in the video. With all this new material it was obvious that drawings would be necessary. Rather than supply drawings additionally, I decided to include them on the DVD. Tis way the viewer did not have to purchase anything additional to get started and printing them out becomes an option. Te drawings and acetates for the guitar are full size and may be printed according to the instructions in the read me file in the drawings folder on disc 10(see instructions for accessing these drawings on .......). In order to fit all the content on 10 discs a conscious decision was made to omit the construction of the templates, side and linings molds from the video. Teir construction was covered at length in the book, and both the templates and the molds in the video are exactly the same as the ones in the book. I sincerely encourage viewers to purchase them from the web site to greatly improve accuracy, to save time, money, and unnecessary dust inhalation - I’m not kidding. I also wanted to maximize reuse so that people that had bought templates, molds, and tools for the design in the book, would not have to purchase any of these things again. An added flexibility is that the techniques in the video could be also used to create the design from the book if desired. It took almost an entire year to shoot all the video necessary to put this instructional series together. Tree guitars were built simultaneously in order to make the filming process faster and more economical. wo of those guitars were purchased before the video was even completed. It was necessary to hang on to the third guitar for

filming of the special segments at the close. Tis guitar was sold shortly thereafter. Post-production work which I did myself due to budget constraints took almost another full year. Early in the project I watched a number of videos on guitar making that were on the market at the time. Tis is the first classical guitar making video of its kind. Terefore, all the videos I saw were on building steel string guitars and arch-tops. Te first thing that struck me about all of them was that I felt they were too long. Most were more than 15 DVD’s in length. Te content was there but things moved along too slowly. Tis I felt was due to the fact that not much had been edited out. Some showed ever y saw stroke or every second of every process even if those same processes were repeated more than once. I felt this made some of them difficult to watch for extended periods. In editing this video series I tried to capture only what was necessary to clearly convey what was going on at any point in the process. Any repetitive processes were shown only once to avoid redundancy and to make the viewing flow better.  My intent was to present the instructional information in an interesting way and to capture a kind of flow. In fact the workflow is very close to the actual workflow when the cameras aren’t rolling. Te video is full of valuable guitar making instruction as well as some helpful tips on tools and materials along the way. I have been impressed with the both people that purchased my book and built guitars using it, and all the great people that have taken classes in my shop. Te purpose of creating this instructional video series is to help you all build guitars you can play and enjoy, possibly even ignite a passion for guitar building. After all, it’s too big a project to come up empty handed. Whether you are building a guitar for yourself, a loved one, a friend, or a client it will be a better experience for all involved if the instrument is playable in the end. I sincerely hope this video ser ies will help you to successfully build a quality instrument.

DVD Content Te main menu on each disc contains the main topics contained on that disc. In the case of disc 1 seen listed below, the main topics are Introductions, Workboard, and Details. Te chapter button on your remote may be used to skip through each topic by sequence. A sequence represents a process or task which may contain all, or part of a subheading. For example, by selecting the Workboard topic in the main menu you will begin viewing with the beginning of Te Solera subheading. By then pushing the chapter button on your remote you will go to the next task in the solera construction. You can cycle through the entire solera construction subheading this way and continue to the next topic.

Disc 1

Introductions General introduction Shop Tour Routers & Bits Measuring Tools Guitar Building Products Wood Guitar Building Advise

Workboards The Solera The Back Workboard Finishing the Workboards

Details Introduction Making Bindings Making Purflings

Te general introduction state the goals of this instructional DVD series and gives the viewer a glimpse into what is to come. A complete shop tour describes the equipment used in the video, recommends some essentials and suggests alternatives for others. A list of most of the necessary hand tools is also presented. Tere are segments dedicated to specific types of tools such as routers, bits, and measuring tools. Tere is also a brief tour of the temporary wood storage area with comments on the shop environment. Tis section ends with some advise about guitar building in general and making design changes on subsequent guitars. In order to build a guitar you will need to create some workboards. Te better job you do creating these workboards, the greater are your chances of successfully building a quality guitar. Te section on workboards gives clear detailed instruction on how to create both the solera and the back workboard. Te construction of the solera also includes instruction on creating a set of removable rims which are very helpful at various stages of the process.

Both workboards are then given a finish to prevent warping or dimension changes from changes in humidity. Before any guitar building can begin the details and the color scheme for the entire instrument must be determined. Since may details are added to the various parts of the guitar early on such as the back strip, and headpiece veneers, you must set your scheme right in the beginning. Here the color scheme for the instrument is laid out along with all the necessary details right down to the color scheme and motifs used in the rosette. Creating bindings purflings are demonstrated here, the remainder is continued on Disc 2.

Disc 2

Details Cont’d Making the Back Strip Making the Wheat Stick Making Herringbone Making Wheat

Sides Introduction Sizing & Thicknessing Pre-bending Laminating Cutting to Length Cutting the Contour for the Back Edge

Linings Introduction Resawing & Thicknessing Laminating the Linings Shaping the Lining Profile Installing the Linings

Te first section of Disc 2 is a continuation of the detail section beg inning with the back strip. Clearly detailed instruction is also given on the making, laying out, cutting up, and re-gluing the wheat stick, along with the creation of both the herringbone and wheat style motif. Te section on the sides begins by picking and arranging a pleasing grain pattern in your sides, then thicknessing them using two different methods. All side material is pre-bent then laminated to create very stable and accurate set of sides for your guitar. Te sides are then cut to length so they fit in the solera held only by the rims. Te contour is also cut along the back edge of both sides to create the tilted dome shape of the back. Lining laminations are created from one piece of solid mahogany beginning with re-sawing and thicknessing. Te laminations are then cut into 4 sets of strips and laminated in a mold. After the glue dries a profile is added to the inside edge and they are installed on the sides.

Disc 3

The Neck & Heel Stack Introduction The Scarf Joint Book-matching Headpiece Veneers Installing Headpiece Veneers Preparing Veneers for the Nut Back of Headpiece Veneer The Heel Stack Cutting the Side Slots

Drill & Shape Headpiece Cut & Trim Headpiece Outline Drill Holes for Tuner Rollers Cut & Shape Tuner Slots Shape Crest

Shape & Carve the Heel Cut & Shape Inside Heel Carve & Roughly Shape Outer Heel

Disc 3 is entirely dedicated to making a neck. Te neck is crucial in creating a stable and playable instrument. In the introduction the differences between mahogany and Spanish cedar are discussed as well as characteristics necessary in selecting good wood for your neck. Te workflow in the construction of a neck is important in getting optimal results. Te progression of steps in the video is exactly the same as with every guitar built in the shop. In the book cutting the side slots was demostrated wth a handsaw. In the video a new technique is presented for cutting the side slots utilizing the table saw. Tis method requires the construction of a sled that runs in the groves on the top of the saw. Cutting side slots in this manner is very easy and will result in consistently accurate results every time. A complete set of color plans for this sled are included on disc 10. Instructions for accessing these drawings is given in the Accessing the Drawings on Disc 10 section of this document. Te headpiece is shaped with a router using the headpiece template from the template set. Te tuner holes are drilled with the template in place using an adjsutable drilling jig that fits over the template. Eliminating the need to remove the template to drill the holes makes realigning the template unnecessary thereby reducing the possiblity of error. Te slots are shaped and the entire headpiece is carefully prepared stopping short of final sanding.  Attention is then turned toward the heel. Te part of the heel that is inside the guitar is first cut on the band saw using a sled and then shaped by hand. Te plans for the sled are included on disc 10. Te outer portion of the heel is then roughly carved to shape. Te final carving of this outer portion of the heel occurs after the fingerboard is installed.

Disc 4

Jointing the Top Introduction Jointing Layout & Drill Registration Holes Cut Out Shape

The Rosette Introduction Prep top for Rosette Outer Rings Burl Veneer Center Ring Inner Rings Center Wheat Cut Sound hole

Wood selection for the soundboard is crucial to producing an instr ument with concert quality sound. Some general criteria is given for selecting a quality top. Both visual clues and measurable physical characteristics for sound production are covered. Once the top is selected the two halves are jointed. Te top joint must be spot on for a long lasting instrument. Proven methods for jointing the top are demonstrated. Once jointed, the top is laid out with all registration information which will greatly simplify putting everything together down the road. Te top is then cut to shape. Some clean up and prep work is done to the top before the rosette is started. Te guitar’s rosette is typically a luthier’s signature, something that says this is one of my guitars. Tis section of the DVD demonstrates how to make a natural center ring rosette. Everything necessary to reproduce this rosettee is provided in this video series including a complete drawing of the rosettte with the sizes of all the components which appears on Sheet 1 of the guitar drawings included on disc 10. Instructions for accessing these drawings is given in the  Accessing the Drawings on Disc 10 section of this document.  A brief overview is given on the rosette, use of the rosette cutting router attachment is explained, the top is prepared and registered to a simple workboard, then work on the rosette begins. Te entire rosette is made one segment at a time starting at the outer edge working in towards the center. Every step of the way is shown using remarkable close up camera work. Every bit of the process is clearly explained. At the stage where the center ring is added, information is presented regarding the types of wood available for this purpose. In this rosette commercial veneer is used to create the center ring. Commercial veneer presents a much more varied palette of colors and wood types that may be used to accent your designs. Although much trickier to use, a tried and true method is presented here that if followed correctly will yield great results. Te last and most difficult piece to apply, the center wheat motif, is cut into the middle of the center ring. While bending the center wheat for installation the outer covering breaks making it unusable. A quick and painless recovery is demonstrated and the resulting rosette is stunning.

Disc 5

The Soundboard Thicknessing Layout with Acetate The Bridge Patch Upper Transverse Patch Lower Transverse Brace Patches

Braces Cutting Brace Material Fan Braces Transverse Braces Fingerboard Patch Rosette Patch Scalloping & Voicing

With the rosette installed the top is then thicknessed from the back side. Te bracing pattern is laid out on the under side of the top using the acetate which is included on disc 10 and installation of the braces and patches can begin. Selecting and cutting brace material, as well as material used for the different patches on the soundboard, is discussed and demonstrated. Te process starts with the bridge patch. It is created using the template from the kit and is surprisingly simple. Once the patch is installed the addition of fan braces can begin. Tere are many methods of shaping and gluing on braces. Te method presented here is my preferred method of shaping the braces before gluing and using cam clamps as opposed to a go deck. Te inner 5 fan braces are notched to fit over the bridge patch using a clever method shown to me by Jeff Elliot. Tis method is repeated for the overlapping of the lower transverse brace and the patches under it. Te order in which the different pieces are added is critical in making the process of bracing a top easily done.  As pieces are added some create impediments for the installation or scalloping other pieces. Te order shown here is a proven workflow used on every guitar in my shop. Te bracing pattern for this guitar has an opening on either end of the lower transverse brace allowing a fan brace to pass underneath. Tis area is fortified with a thin patch to avoid expansion problems with the top. Te idea behind this concept is to involve more of the top in sound production aimed at the nodes responsible for higher frequency response. Te goal here is to not only get a bit more sound but a bit more treble response. Te order for installing the braces is the 7 fan braces are installed first,then the 2 upper bout fan braces, followed by the 2 fan braces at the bottom of the lower bout. Te transverse braces are installed next , and lastly the fingerboard and rosette patch. After everything is on it is time to scallop and voice. A simple overview of voicing is given here stressing the fact that the range of adjustment in the end is very small and that the best way to achieve good resonance is to design it in to the soundboard and the guitar as a whole.

Disc 6

The Back Introduction Book-matching the Halves Jointing Cut Out Shape Thicknessing Orienting Back to Workboard Back Patches & Braces Making a Center Patch Installing the Center Patch Shaping the Center Patch Applying a Finish Cutting & Shaping Braces Installing the Braces Scalloping & Voicing the Back Braces Finishing the Braces

Assembling the Neck & Sides Introduction Fitting the Foot Block Fitting the Sides to the Neck Applying a Finish to the Inside Parts Assembly

Te back is an often overlooked aspect of the guitar. If you think about it the top is excited by the plucked string setting the top in motion which moves the air and produces the sound. Te proximity of the back to the top is important in this scenario. If the back is too far from the top the effectiveness of its reflection ability is limited. By moving the back closer to the top this reflectiveness can be increased which results in better projection. As always too much of a good thing can be harmful and proximity of the back to the top is no exception. I have experimented with this distance and find the position of this back with respect to the top is optimal for this design. Te construction of the back is crucial to its useful life as par t of the guitar. Placing a decorative stick so to speak in between the two halves of the back can cause weakness if not treated properly. Terefore a cross grain center patch is added to the inside face of the back generously overlapping the entire center seam providing strength and stability. Construction of this cross grained patch is clearly demonstrated. By using cross grain wood no additional stress is applied to the joint by the patch. As wood expands perpendicularly to the grain lines the orientation of this patch will not cause the joint to separate. And since wood glued together like this is generally weak along its length, it only acts to strengthen the joint. Te stability of the back is further enhanced by the application of shellac to all patches and braces. Shellac being an excellent moisture barrier works to prevent moisture exchange with the environment, which is the main cause of problems with guitars. Both the selection and treatment of bracing material for the back is discussed and demonstrated. Te process of shaping and gluing on the back braces can be done using a variety of methods as with the top. I prefer to shape the braces before they are glued on. Tis is more comfortable to me because I feel I can get a much more consis-

tent and proportional shape this way as opposed to shaping them after they are adhered to the back and stationary. Once all the braces are glued on the braces are scalloped and a demonstration of voicing a back is given. Finally the braces are finished to reduce moisture exchange, and to create a nice visual effect. Te assembly of the guitar begins here with the neck and sides. Te sides form a closed loop with the neck as an anchor point on one end, and the foot block the anchor on the other end. Te foot block is fitted first while the sides still fit firmly in the solera with the rims on. Next the sides are cut and lining material is trimmed away to fit them into the slots in the heel. Before gluing the assembly all surfaces inside the guitar receive a finish of shellac. Tis finish not only looks great, but it helps to reduce the moisture exchange with the environment ultimately producing a more stable instrument. Te foot block is glued to the sides first, followed by the neck.

Disc 7

Installing the Top Laying out the Sides to Accept the Top Cutting the Slot for the Butt Strip Shaping the Sides to Accept the Top Fitting & Installing the Top

Installing the Back Shaping Sides to Accept the Back Applying Finish to Inside of Top Fitting & Installing the Back

Purflings Trimming the Top and Back Cutting the Binding Channels Cutting the Purfling Channels Fitting & Installing the Purflings Cleaning up the Purflings

With the neck and sides assembly done we can begin to put the box together. Before you proceed in shaping the top rims to accept the top, the channel for the butt strip must be cut. It is best to do this while the edge of the top rims are still flat. Te top is installed first. Pay close attention to the layout and shaping of the sides to accept the top. Tis has been precisely calculated to create optimal playability of the instr ument. If you are unsure of what it is you are being asked to do and why, I suggest you either consult the drawings for the guitar, the solera or both, and pos-

sibly even draw this out yourself. It may help you to better understand what it is you are doing and why. Te plane representing the original flat surface of both the top rims and the solera is highlighted in red on both the guitar and solera drawings, and are identical on both. Te top is then fitted to the rims. Some of the braces are cut back and some are notched into the sides for assembly. In the end the top should be easily held in place with nothing more than a couple of loosely applied clamps. With everything fitting properly its time to glue it on. Gluing on the back will lock in the neck angle so before gluing it on be sure that everything is touching the solera as it should, especially the neck. Te back is done a very similar fashion as the top. Te big difference here is that when you are gluing on the back you cannot see what you are doing. It has to be done blindly. Neatness is important here. ry not to create a mess inside the instrument. When you turn it over and look inside the next day, you should not see any glue residue along the perimeter. With the box now together we turn our attention to the bindings and purflings. First any overhang of the top and back is trimmed away and the binding and purfling channels are cut. In the video I use a binding cutting machine to cut the binding channels. Tis machine is a two part system with plans available at some luthier supply companies. It is an easy project and well worth the effort. Te purfling channels are cut using the same router attachment I used in the book. I have updated the plans for this device and a set of full size drawings for it are included on disc 10. On a guitar built in the traditional Spanish method as this one bindings and purflings will require some hand work to complete. Te machine will remove the majority of the material but anything close to the neck on the top and back will have to be chiseled by hand. Te removal of this material as well as a small amount of rosewood on the back is clearly demonstrated before fitting the purflings. Te purflings are fitted and carefully mitered which creates a truly rich look in the final product. Te miters are preformed with unbelievable accuracy. It is very simply done by hand with a chisel. Gluing the purflings in place requires some preparatory work to avoid tearing fibers in the top. Te purflings are glued in place and after the glue dries proper tape removal is demonstrated to avoid damage to the wood. Te protruding purflings are trimmed and we are on to the next disc to prepare to install the bindings.

Disc 8

Bindings & Butt Strip Introduction Preparing Top Binding Channels Fitting & Installing Top Bindings Preparing Back Binding Channels Fitting & Installing Back Bindings Cleaning Up the Bindings Fitting & Installing Butt Strip

The Fingerboard Introduction Milling the Wood Cutting the Fret Slots Trimming & Shaping the Fingerboard Prepping the Top for Installation Checking the Set Up Registering the Fingerboard Installing the Fingerboard Fretting Trimming the Neck Prep Surface of Fingerboard Installing Frets Dressing the Frets Filling the Gaps 7th Fret Indicator

Chisel work is necessary on both the top and back sides to prepare the binding channels before fitting. Material must be removed at the neck joint on the top, and at the heel on the back side to fit the bindings. Te bindings are then fitted in their channels and glued in place. On the back side cutting the bindings to just the right length is key to a great fit. Once the bindings are installed, the last assembly detail is fitting and installing the butt strip. Tis tricky bit of inlay work is done entirely with hand tools. Te channel has already been cut back when the sides were attached to the rims before the top went on. Te width was dialed in at that time so all that is necessary at this point is to fit the piece to length and miter the purlifngs for a nice effect. Tis piece really rounds out the look of the box. Finding good wood for fingerboards is sadly becoming more and more difficult. Here you can find out what to expect in searching for fingerboard mate-

rial today. Once selected, the wood is milled, squared and ready for cutting fret slots. Te fret slots for this design have some compensation built in to get a little better approximation for intonation across the fingerboard. Te position of these frets are given on sheet 2 of the guitar drawing included on disc 10. A fret slotting system is used to cut the fret slots here. Tis fret slotting system is highly recommended for accuracy and is available at some luthier supply companies. It is possible to have a template made using the numbers provided in the drawing in order to cut these slots. Once the frets slots are cut, the set up is checked in order to see that we are on target with all our dimensions. Measurements are taken to check the 12th fret string height before the fingerboard is glued on so that adjustments can be made if necessary. If you find that you are a little off at this point adjustments can be made to the thickness of the fingerboard to compensate, but these adjustments should be kept very small. If adjustments of any more 4% are needed it is quite possible that something is not quite right downstream and should be investigated and corrected before moving on. If everything checks out the fingerboard is shaped the rest of the way, registration holes are drilled, the upper bout is prepared almost to final sanding, the fingerboard is fitted, and then glued on. If everything leading up to this point has been done properly the fingerboard should lay flat without the need to relieve any material underneath, at the correct angle and provide the proper action at the 12th fret.  After the glue dries the excess neck wood is trimmed and the fretting process begins. As the frets are installed their heights are checked with respect to one another using the dowels from the fret leveling kit. Since the fingerboard is flat any high fret at this stage is typically due to it not being properly seated. High frets are hammered down as they are installed which greatly reduces removal of fret material in the flattening process later on. Once all the frets are installed the ends of the frets are trimmed and then filed flush to the fingerboard. Te edges of the frets along with the edge of the fingerboard are beveled and sanded smooth to create a user friendly feel. Any spaces at the bottom of the slots at the sides of the fingerboard are filled with stick shellac, then sanded flush . Finally, the all important 7th fret indicator is installed.  All the precuations that have been taken with the set up early on in the process will pay dividends in the end. Te fnal set up will be very quick and yield a very playable instrument.

Disc 9

Final Shaping the Neck The Heel Cap Shaping the Neck Final Shaping the Heel Final Shaping the Neck at the Headpiece

The Bridge Introduction Milling and Sizing Bridge Blank Cutting the Saddle Slot Cutting the Tie Block Channels Drilling the String Holes Cutting the String Trench Installing Tie Block Inlays Final Shaping Doming the Underside

Finishing Finishing Introduction Prepping the Guitar for Finishing Filling the Pores Undercoating with Shellac Applying Conversion Varnish Rubbing Out the Finish

Te final shaping of the neck and heel is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the guitar building process for me. Carving has always been a favorite of mine. Here you get to do it in spades. Te final shaping of the heel can turn an ordinary looking heel into a work of art. Te shape of this heel must flow seamlessly into the shape of the neck not only creating a thing of beauty but one of function. Tere is nothing worse than having a player complain about the feel of a neck. Here I try to convey what I have found to be a pleasing shape for most players without the use of templates or strict guidelines. I have found that making the neck in this way is more enjoyable and less stressful than trying to copy an exact shape which is almost impossible in the long run. Carving techniques are also demonstrated in shaping the upper neck at the bottom of the headpiece which has been a signature of my guitars for years. I find this shape not only pleasing but combined with the backside headpiece veneer creates a very strong upper neck which is a much desired characteristic. Proper design and construction of the bridge is crucial in creating a highly responsive classical guitar. Te bridge design is well explained and executed with precision. From bridge blank to finished product the great camera work leaves nothing to the imagination creating the bridge. Machine work is used to cut the blank to rough size and shape. All the channels are cut on the shaper (a router mounted in a table works equally as well). Te

string holes are drilled then the string trench is cut on the shaper. Te final shaping of both the top and bottom surfaces are done with hand tools until the bridge sits perfectly on the domed top. Lastly, a matte finish is applied and then set aside to harden. Te finishing process for this guitar is different than that of the book. In the book I used a combination of lacquer for the back and sides and French polish for the top. Since then I have switched to a conversion varnish finish. I find this finish to be superior in every way for a musical instrument. First of all it is much more durable than shellac yet amazingly flexible. Tese are excellent characteristics for a guitar finish. Another important aspect is conversion varnish has a high solids content which greatly reduces the number of coats required to create a mirror like finish. Tis also makes it much easier to get the right amount of finish on the instrument for optimal sound production and quality. And lastly it cures very fast. Te entire instrument can be buffed out the day after spraying. Te finishing process as always begins with sur face preparation. All surfaces are sanded, any final shaping is done, and in the case of this guitar the bindings are protected from collecting residue from the rosewood by an application of cyanoacrylate glue. Tis serves not only to fill the pores but to stiffen the wood a bit . Te binding wood used here is African satinwood which can be a bit spongy until hardened with this glue making it easier to work with.  All porous surfaces are then filled. wo different methods of filing are used here. A paste filler with a brown tint is used for filing the Spanish cedar neck. Tis was done to not only fill the pores but to warm and richen the color of the wood a bit. Te rosewood is filled using epoxy. Te result is a flat sur face that will make it easier to get the desired finish. And as always before spraying on the conversion varnish a few coats of amber shellac are applied. Virtually anything can be sprayed over shellac. It is desirable as an undercoating because it is an excellent moisture barrier. Te amber tinted shellac will also warm up the color of the wood just a bit. wo coats of conversion varnish are sprayed on. Conversion varnish has a high solids content therefore only two coats are neessary. Te amount of finish on the instrument is most important. oo much and the finish will negatively effect the sound, too little and there will not be enough protection for the wood and the instrument will sound raw. wo coats of conversion varnish seem to be the ideal amount of finish for an instrument. After only twenty four hours of drying time the finish can be rubbed out to a mirror like shine.

Disc 10

Installing the Bridge Introduction Fitting the Nut & Saddle Positioning the Bridge Gluing on the Bridge Clean Up

Set Up Installing Tuning Machines Final Fitting & Shaping the Nut & Saddle String Up Intonate Wrap Demonstration & Evaluation of Guitar Evaluation & interview with Stanley Yates Recording Session with Mr. Yates

Without a doubt scraping off the finish to glue on the bridge can be the scariest part of this entire process.  After all the work you have done up to this point, and here you are about to take a chisel to the pristine finish you have just painstakingly applied and polished. Hopefully seeing it calmly done and clearly explained will be all you need to give you confidence to try it yourself.  After fitting the nut and saddle into their respective slots the bridge locator stick (drawing on this disc) is used to precisely position the bridge. Precise positioning is critical for the instrument to not only play in tune, but a bridge that is even slightly off to one side can greatly reduce playability. Observe this extremely critical part of the process done in a very simple and straightforward way. Once the glue has dried it is time for set up. Here is what we have all been waiting for. If the design has been executed properly up to this point the set up will be very quick and straightforward. One intention of the design was to take the guess work out of the set up process in the end. Learn how to accurately calculate the string height at both the 1st and 12th fret before the strings are put on. Ten use these calculations to set the height for both the nut and the saddle to get optimum playability. If done properly there will be very little adjustment necessary after the strings are on. Intonation is simple and may require some fine adjustments later.  At last the guitar is done. It is time to take it out for a test drive. It has been a while since I have had the time to do any playing so go easy on me. I attempt to play a small piece in order to demonstrate some of the guitars characteristics. Luckily that job wasn’t left completely up to me. International per former, recording artist, and respected music professor at Austin Peay State University, Stanley Yates, came to Asheville to last summer to record material for a web project using one of the guitars built during the filming of this DVD. Mr. Yates stopped

by the shop before the session for an interview to discuss guitars. I got to ask him some questions about some of the things that draw players to a particular guitar. Te interview is very informative, as Mr. Yates demonstrates aspects of the guitar’s sound and playability such as separation, balance, sustain, and clarity, on the guitar as he speaks. If you are unclear on any of these points, this portion of the video may be very helpful in shedding some light on these absolutely fundamental aspects of a guitar’s performance. Mr.  Yates also allowed us to film part of his recording session and generously granted us permission to use it at the end of this DVD. Witness first hand the birth of an instrument. Beginning with the selection and cutting of some wood, shaping it into a quality guitar, then listening to beautiful music being played on it as the project comes full circle.

Accessing the Drawings on Disc 10 Te drawings are located in a folder on disc 10 labelled Drawings. o access these you must put the disc in your computer. If you are using a PC click the My Computer icon and look for the icon for the DVD called CGM Disc 10 which should be among the drives listed there. Click on the CGM Disc 10 icon and you will see the file str ucture of the disc. Locate the folder labelled Drawings and drag it to your desktop. If you are on a mac insert the disc into your disc drive. Open finder and click on CGM Disc 10 at the bottom of the drive listing in upper left corner of the window. A new window will open displaying the file structure of the disc. Locate the drawings folder and drag it to the desktop. Inside the drawings folder are PDF files of all the drawings and a read me file with printing instructions. Te printing instructions include where you can get the full size guitar drawings and acetates printed as well as the full size paper sizes for all the drawings. Most of the drawings may be printed on a desktop ink jet printer. Some may need to be size reduced to fit on a page. Te drawings folder may be stored anywhere on you computer.

Advise for First Time Guitar Makers Te tendency for everyone that has ever attempted to build a guitar is to hurry up and get done so they can hear what it sounds like. Tis usually results in something that is not quite right. Out of necessity you will hopefully learn to control this temptation. If you are new to this, you will need to go slowly and carefully look at the design. Notice how each particular aspect of the design is related to its pur pose. Visualize the design in three dimensions in you minds eye and understand how you will approach the different parts. Also pay attention to the order in which they will be done. Tis should be done before you put a tool to wood. Before you begin working  you should know exactly what you intend to do. Always visualize what you are about to do before you do it. It may  just save you some wood now and again. Tere are many ways to do almost all the processes described in the video. If you are uncomfortable with any one of them by all means use another method you feel more comfortable with. I have also assumed that viewers have a pretty solid woodworking background. If any of the techniques presented in the video are new to will need to learn and practice the technique before using it on the guitar. I can tell you first hand that building a guitar is not easy regardless of your woodworking background. Te desire alone is not enough to get this job done,  you will need some solid woodworking skills. You will not be happy with your results until you develop some.  You can do this by practicing on some scrap wood first. Tis always worked for me. Wood used in guitar construction is expensive. Terefore, it is not economical to learn with this wood. Plain old 2x4 wood will suffice for most things. Although the textures and the behavior of the wood may be different than the real thing you will quickly get the feel for what you are about to do. Tis will also give you a good idea of the sharpness of your tools. Softwood will typically only cut cleanly when your tools are really sharp. If you need some sharpening tips, references may be found on my website and many other woodworking sites. I cannot stress how much better your results will be if your tools are truly sharp. If you are unfamiliar with cabinet scrapers and how to sharpen them it is time to learn. Te species of wood used to make guitars are not necessarily the easiest species to work with hand tools. Woods like mahogany and rosewood are what is known as rowed wood. Tis means that the fibers on the surface of the wood are in rows where adjacent rows alternate in grain direction. Terefore in planing or carving this wood no matter what direction you cut you will be going against the grain somewhere. In order to work this wood without tearing out your tools will need to be extremely sharp. You may even be forced to plane across the grain to avoid excessive tear out. However you plane this wood you must take very little off with each pass. Tat will only be possible when your tool is truly sharp. Often you may have to resort to using a scraper to get good results. Wood that is impossible to plane without tear out often can be scraped without a problem as long as the wood is fairly hard. Scrapers gener-

ally will not work as well on soft wood. So if scrapers are new to you do some research on how to properly use, and sharpen one. In the beginning performing the woodworking techniques will require most of your attention. It may be hard to remember at times that creating good sound is the real focus. Te more familiar you become with the how to’s, the more they will fade into the background allowing you to focus more on the ultimate goal. Tat is why practicing some of these techniques is so important. Have realistic expectations. Your first attempt is after all your first attempt. You can always try again. Te only extra expense at that point will be the wood and par ts needed to build another guitar. Everything else should already be in place.  Also, if you are lacking in some equipment to perform some of the milling tasks for instance, check with your local cabinet shop. As long as you don’t go in there at a busy time demanding they drop everything and help you, most will be more than happy to lend you a hand or perform some milling work at a small fee. Tese shops usually have some pretty nice equipment that will give you great results. Local woodworking organizations are also a good place for information and possibly getting someone to lend a tool or a hand with our project. Te templates, molds and tools that I have developed, and use throughout this video are available on my website and at some of the luthier supply companies. I highly recommend these guitar building products as they are extremely helpful for builders at any level because they are more accurate than anything you can make by hand. rust me, after getting these made I threw my old ones away, they just could not stand up to the accuracy and symmetry of these. Tey are also a tremendous time saver. Regardless of skill level, making the templates and molds accurately is difficult and may take weeks. Tese products will allow you to concentrate on making the guitar which will be difficult enough. I use these products in my shop every day of the week and they have improved the my workflow as well as the quality of my guitars. I have also included discounted sets on the website which will save you money and they include all the templates, molds, and tools to get you started. Check out my website www.jsbguitars.com/guitar-making-products-news/  for up-to-date information on products and pricing.

Advise for Aspiring Luthiers  Shortly after the release of the book I was surprised not only by the how many of the readers that contacted me had already made a few guitars, but how many of them were seriously looking to begin careers as luthiers. Teir questions covered a wide range of topics, many of which had nothing to do with the physical process of building guitars but more about the practicality or business side of guitar making. In this section I will address some of the more frequently touch upon topics covered in these requests. Te intention here is not to try and dissuade anyone from pursuing their dreams, but to provide honest and practical advise as to what you can expect when you take the plunge and to maximize your chances of success. When I started out in guitar making I not only solicited advise from other builders, but from successful people that I respected in a wide range of occupations and careers. Tis is a collection of some of the advise I received, and a few things I learned from experience along the way. Tis should in no way be seen as a complete guide to starting a career in guitar making but possibly the beginning of looking at things in a different way. Working alone as a guitar builder you must literally do it all. You build the guitars, you do the marketing, you do the selling, you do the bookkeeping, and you sweep the floors. You manage and perform every aspect of your guitar making enterprise. You make all the decisions. Te success or failure of your business depends entirely on  you. Not everyone has the stuff necessary for this, nor will everyone want to. urning your guitar making hobby into a business will require almost pathological dedication and a huge effort. In the beginning not only will you be doing all the aforementioned things but you will also be scrambling around gathering information on guitars and players to improve your product so you can compete. oday there are an awful lot of really good builders out there building really fine instruments. And in order to survive you

must be able to stand in there and compete with them. Here is where being a guitarist can greatly speed up the first part of this process. If you can play the instrument it can save you endless time accumulating data on guitars from other guitarists in order to improve your instruments. Second hand information will always have some level of disconnect since  you both are using words to describe things and each of you will have different images for the same adjectives. A guitar player that is also a guitar builder can assess his own instrument for both sound and playability which is a great asset in determining what needs improvement and what does not. If you play, the higher your leveling of playing the higher the level of clientele you can relate to personally without the need for an interpreter. Tere is a big difference between someone that plays a bit here and there to someone that is playing virtuoso repertoire. Someone able to play a repertoire with a high level of difficulty will have first hand information on the limits of the guitar and the human body. Tis information is vital in determining things like size limits at critical places on the instrument and other details that are used to establish the criteri a for one of the second most important aspect of the instrument - its playability, especially if you goal is to build instruments for working musicians. Te last thing you want to do is create instruments that are difficult to play and can possibly cause or aggravate player injuries. If someone that is not an advanced level player comes to you with a specific request you will need to know whether that request is reasonable or not, and possibly not in the players best interest. Te last thing you want is an unhappy customer even if that customers request was out of line to start with. Te classical guitar repertoire is one of the most physically demanding of all the instruments requiring players to perform great stretches and hand manipulations while exerting enough force to fret all the notes properly. Hand injuries in the classical guitar world are common some are the fault of players not resting properly and pushing it too hard, some are from poorly designed guitars. You don’t want to be part of the latter.

Business Necessities If you are serious about establishing yourself as a professional guitar maker the first thing you must realize is this is no longer a hobby, it is a business. Tose luthiers that view their guitar building endeavors as a hobby and live with the notion that they will never be able to make a decent living at lutherie probably won’t. It is a self fulfilling prophecy. No one said it was going to be easy, I can tell you first hand it is going to require lot of hard work and in today’s economic environment it has to be more than a business, it has to be a lifestyle. You may need to trim your lifestyle a bit so it will be more in line with the amount of income you will be able to generate in the first few years of your new business. Te lower your overhead the better are your chances of success. It will take time to establish a steady, reliable income large enough feed you and your family so you need to be able to survive to that point. o make your guitar building business successful you will need some business skills. If you do not feel you possess any business skills you will need to learn some. You will not be able to attain any level of security without them. Tere are plenty of books on the subject available everywhere. If you are not a reader you can take continuing ed classes at your local community college. Tey usually have a good assortment of subjects that can help you better understand how to run your business. Being able to know your way around a computer is essential if you are running a business today. Everything is done on the computer. Computers are also inexpensive. You can get a truly powerful laptop for under $500 and once you learn to use it you will think it was the best money you have ever spent. Most likely anything you learn about running your small business will involve a computer and some computer software. Tere are programs available for almost every conceivable purpose, much of it useful for a small business. oday computer software is actually useful and generally easy to use. It is not like the old days where you needed a computer science degree to do anything on the machine. Te more software you learn how to use the easier it becomes the next time since today the user interface for most software has become almost standardized. oday anyone can use a computer. If  you don’t know how you’ll need to learn. Claiming not to be a computer person is not an acceptable excuse. Tere

is information everywhere on how to learn to use a computer or how to use any particular piece of software. Tere are reams of book, websites, online tutorials, DVD’s and classes to help you become computer literate. Continuing ed programs have great computer courses typically. Te courses are inexpensive and usually a few weeks duration. You can learn how to use almost any type of software like this. If you are the only employee in your company using a computer will save you countless time and make the unmanageable manageable.  You certainly will not be able to live extravagantly being a solitary guitar builder, but don’t worry there actually won’t be time. Terefore you better really love what you are about to do because you will be at it quite a bit. I have heard from countless people that were thinking of leaving their jobs to peruse lutherie or some related craft asking me for advise. Honestly, the best advise I could give them is to have a plan ( Plan A, B & C) and be prepared for anything that may come your way because it usually does. I know this is oversimplified, but there are just too many things to cover in one simple answer, and at its most basic level this is the most honest answer. Being a guitar maker requires more skill that just building good guitars. Terefore, the more hats you can wear and wear well, the better you chances at success. Without the funding to subcontract out any of the non-guitar making work, you will have to do it all yourself. For those that don’t need to rely on the income derived from their guitar building to survive, great, but for the rest of us there are bills at the end of the month that need to be paid and mouths to feed, so you will have to do it all yourself leaving you very little time for much else. So you must be very selective with how, where and with who you spend your time. With all there is to do, you will not have any time to waste on things, events, or people that do not work to help you achieve your goals. You will need develop the skill to detect and assess when something, or someone, is simply not the best use of your time.

Assessing a Guitars Sound Te ability to honestly assessment an instrument whether it be yours, or one that someone else has built is a must. As I said, in the beginning you will be getting your ideas from other builders to use in your own design. In order to know what characteristics you would like to add to your guitars you first have to be able to identify those characteristics in other guitars. Being able to judge a guitar’s sound is not such an easy thing. After all beauty is subjective, beautiful sound even more so. People often use different words to describe the same sound characteristics which further complicates things. Tese inherent difficulties with perception combined with an untrained ear lacking the confidence to decide honestly what appeals to it are problems often exploited by unscrupulous dealers and builders alike. Whether you are a client or a builder, your best defense is an education. Educate yourself by listening. Listen to as many guitars as you possibly can, as often as possible. Realize that what a guitar looks like, how many cool do-dads it has on it, its price tag, or the interesting story that goes with it in reality should have nothing to do with what it sounds like to you. One of the sweetest sounding guitars ever to pass through my shop didn’t have a rosette or bindings and it sounded great. How many self proclaimed guitar aficionados could get past the fact that the guitar had no ornamentation to find it was a great instrument? I tell all my customers that are the slightest bit uncertain of what they are looking for to go out and play as many instruments as they can get there hands on without the intent of purchasing one in order to develop a non biased opinion for themselves as to what it is they like. I have been ver y surprised at how many return with educated opinions that are truly their own, and no longer the opinions of their friends, teachers, dealers or anyone else they have listened to. Tis is true for players and builders alike. In the beginning if you not confident in your own opinion of what a good guitar is, go out and play as many different guitars as you can get your hands on. You will eventually form an opinion, and an educated opinion. But it is solely up to you to form that opinion. Your voice cannot come from someone else’s idea of what good sound is, or from a book. You need to develop this yourself. Te evaluation of your own guitars can be difficult but it is absolutely necessary. You will need to know where  your guitars fit in the grand scheme of things. When you do, you will be able to find your audience, and it will be easier to target potential customers. Tere are many types of players and they all need guitars so there is room enough for everyone. I had to do this years ago with my own instruments. I had to determine what kind of

builder I wanted to be and who I wanted to build for. I prefer to make guitars for people that record in the studio and perform in small to medium sized rooms. First there are many of these kinds of players and they are usually looking for guitars that have wonderful overtones, a full tonal palette, subtly, and richness, along with enough projection to be heard in small to medium sized concert venues. But most of all they want guitars that make them want to play. My intention is always to create the type of guitar whose sound and price a working musician could not resist. I guess you could say I wanted to make guitars for guitar players, not collectors.

Pricing Your Guitars Honestly evaluating and pricing your guitars is critical not only to the success of your business but to the stability of your life. Tere are many guitar makers building quality guitars these days, probably more than ever. Sadly, there are also a lot of highly overpriced instruments that look very nice but are only mediocre in sound quality. It is your duty to yourself as a builder to know the difference. A very high pr ice tag on an instrument that honestly does not warrant one may ser ve to massage your ego occasionally but will not create the steady income that will reliably sustain you and your family. Short periods of great prosperity followed by long financial droughts will not bring the kind of financial stability needed to work in a relaxed atmosphere conducive to creating good guitars. Tis will also not go over very well at your local bank when asking for a loan to either buy a house or expand your business. I will always be willing to trade some fleeting ego gratification for a solid cash flow any day of the week. Besides your customers will appreciate your honesty. Hanging a ridiculously high price tag on your instruments may convey to the some that you must be building a truly great guitar but real working musicians will know if you are not. Hence you will be walking a fine line between job insecurity and ego fulfillment. So be careful about pricing your work and most of all be honest. It takes a lot of energ y to keep something going that is not true.

Guitar Players and Your Guitars Tere are also almost as many different guitar playing techniques, attacks, and fingernail types for tone production as there are players. Remember, it is a fact that no guitar will sound good in every ones hands. Te guitars, and the players are very different. Just because someone famous plays such and such a guitar does not mean someone else will sound good on the same instrument. Some guitars lend themselves to certain playing techniques and some don’t. Tat is just the way it is. It is your job as a builder to understand these things and how they relate to the guitars you are building. You need to know what kind of players the guitars you make will be suited for. In the classical guitar world there are very few players that perform in large halls where massively loud guitars are needed. Te temptation is to go after these players thinking that ever yone else will follow. Tis is not necessarily the case. First of all, compared to the total amount of players the number performing in large halls (greater than 1000 seat) is miniscule. Terefore your audience is tiny right off the bat. W hat these guys need is volume and plenty of it. Since subtly and nuance are not that noticeable in a big hall its not as big a concern to them as volume. And in creating a high volume guitar, as in any design project you don’t get anything for free. If you want more of one thing you usually have to give up a bit of something else to get it . Te pursuit of more and more volume usually comes with a price. Tat price to my ear has been the subtly of overtones and richness of character that give the sound of the guitar its initial appeal. Te fact is you really cannot perceive subtly in a large hall, especially in a guitar. Most players that perform live with these high volume guitars rarely, if ever, record with them. Recording is all about subtly and nuance. In a recording you hear everything. In the studio you only need as much power as the expression marks in the music dictate and you want to hear all those interesting overtones in the harmonies. Besides, amplification is used more and more as a viable solution to the concert hall problem especially as the technology improves. As a guitar builder you must decide who you are building for and more importantly who you are more suited to build for. And don’t forget classical guitarists aren’t the only players that use nylon

string guitars. Te nylon string guitar has gained popular use in jazz as well as acoustic folk music and they all use amplification. If the guitar truly has a great sound it will cross all genre boundaries.

Getting Noticed In the beginning some public exposure will be necessary. After all how will anyone out there know you are building guitars unless you get out there and show them. Guitar shows and events will help you become recognized as an up and coming guitar maker. But initial recognition is all you should reasonably expect from this type of event for the first few years. It is also a great way to get out of the shop, look around and see what ever yone else is doing. Once you have achieved some recognition and gathered some information the usefulness of attending guitar shows as a viable marketing tool has pretty much come to an end. Remember this is now a business so you must think about things a bit differently. Although it may be great to see old friends at the guitar show, once you have gained some recognition there are some solid reasons why it might not be the best use of your t ime and resources. First, it costs money to attend, not to mention lodging, meals and transportation. Second, its time consuming (events usually go on for up to a week), and if you are at the show, no one is building guitars back at the shop. Tis may be acceptable if you do not have a backlog of business, but not a very good business decision if you do. And if you are lucky enough to sell an instrument at one of these shows be sure to deduct all the costs incurred with attending from your bottom line, and don’t forget to add the time lost in the shop during the show, in preparation, and the inertia you must overcome after returning. All of the sudden it doesn’t look like such a good idea, unless of course , you have nothing else to do. And even more importantly for me, being a musician myself, I would never look to purchase a quality musical instrument in such a noisy, chaotic, gossip filled environment as a guitar show. Great efforts have been made in the last few years to create better listening environments at guitar shows but I think it would be wise to make a major purchase decision like a high quality classical guitar in an environment with far less distractions. Te temptation for many builders is to find a shortcut to the top. Tey want to be perceived as a top builder right away. Te most commonly used method is to tr y and get a big name player to play one of your instruments. So builders will follow players backstage after shows, out to the parking lot, or even to a restaurant. Chasing players like this is time consuming, demeaning, and not appreciated by most players, trust me on this, some of these guys are friends of mine. Tis is not good use of your scarce available time. Tere is a proper place and time for this type of thing. Showing up unannounced and unsolicited is not the way to go. And, top players are approached by countless builders all the time. Tey know the game. Some are also very fickle when it comes to guitars. Tey will rarely stick with one guitar for very long. Before you know it they are playing another guitar. Some builders have even gone so far as to give players guitars in hopes that they will be seen playing one on stage, only to find out that the guitarist sold it shortly there after. Obviously this is not the way to go. Besides, if a top player wants one of your guitars he can afford it. As unexciting as it may sound, if you build a really fine instrument, players will find out about you. Te best referral is word of mouth, one player to another.

Selling Your Instruments Te best way to sell instruments by far is to sell them yourself but a good guitar dealer can also be very useful in helping to sell your guitars, and get the word out about them. Unless you already have a pretty good size backlog of customers, selling guitars through a dealer means you will have to sell your guitars to them at a discount.  A good dealer is actually providing you with a service by advertising your instruments, and selling them for you. Tey are performing some marketing and sales work that you would otherwise have to do yourself which can give  you more time to make guitars. Tis work, if done properly, is worth something to you. Terefore consider the

discount as a fee for this work. If a dealer really believes in your instruments he will buy them outri ght from you. Realize that leaving a guitar on consignment may seem like a good way to get your foot in the door somewhere but the dealer then has no incentive or at least not as much incentive to push your instrument over one he has already paid for. And beware, not all dealers are good or reputable. Some dealers would not know a good sounding guitar if one fell out of the sky and hit them in the head. Do your research. Just because you have heard the name does not mean the dealer is good, or one that you want to be associated with. Also if you are based in the US avoid dealers representing a number of makers that are based overseas. You will not be able to compete with the profit margin they enjoy on theses instruments.  A good dealer is one that knows guitars first hand and genuinely feels good about selling your guitars. As I said before no one guitar is going to suit all players, it is the same way with dealers. Some may like your guitars some may not, and as I said, some would not know if they had a good guitar in their hands, so don’t take it personal, for them it is just business. You don’t need a long list of dealers you just need one or two good ones. It is up to you to research any dealer you are considering for representation. Be sure to look and see what instruments they sell. If you have never heard of some of the guitars they carr y stop by and play them yourself. Remember the dealer is representing you. You need to appraise the dealer also. If much of what the dealer sells are highly overpriced mediocre sounding instruments ,once your guitars are in that shop, that is how your instruments will be perceived by players that know the difference. If you are selective, dealers can be a big help but under no circumstance should you leave all your sales to a dealer or dealers. Tis is a recipe for disaster. Dealers go out of business, they can get ill, they can close shop and move to ahiti. Any number of things can happen that can jeopardize your sales. And if all your sales are in that basket  you will be in trouble. o be safe, sales through dealers should not be any more than 30% of your total sales. If you are thinking about guitar building as a livelihood these are things you must give a lot of consideration to all these things. Te best path to success without a doubt is to have a really good product. Without one, you will have an uphill battle all the way. Competition is fierce. In order to compete in the current environment your instruments must not only sound great but also look the part. Knowing your target audience, the limitations of not only the instrument, but the people playing them is crucial to your success. Te best sales tool is having lots of musicians playing your instruments. Your guitars should speak for themselves. Wise customers will avoid the hard-sell builder that feels the need to talk up his instruments or speak negatively about others. Let your guitars sell themselves. Te typical classical guitar client is very intelligent and will appreciate not being hounded by a builder to buy their instruments. Tis goes for well known players as well - trust me on this. Te most tried and true method for success in this type of business is to let your g uitar get the business for you one customer at a time. If you make a good sounding instrument and treat people right word will get out . A little luck often helps too!