Guitar #11 Done

The guitar #11 is done after some polishing and here is a recording of the sample.
The guitar has great clarity with sparking trebles.
Unfortunately, I didn't record too many audio / video samples.




A video playing Barrio's Aconquija which clearly shows the clarity of the trebles.
There is also great sustain and harmonics in the sound too!
No reverb or any sound processing was done on the recording, which was recorded with my LG V60 phone.

Here is another one comparing 3 guitars.
My #1 (in the white still), My #11 and Alex's #23 (Alexandru Marian) kindly on loan to me thanks to the owner, Reza who is a great guitarist.
Recording was also done with my LG V60 phone.

Audio clips for guitar #9

20160705
Though the guitar is not exactly completed, I managed to record some audio clips from it.
I must say I am very satisfied with the sound.
It has that deep controlled bass but not excessive like the normal fan.
The treble is very even and balanced but right now the harmonics doesn't not appear much
This could be due to the very old string which I used for testing the sound and for adjusting the saddle and nut.
When I changed to new string I will record again.
The string used are old string Aquila Nylgut treble strings with Hannabach pure gold bass.

Here are some teasers...


La Catedral by Barrios 1st Movement Preludio

La Catedral by Barrios 2nd Movement Andante Religioso

Lagrima by Tarrega

Preambulo (intro) by Ponce

#5 Completed and Sound Clips

The #5 is consider completed for now.
The owner will be doing some modification (armrest etc) and finishing to the guitar.
He is a skilled woodworker so these mods are considered easy to him.
Here is some pictures of the guitar and sound clips

Showcase Video for my Guitar #2

My Guitar #2 was sold to my friend, Ho Kong Meng, who is a very talented musician.
Classical guitar was not the only instrument that he has mastered; he can also play the drums, violin and other styles of guitar including jazz, fingerstyle etc.

Here he recorded a fingerstyle version of "Fly Me to the Moon" and played on my guitar #2.
Amongst the 3 guitars that I have made #2 has the best projection and volume.

Video link

Sound clips

Guitar #3 and #1


Here is the sound clip after changing the strings.
I compared it with my #1.
I must say initially #3 sounded quite weak; but after intense playing by my friend (owner of my #2) the guitar opened up tremendously.
The bass were no longer shy the trebles projected very far.
But to the player #1 still sounded much better.
The upper notes were more even compared to my #1 but it doesn't have a really outstanding note.
My #1's B A and E notes is really outstanding compared to other notes.
This #3 all higher notes are very even.

Listen to the La Catedral clips and you will hear that in recording, the #3 sounded much open (airy).
Bass wise both are OK though not as outstanding as my WRC Gutmeier Fleta copy's bass.
In terms of volume after opening up #3 beat #1 flat.
I was quite surprised at the changes #3 underwent.


Barrio's Aconquija
Guitar #1
Guitar #3

El Testament d' Amelia
Guitar #1
Guitar #3

Lagrima
Guitar #1
Guitar #3

La Catedral 1st movement
Guitar #1
Guitar #3



I brought the #1 and #3 to office for testing and my friend brought the #2.
We compared the 3 guitar and each had very different characteristics.
My friend played various pieces including Bach's Chaconne, Concierto de Aranjuez, Albeniz Granada, Asturias and some modern fingerstyle pieces.
Listening were done at about 10 - 15 m away.
String used are quite similar, #1 and #3 have identical strings Hannbach GoldBass 825 with Aqulia nylgut treble.
#2 has D'Adario bass (I think) with Aquila nylgut treble.

#2 is the loudest amongst the treble at that distance and has the brightest tone.
It's treble is especially prominent and penetrating.
Single line melody like Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio) sounded the best.
When played with baroque, it can sound a bit unbalanced with the bass.

#3 has most even voicing between the bass and treble and bass and the darkest tone amongst the 3.
But at the distance it can sound pretty boring.
Baroque pieces sounded the best and surprisingly fingerstyle music sounded very good.
This is because all the in between rhythmic structure can be heard quite prominently without overpowering the melody.

#1 is in between the two and Spanish pieces sounded the best in this guitar.
Projection wise is in this order #2 > #1 > #3.

It was an enjoyable evening.

My friend Kong Meng trying out the guitars. He is very vesatile musician and an expert all genre of music and instruments including classical guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Jazz guitar, violin and even drums!

He is trying the Chaconne

Do Re Mi


20130828
Some pics of my #3

The video was taken at about 20 - 25 m away. It can sure fill up the entire office!

Guitar #1 vs Guitar #2

Well Guitar #2 is done.
I brought #1 over and compared with #2

Here are the clips
Projection test @ 5m away from the mic. Now which is which make a guess?
Answer at the end of the post

Lagrima
Guitar 1
Guitar 2

La Catedral 1st movement
Guitar 1
Guitar 2

IMO #2 treble is better, has better sustain and the harmonics are richer.
#1's treble has more fundamental and the harmonics seemed to be a further distance away.
Bass wide #1 bass is more even and #2 need more effort to bring out the bass.
The volume wise, #1 just a little louder than #2.
Overall they are similar but yet different.
I used both Aquila Albastro strings on them.
The Aquila nylgut string always works well for Torres fan bracing guitar. (exclude Hauser bracing)

When we compare to the redgate, both of them are louder than the redgate...
Redgate's note are very even much like a piano.
Bach pieces sounded nice on the redgate but not Spanish pieces where the notes need more character.

Guitar #1 on the left and Guitar #2 on the right

Guitar #1 on the left and Guitar #2 on the right

Towards the end of the session, the #2 did open up and seemed louder.
The bass became more prominent.









Ans: 1st guitar is #2 and 2nd guitar is #1, now which one do you like?

Sound Clips

I have made some sound clips
Please enjoy.

Agustin Barrios - Aconquija (extract)
Agustin Barrios - La Catedral - Preludio Saudade
Agustin Barrios - La Catedral - Andante Religioso

The top / Purfling making

Thicknessing the top

I haven't got around repairing the rosette but I started to thickness the top using my block plane.
Actually I think the only 3 planes that I use now are the 2 block plane, one for normal use and the other for end grain.
The other plane is the long 40cm MJF wooden plane for jointing tops / backs.
After adjusting the mouth and iron, The thickness is pretty easy.

Thicknessing the top.

Another view

Close up

Making the wheat pattern purfling

I decide to make the wheat pattern purfling.
So I cut 2 pieces of 1.5mm thick black fibre and 0.6mm thick white fibre board.
Then I glue them togther and clamped them using 2 90cm long pine plank.
After releasing the clamp I started to shave the sides to align the 3 layers.
I followed the instructions in the John Bogdanovich book but didnt' use as many layers as I don't have a bandsaw so will be sawing by hand.
I don't think I will make the purfling as long as the book instructed.

Shaving the purfling

Close up view

I continue the wheat purfling making by making a jig that allows me to saw at 15 degrees.
Then after making the jig I realise I can make use of it to saw the scarf joint for my neck.
What a jig! killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

Gluing up the jig

Sawing the purfling

Can be used to saw the neck blank. 

This is a just a scrap pine blank (which I use to make the jig).

The jig with a variable mouth opening. 

Currently it's secured by clamps only.

And so I began to saw the pieces.
I use the ryoba to saw but after sawing I noticed the edges are jagged...
That would mean I need to plane them smooth before gluing.
Also the next cutting, I would need to cut thicker in order to cater for the thickness to be plane away.

Cutting the pieces

The clamping set up. Well I should have use a wider base for easier clamping

Uneven surface

The other cut end

Close up view

Ready for glue up

Glue the strips using some blocks of wood.

After that I clean up the edges 

Planing the edges

The end result quite good.

Those wastes. I wonder if I have a bandsaw would there be less waste?

Sawing the individual piece with the diagonal pattern. 

The LH is to make sure the saw is following the jig.

Once the cutting groove is there I can just follow the cutting groove

A wheat pattern with a centre white strip. It's about 10mm in width right now.

I will thin it further.

Cutting a 2nd piece, notice the mirror effect in the saw blade?

The pieces ready to be glued together ends to ends.

Packing my woodstock

Well I took the opportunity to pack my zoot too.
So far I have collected several sets of Quilted Maple, Flamed Maple, Paduak, Bloodwood, IRW, MadRW, Cypress, Bubinga.
All of them are waiting for me :)

My back and sides zoot. All stickered nicely.

The neck woods are used as a weight to hold them down

Repairing the rosette

Finally I got around to repair my rosette.
What I do is to make a outside and inside mould for the rosette and sand the tiles to size.
I use the flycutter to cut the mould, but this time round I use the power hand drill instead of the battery operated drill.
It definitely has more power and cuts more cleanly but the dust flew everywhere...

The outside and inside mould for the rosette

The tiles need to fit in the channel

Maybe I could add a MOP / Abalone inlay in the rosette...

Almost done. But the inner circle is the one I did previous at a much smaller radius

This mean that I might not have enough space to put a wheat purfling at the inside edge...

Need to calculate more in detail.

My New Workbench

Well I gave up trying to make the legs of my new workbench.
Instead I just slap the piece of the heavy 1" thick MDF on my existing study table.
Voila! My new workbench.
The MDF is so heavy that even I didn't fasten / glue it to the existing top, the whole assembly is very stable.
Luckily I had this idea now I got a much bigger and stable area to work with.

My New Workbench!

I did a jig for being able to clamp things vertically.
It's basically a right angle board for me to clamp things to.
This will be useful for planing perhaps and working on the guitar's butt area.
I just simply bought to rack support and screw is to a double thickness plywood.
The jig is clamped to the table top.

The board jig

Clamped to the workbench top

Guitar #1 sound clip

My guitar #1 soundclip:
The piece played is El Testament d' Amelia by Miguel Llobet.
The mic used is MXL USB stero mic (large diaphragm condenser mic) at a distance of about 50 cm away from the guitar.
There are some background noise from the TV though please pardon that.

Some more new clips.
All pieces by Agustín Barrios Mangore
Aconquija (intro only)
Listen to the lovely harmonics of the guitar.

A 2nd version of Aconquija (played slower)
Aconquija (2nd version)

Francisco Tárrega's famous
Lágrima
(It's the default test piece for guitar in the Delcamp forum)

La Catedral I (Preludio Saudade)
La Catedral II (Andante Religioso)
La Catedral III (Allegro Solemne)

I love hear all the comments on the sound recording.
But I must say not as an exaggeration, the real thing sounds better than the recording.