Drilling holes for the bridge.

Preparring the bridge is the last thing I do before preparing for the French Polish. So final building photos will be soon.

shaping the neck

Ok ok. Enough doing nothing and posting photos of old chairs etc. Here I am with my favorite chinese rasp working the necks.

just lazy

Well, thats it, playing a bit in the sun watching things grow.
Merry christmas.

working the bindings

On this bottom photo it may look like I´m using a lot of force. I´m actually not doing so. But I´m using my body to counteract the twisting force of the rope. The rope needs to be tight. But not more

assembly finished

So here you have from the left 91, 92 and 93. They look like guitars now, but there´s still a long way to go.

3 guitars, 3 different stages of the proces. From the left: 91, 92 and 93

Some Colombianas

more assembly

Here you have number 91 ready to get the back glued on

Assembly

Hi, here´s part one of the assembly of the guitar. So far its been working on different parts.
Here you see the guitar in the assembly jig, where the sides join the neck and the bottom block is glued on.

soundboards braced

Here you have the 3 soundboards ready for assembly. From left to right, 91, 92 and 93. The 2 spruce soundboards are for 2 flamenca blancas. Number 93 is for a cypress back and sides hybrid guitar. This last one I´ve used a different bracing system. It based on the layout of Romanillos but I work the braces diferently. This bracing system gives more tension to the top resulting in more harmonics and more sustain. It can still be used for flamenco but its more versatile and works well with a different playing tecnique.

Bracing

Thats me putting sticks in the press. Its very important that you you know your press, have it well adjusted and that you know your sticks as well. This is a traditional Spanish press and I use flatsawn beech for the sticks.
The trick is that you put enough pressure on the different parts of the bracing system and its important that you dont overdo it. The you can see the bracing of the soundboard on the other side of the soundboard and you often end up sanding to much off where the braces are. Another quiet and relaxing job. Good for some background music.

the heel

here you have the heel of number 92. Its only raw sanded. The final sanding will be after the assembly.

Just a small look into a corner of my workshop. Dailylife is like that.

carving the heel

Here´s a part of the building where I don things my own way. I use a normal carving knife to make the heel. I like carving. It feels good and I can do it pretty fast. Its also nice and quiet so I can listen to music while I work.

headstocks

Here you have the headstocks.
From the bottom:
93, 92 and 91

some noodling around

What I play here is from one of Claude Worms books. There´s a Rosas (Alegrias in E?) where I learnt some parts years ago. I never really knew waht to do with this part. But I like it. I play it a lot slower than I would play Alegrias. The slow part is around 100bpm, whereas I play Alegrias around 140.
Escudero is from the 50th or 60th if I remember right and then it was normal to play most things with changes in pace. Just listen to Sabicas etc.
Here you have it with a full speed intro and extro.
So what should I do. I cant play this 140bpm and I dont think it´ll be interesting musically wise anyways.

Rosettes

Here you have the rosettes.
From the bottom, 91, 92 and 93

starting the build of guitars number 91, 92 and 93

Here you have the first photos of my new build.
From below, 91, going to Holland, a Flamenca blanca, swiss spruce and mediterranean cypress. Next, number 92, going to Reunion Island, another flamenca blanca with German spruce soundboard and med. cypress back and sides. And on the top, number 93, going to England, a Hybrid guitar, Cedar soundboard and med. cypress.

Here you have a short video of me playing the same intro por solea on two different guitars. Number 1 is a Indian Rosewood negra, no soundport. Number two is a Peghead blanca with a soundport.
What they have in common is the same bracing system and two very similar soundboards. Besides that, they are very “green”. They´ve just had Strings on for a short while, both have been played a max. of some 30 - 40 minuts and they are both sold, packed and ready to be shipped.
This is what my clients get. In my ears, they both sound very well, are very balanced, muy flamencas and are very open sounding already

number 90 finished

Number 90 is a peghead blanca with a new soundport design. I´ve been asked many times if I French polish my guitars myself. This because in Simon Shearstons DVD about my work ( http://www.foroflamenco.com/elguitarrero/ ) I take the guitar to a professional French polisher. Thats 6 years ago and the last 4 years I´ve polished myself. I like to do the whole process myself and not having other persons involved in the proces of finishing the guitars. I´m not the worlds best French polisher, but I do the job and I´m getting better. Besides, you get to know your work very well when you are standing hours rubbing it with shellack

number 89 finished

Here you have the pictures of number 89. A nice peghead blanca.

number 88 finished

Una Preciosa negrita para Bari, Italia

Iceni 11 turned around.

Solea por bulerias on number 81

Solbul is one of my favorite palos. I also find it to be a very difficult one. It pushes a lot and theres little space to groove like in bulerias.
So here I have a go... with a loop. The dificulty is high and you can hear that its on my limits.
The guitar is the Blanca you can see on my website. Its for sale now. You can also see the photos here:
http://news-from-the-workshop.blogspot.com/2011/03/pictures-of-number-81.html

Planks on dinghy

Here you have Iceni 11, my new build. She´s pretty I think.

guitars ready for French Polish

2 photos of each "raw" guitar. From the to to bottom, guitars number 88, 89, and 90

1st plank on dinghy

A most important tool

The use of a Hacklinger to meassure the thickness of the plates after assembling the guitars has been one of the most important improvements in my building. Before that it was impossible to know the final thickness of the soundboarsd and the back.

A new soundport design

My favorite soundport is the inlayed flower that can be seen on many of my guitars. I charge a 200,.€ extra for that one. Some people dont want to pay that and some dont like the design (fair enough) Therefor I made a "normal" soundport for no extra charge. It was hole in the sides. It works perfectly well but it looks like a hole. So here you have my new hole soundport. I think the binding around it makes it a lot more elegant.

Be carefull with that bug

oy oy oy. Looks like our guitarbuilder has been bitten seriously by this boatbuilding bug. Be carefull. Its very addictive

some purfling details

This is my favorite purfling scheme. On a blanca its the same just only black and white.
Its also the most difficult one to make. Especially the purling following the bindings on the back. The have to be cut 45 degrees in both ends, so you have to be very accurate. If not it doesnt look good. This one is not perfect but its pretty close and I accept being a human being