If we talked about design the other day today we can talk about the architecture of the guitar. My first teacher used to say that acoustics is the resolution of the structural problems of the instrument. I would add three ideas to this theory. First, the good guitar maker tests changes in construction on a very small scale to try to get the sound or other characteristic that he is looking for. Modify a thickness or reinforcement and once its effect has been verified, decide to incorporate the change or reject it. It is important to only make one change at a time. If the guitar maker does not have enough experience, he must have musicians willing to give their honest and reasoned opinion. It is not easy to find this “advisor” as we may run into someone who leads us down the wrong path and does not help to improve the guitars. Not all guitarrists know what they are looking for in an instrument and can be completely objective. Don’t forget that precisely because the guitar market is small, you have to fit in with what a majority of guitarists are looking for. You might need more than one player to advise you. Second: the evolution of the guitar and its result is a good path, we have come to this because it works well as an instrument. For this reason, I always recommend that the personal evolution of a guitar maker begins with a consolidated model. If you do not have available a well-recognized guitar as a reference to copy at least you can resort to using the measurements of those guitars. Torres and Santos Hernández are good references. At the beginning I used Hauser and Fleta plans and discarded the Fleta. The heavy bracing of that particular guitar didn’t work for me at least with a spruce top. The personal path of the guitar maker is long but having a base that we know can work allows us to make the changes little by little that makes your sound your own and corrects the mistakes that you yourself have introduced when interpreting the master guitar-maker. Third: We have arrived at this guitar model by relying on those who came before; centuries of evolution. We cannot discount all that they learned and the knowledge they left behind. The same happens with those who study today. More and more guitar-makers offer their experience of how changes in the structure affect the guitar’s sound and playability. If we can judge for ourselves the reliability of this information and rule out the bad, what remains can be a great help. Jeffrey Elliot, Trevor Gore, David Hurd and Alan Carruth spring to mind as makers who have done a lot of research and shared it in different ways.

As may be obvious from reading these articles I am trying to include advice for beginners along the lines of “how to build your first guitar without getting it wrong”. Regarding the thickness of the back and sides, stick with the measurements of the original, there will be time to try other things. It matters much less than other things like bracing, doming, and of course the quality and thickness of the top. I do usually stay at 1.8 for the sides and 2.2 for the back. When I make copies of historical guitars I measure the guitar and use the original measurements.

A friend called me up yesterday for some advice on guitar-making: both specific and general. I don’t know if I will publish everything I write for him but it might be a good idea to post here what I have to offer him as I go along. The first thing I want to comment on is how little I like modern guitar trends. This might keep me from being very useful when talking about soundports and alternative soundholes which is a pity because this is what he first asked me about. However, I can talk a little about design and the limitations that tradition imposes. Design is the most difficult thing there is and the bad design of many guitars is very noticeable. Traditionally, we are only free to choose the woods, the purfling, the rosette and the headstock. Logically there are a finite number of headstock designs if we respect the tradition of symmetry and the fragility of wood. Inlays and carvings greatly expand those possibilities. However, the big problem is to make something not only original but also harmonious and aesthetically pleasing. A good option is to copy the headstock of some old and famous guitar maker. Of course as soon as you feel like you can design something yourself you should go ahead and do so. 

Rosette design has the same problem in that it can be screwed up in many ways. Using bright colors is very dangerous; large tiles can look very rough, and very fine tiles can lose their definition at a distance. A great rosette looks good up close but also makes an aesthetic statement a few metres away. Here there are also some modern trends that seem very ugly to me, such as man-made materials and large pieces of wood. We can use a rosette from the old guitar makers but another good option is simple purfling strips. Do you remember Antonio de Lorca?

As for the design of the guitar in general, the closer you stay to tradition the less design work you have to do. For me design is a real struggle so there is no way I would try to change the shape of the bridge, the soundhole or the guitar itself in any major way. Besides, if what you want is to design a new instrument you’ve come to the wrong place.

I am thrilled to hear that korean guitarist Honam Ji has recorded an album using a guitar made by me. I don’t think it is available outside of Korea just yet but this video sounds great.

A few of the concerts from the Granada Guitar Festival were lived streamed and I just realized that they are still up on youtube. I enjoyed the ones I saw so check them out on the EGF channel.

I got back last weekend from a visit to my family in Canada. Let’s just say it was something which couldn’t be postponed. After a few days to get over jet lag and general fatigue I am back at work finishing up a few instruments. They should be ready for varnishing by the end of the month but then I will need to get right to the next ones. In the picture you can see some pieces for a rosette left from the things left behind when my teacher died. I have yet to decide how to frame this central motive but it will be with natural colours for sure.