Many of the dark woods we use for guitar-making have light-coloured sapwood which is usually lost in the cutting process. It seems also more prone to fungus or insect attacks so it can have holes or a spalted figure. In any case it can make for a dramatic look in a finished instrument and if it is relatively healthy we like to use it. This is the most typical configuration with the sapwood in a more or less defined central space but you can find it in very interesting patches on a flat-sawn piece of timber. If you can find sides with some sapwood too it adds nicely to the effect.

Which rosette do you like for your next guitar? I make my rosettes one at a time in a channel and then later install them in the top. My first attempts at installing rosettes directly resulted in considerable warping of the top and a few disasters as the wood swelled because of the moisture from the glue. These days things go quite smoothly. Bone makes a nice change from all wood rosettes and using shapes of solid wood is also a different technique. You can’t see it here but because the diamond shapes are not end grain they are very bright and shiny. I don’t often use coloured wood in my guitars but here you can see a green which contrasts with the natural red in the mosaic.

Those who don’t make guitars have no idea how much work is represented here in this photo. Shaping rounded parts and transitioning to straight surfaces, doing inlays, fitting the bridge to the top and sealing the pores are just a few of the difficulties involved in making bridges. I suppose for the most part is is just having so many tasks in such a small space.

We make great use of hand tools especially planes, chisels, files and saws but also specialty tools. These can be made by the builder or made to our specifications by local metal-workers. One example of the latter is this cutting gauge which can be used to mark the binding cuts which are then chiselled out. It has a curved side for the waist and a flat side which works well for registering against the top or back. Even with more modern methods it is still often useful for achieving uniformity in the waist area.

The Complutense University of Madrid recently organized a musicology congress specifically centred around musical instruments. This discipline is called organology and is a word which you will not find in typical dictionaries. Among the talks were a fascinating look into the restoration of pianola scores at the Spanish National Library, an overview of the Santos Hernández archive which belongs to the provincial government of Guadalajara and a number of other subjects. Usually when I attend a congress or a festival I pick and choose what I want to attend but this time I found almost everything very interesting. I was invited to speak about the Santos Hernández guitar which Andrés Segovia donated to the Musical Library in Madrid. I have studied that guitar extensively and even drew a blueprint of it.

Day one took place in Sigüenza at the Museum which houses the Romanillos/Harris collection and Santos Hernández workshop. The two following days were hosted by the organizers at the History Faculty of the Complutense University.