How did the guitar come to be the fantastic, warm and expressive instrument that it is today?  How does an individual maker come to make the best guitar he or she can?  Books have been written on how to make a great guitar and hundreds have studied the masters hoping to find the secrets.  In reality, the process of evolution followed by the guitar is one of small, gradual changes and, very infrequently, brilliant steps forward.  Even the greatest genius of the guitar – Antonio de Torres – really only brought together aspects that were already being put into practice by other makers.  The novice guitar-maker must first do his best to internalize all that has been learned up until today and then from that point onward follow the same path of experimentation.

In order for this experimentation to be fruitful it must be very gradual also.  Trying out radical new procedures will lead to a different sound but ¿which feature is the one that should be incorporated to your building?  Better to make very small changes, evaluate them when finished and if they don’t convince you, your colleagues or the players, eliminate them from your procedure on the next instrument.  Simple things like the angle of the fan braces, the soundhole diametre, the weight of the bridge wood and the dimensions of the back braces can be important.  I have been working this way for years and I am very pleased with the results: an instrument which improves constantly despite the odd instance of a step backward followed by two steps forward.

On the guitars I am working on I am experimenting rather more radically than I advise so do what I say, not what I do.  In the one case I have laminated two layers together for the sides for the first time.  I don’t think the difference will be very large compared to a normal side of the same thickness but you really can’t predict these things.  The other thing I am doing for the first time is an assymmetrical bracing.  I feel justified in using an entirely new bracing system because it is a copy of a historical instrument.  Stay tuned to find out if I keep these modifications or if this is the first and last time I use them.