About My Guitars

About My Guitars

Each hand crafted guitar is individually made by myself and is of the highest quality of sound, craftsmanship and playability that I can achieve. It requires over 300 hours for its completion. The standard model that I create is a concert classical instrument based on my own design which was influenced by guitars of many different luthiers. It has a fan strut bracing system also of my own design. I only use 18% nickle frets instead of the usual 12%. This extra nickle adds hardness to the frets and also helps prevent tarnishing better than the 12% nickle fret material. The saddle is fully compensated to achieve proper intonation. I finish the guitar using the traditional French Polishing method. French Polish is the art of applying shellac by hand using a cotton pad with a drop of oil to prevent the pad from sticking to the surface while rubbing. Shellac is a natural substance secreted by the lac insect and does not harm the environment like lacquer or other harmful finishes. The oil I use is Organic virgin olive oil so it has no substances in it to harm the shellac. The oil never touches the wood because I first seal the guitar with shellac without any oil. After sealing the instrument the French Polishing begins. I use about 6 sessions of French Polishing over a 4 week period. Each session amalgamates a molecularly thin amount of additional shellac to the existing coat so you end up with one cohesive layer of shellac. French Polishing also has the advantage of enhancing the sound of the guitar because the thickness of the finish is much thinner than can be achieved using lacquer. This allows more of the natural timbres of the woods to come through.

Sound

In the hands of the guitarist, a fine guitar must make it as easy as possible for the performer to achieve his/her goal allowing the human soul to be expressed more directly and move us more deeply. More than any other musical instrument the guitar can express subtle nuances of color and voicing, which is why it can speak so directly to our hearts. Among these qualities I strive for are:

Rich harmonic overtones
Strong projection
Long sustain time
Wide range of tone colors
Clear separation between notes
Even balanced volume between strings
Broad dynamic range
Immediate response

These sound qualities give the guitar its Spanish character and combined they produce a truly musical instrument. I not only work to achieve these goals but to tailor them based on your individual playing style and musical needs.

Playability

I invest a great deal of time and attention to the neck, fingerboard, string height and spacing to produce easy playability in each instrument yet provide the greatest dynamic range possible without any buzzing. Note that the pictured guitar has a full 19th fret. This is the only non-standard feature in this pictured guitar. The standard guitar will have a split 19th fret in the Spanish tradition. The back of the neck is shaped in such a way as to produce the most comfortable effect on the hand to prevent fatigue and strain.

Workmanship

I take extra time in making sure every part of the guitar precisely fits together to produce an instrument that is soundly constructed. I consider every part of the guitar in terms of its potential to achieve my goals of acoustical characteristics, structural integrity, ease of playability and beauty to create the finest possible instrument. The style of my instruments reflects a love for nature so that the natural beauty of the materials is shown off. My aim is to express the spirit of the guitar of the days of old, through fine workmanship and ornamentation designed to enhance its overall sound and visual beauty.

Materials

Every guitar I build is from the finest quality tone woods. Select Western Red Cedar or Engelmann spruce for the soundboard top and East Indian rosewood for the back and sides are standard materials. Brazilian rosewood, maple, Cocobolo and Ziricote woods among others are optionally available for the back and sides, as is European spruce for the soundboard. Please see my Pricing page for more details.

Dimensions and Woods

For the dimensions and woods used in my guitar please go to the Pricing page.