[MasterSplinter]

I'm just wondering if anyone made one? What type of wood is needed? For some reason I feel the desire to make one.

 

[knotscott]

This one was an instant classic! :laughing:

(sorry I can't offer any useful guidance on the subject...I couldnt' resist)

 

[afx]

I'm just wondering if anyone made one? What type of wood is needed? For some reason I feel the desire to make one.

What do you mean by classic? Acoustic or electric?

I made a Les Paul electric copy a few years back. I used Mahogany for the body with a quarter sawn white oak top and mahogany for the neck with a Jobillo overlay for the fret board. It turned out nice.

 

[Al B Thayer]

What do you mean by classic? Acoustic or electric?

I made a Les Paul electric copy a few years back. I used Mahogany for the body with a quarter sawn white oak top and mahogany for the neck with a Jobillo overlay for the fret board. It turned out nice.

A classical guitar has no pick guard, has a slightly smaller body. The neck is quite fat and the keys are wound facing back. Strings are nylon. It's held on your left knee extended up as apposed to your right knee. When played the thumb remains behind the neck, never on top. It's picked with long finger nails and strummed very little.

Al

Nails only hold themselves.

 

[MasterSplinter]

Sorry I was using speech to text. Yes classical nylon string guitar. I took lessons for years a long time ago .

 

[MasterSplinter]

What do you mean by classic? Acoustic or electric? I made a Les Paul electric copy a few years back. I used Mahogany for the body with a quarter sawn white oak top and mahogany for the neck with a Jobillo overlay for the fret board. It turned out nice.

Nice . Have a picture?

 

[EWerner]

I'm just wondering if anyone made one? What type of wood is needed? For some reason I feel the desire to make one.

To get started more quickly try a classic guitar kit from Grizzly: http://grizzly-px.rtrk.ca/products/Classical-Guitar-Kit/T23751

You really can't go wrong considering that the president of the company is a luthier.

Selection of the wood is paramount to good sound quality and rosewood is typically what is used with a maple neck and rosewood finger board.

I would suggest purchasing a finger board with the frets already laid into it as the mathematical formula for spacing the frets will drive you crazy. This is if you build from scratch and not with a kit.

Good luck. I am in the process of building my first from a kit.

Oh and you can always tell the difference from classic and acoustic guitars by the tuning pegs as the classic has the dowels and the acoustic has pegs or pins, steal strings for acoustic versus nylon strings for classic and width of neck. The width of neck is also a personal preference but classic is typically wider.

 

[frankp]

The formula for fretting is quite simple, especially with a calculator or excel spreadsheet.
NutToFret[1] = ScaleLength / 17.817
NutToFret[2] = (BridgeToFret[1] / 17.817) + NutToFret[1]
etc etc

Here's a description with formula, calculator and other info:
http://liutaiomottola.com/formulae/fret.htm

Stew Mac has a good calculator once you know the scale you want and number of frets: http://www.stewmac.com/Shopping;jsessionid=08C4C83E0E3692253C6116BEF1BCDE41

I believe classical guitars usually use a 26 inch scale with 18-21 frets.

As for woods, you select woods based upon the sound you want. Typically some form of spruce is used for the top but it's not a requirement by any stretch of the imagination. I recommend doing some research on the stringed instruments builders forum where there are a lot of amateur and professional luthiers doing some great designs and builds.

It's not a trivial task but it's certainly doable for even beginner woodworkers. Just take your time and you'll be fine.

There are also a couple of really good threads on hear about guitars and here's a very nice step by step build of an acoustic: http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f13/guitar-46351/

 

[Al B Thayer]

Great post Frank.

Al

Nails only hold themselves.

 

[MNsawyergp]

Here is a link to "Musicmakers" in Stillwater MN. They make musical instruments...mostly authentic replicas of Renaissance instruments, harps, guitars, lutes, harps, etc. You can buy kits from them and plans. Here is a link to their site. You can look through their whole catalog to see all the choices....

http://www.harpkit.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ren