Reflections on a Week of Lutherie

Big Picture . . .

Given my professional background I tend to be a ‘big picture’ kind of bloke - or at least I need to be able to see how what I am doing fits into the overall plan.  With this in mind, today I spent some time foozling around the web trying to discover some articles and diagrams to enable me to get a better understanding of guitar componentry at the micro level and how all the various bits fit and work together.  It is intriguing discovering all this stuff after 45 years of banging away making noises with guitars and yet I have never really studied some of the entrails of a guitar let alone known their names and what they do!  And now that I know, I thought I would share it with you all, dear readers!

There is another side to this . . . reading over the blog from the first week I now realise that I have been using words and terms familiar only to those who play guitars.  Who else really cares about a bridge, nut, fretboard, sound hole and peg head?  So I thought it timely to step back and share the even bigger picture for anyone silly enough to be still reading this!

Guitar Components 101 . . .

The diagram below ‘defines’ many of the terms I have been using over the last week . . . the big bits in red are quite easy, such as strings (duh!), neck, body, frets and machine heads (for tuning the guitar).  However, other terms such as the nut, headstock, saddle, bridge and sound hole might now make more sense – remembering of course that the sound hole is not where the sound comes from!!

One thing not pointed out on this diagram is the rosette – it is the decorative circle around the sound hole and it has absolutely no effect at all on how the guitar plays or sounds . . . it is pure ‘bling’!

Double click on this . . .



The Entrails . . .

This is where things really get interesting as we have all been working on several of these bits all week.  The overall picture shows the guitar face down and without a back.  Those of you who are now dedicated followers of the Lewes Luthier (which I have to say has a defined life span!) will now be familiar with terms such as the neck block, X-braces, cross struts and bridge plate.  Well, here are a few more for your consideration . . . Phil has finished and inserted his tail block (!) and lining (we have been calling it kerfing).  It is interesting to note the correct names of various bracing bits – like tone bars and treble braces.  I will go back and edit the blog later so these are all correct . . . sometime! 

Best to double click on this to make it bigger

The Biggest Picture . . .

The observant ones amongst you will  notice that the diagram below is for a Spanish guitar – you can tell by the way the neck is attached to the body and the arrangement of the braces (I’m sounding more like that other expert Phil every day!), but it serves to illustrate the big picture of how a guitar goes together. 

Starting from the left and at the most fundamental level, there is the back, sides, neck, top, fretboard (or finger board as is called here) and the bridge structure.  As previously mentioned, we all started with different components.  Patrick (aka the ‘Stealth’) started with his back, Phil started with his sides and I am focussing on my top . . . although we all have done quite a bit on our neck and neck braces (not shown on this diagram) as well as our own back, sides and front.

The diagram illustrates quite well the compromise that luthiers are constantly making – leaving the ‘sound box’ open and free to vibrate and give tone to the plucked or strummed strings while ensuring that the guitar is going to stay together for reasonable period.

Double click on this to make it bigger - until find a better version!

The Very Latest Version . . .

And for the rather sad regular readers of this blog, you might want to go back and check the end of Days 1 and 2 (and 4, 5 and 5.5 for that matter) . . . Phil and I have been doing some very interesting research into brewing and drinking ales in Lewes so we can have a reason to go for a 'few pints' every evening!  We can justify anything you know - and I have updated them with some 'retrospective research!  If nothing else, be sure to check out the Lewes Arms on Day 2 . . . and the World Pea Throwing Championship, the annual Dwyle Fluncking match and of course the Marbles competition.  Something about mad dogs and Englishmen comes to mind . . . or perhaps just mad Englishmen!

Earlier in the week I invited Phil and Patrick to make contributions to this blog . . . they have both taken me up on my offer and their missives are below. 

More Reflections on a Week of Lutherie . . .

Phil Samuels - 7th August 2011

Context . . .

I've wanted to make guitars since Nick Benjamin made one for me in 2007. The process of discussing the design, specification and wood with Nick over a period of about a year and then watching it slowly, but magically come together into the finest instrument I've ever played, was for me some sort of epiphany.

I looked at a number of guitar-making courses – from the thirteen week marathon down in Totnes, to the fortnight's sprint offered by Thomas Lloyd in Tuscany – before settling on Richard's course, which seemed to be the only one promising a solid grounding at a reasonable and achievable pace. My phone conversations with him convinced me of his knowledge and craft. The fact that he was friends with Nick Benjamin and worked out of the same building, gave him a shed full of automatic street credibility points. I booked without hesitation the moment my application for voluntary redundancy was accepted.

But I approached this lutherie course with mixed emotions: extreme excitement at the prospect of finally realising a dream; and mortal dread that it would be a disappointment; that I would be unable to master the skills involved or that it would be a theory-based drudge for a lifelong adherent to the school of JFDI.

Highlight . . .

After the first week, which has been one of the most interesting and enjoyable I've had, I can say that none of my fears have been realised. I have made a number of mistakes, but none has been irredeemable, and frankly, that's the way I learn. I'd rather make them now, when I have access to someone who can tell me how to recover them, than make them at home on my own. There has been just the right amount of theory, with Richard and Nick giving us some informal chats over coffee and a whiteboard session of about half an hour each day at 11am, but most of the week has been intensive activity and all three students have made significant progress. The highlight for me was on Saturday morning, when Nick  Benjamin (The Nick Benjamin, of world-renowned guitar-building fame) looked at my completed side assembly and said, “I'd be pleased with that”.

Techniques and Tricks . . .

My overall impression after week one is that technique is everything. There is a right way to do things, and it is very seldom the obvious way. The quality you see in a well-made guitar looks like magic, but is really the result of a craftsman using the correct method to achieve the desired result. There have been countless examples this week, but the most obvious for me is the way a mosaic pattern for a sound hole rosette is created. I'd imagined a luthier sitting at a bench with a chisel, cutting out hundreds of tiny wooden squares and glueing them to the face of the top board. Not even close. You build a block of coloured stripes by glueing about a hundred different coloured veneers together, clean it up, salami-slice it into a load of pieces and glue them together end to end to form a long strip of intricately patterned wood, which you can then cut to size and glue into your routed sound hole surround. Who knew?

Trying this at Home . . .

We've used lots of machinery, tools and jigs, many of which have been hand-made by Richard over the years, and one of my emerging worries is that I will be unable to recreate the sort of workshop that Richard and Nick have. That remains a concern, one week in, but for most processes, there is an alternative hand method of achieving similar results. After all, classical guitars have been made in Spain for hundreds of years, and the traditional method therefore relies on manual processes and fairly simple tools. One of my tasks over the coming weeks is to build a picture of the minimum armoury required and to practice the manual alternatives as much as possible during the course, rather than rely on the simpler and quicker machine processes. Nonetheless, I will have to buy some good tools and make some jigs if I am to continue this, so I do have to devote some time to planning and thinking about that too.

Enemy in the Air . . .

I'd guessed that the workshop would get dusty, but I don't think I'd fully appreciated the impact of sawdust on the human body in a hot and humid workshop environment. Some wood dust in particular can have a quite alarming effect on the respiratory system – rosewood, for example is like inhaling chilli powder. Richard is very sensitive to dust, and often wears a mask in the workshop. All sanding and routing procedures have to be carried out in a separate room with an extractor, and the sweeping of sawdust in the workshop is strictly forbidden – only Henry, the industrial vacuum cleaner, is authorised for dust removal. The extremely dusty conditions have a positive side-effect, though. They make a trip to the Lamb of Lewes after work for a pint or two of Harvey's Best a medical necessity. This further aids the team-building effort.

The Extended Team . . . 

My final reflection on the first week is about the guys. Patrick, Neil and I have got on really well, and even though we're very different, we've gelled as a group, helped each other at times, and  collectively created a good working atmosphere. Richard is possibly the most relaxed bloke I've met in my 55 years on the planet. If you're as wired as a hyperactive gnat on amphetamines, as I often am following my morning doppio at Cafe Nero, this can be a tad frustrating, but it makes for a generally calm and soothing environment, and keeps the stress levels in manageable proportion. Nick is a thoroughly decent chap with a lifetime's experience which he is more than willing to share.

So all in all, it's been a very satisfying and rewarding start. Week two starts tomorrow. Bring it on!

Even More Reflections on a Week of Lutherie . . .
Patrick Davies - 8th August 2011

The Context . . .

I picked up a guitar as soon as my hands were big enough to hold one and having put a few dings and dents into my Dad’s guitars, I eventually got my own instrument, which I played for many years, and still have today.  I have always enjoyed acoustic guitars, and whilst I have played many other instruments, the acoustic guitar has been a constant throughout.

At a conference in 2004 I met one of the owners of Avalon Guitars, who make great acoustic guitars in Northern Ireland.  We began talking about what I was looking for in an acoustic guitar and after about a year I commissioned a custom built instrument.  The process of commissioning a custom build ignited a fascination in me - the woods, construction and design of guitars were new for me to think about and from this I realised that one day I would love to be able to make a guitar myself. I then went to have some work done on my guitar by Brian Cohen, a renowned luthier working in Guildford, and after seeing his workshop with instruments in various stages of construction my fascination with building a guitar myself was kindled further.  I talked with Brian about guitar building and he encouraged me that if I was interested in it, then I should go for it.  I bought a few books on how to go about making your own acoustic guitar – but lacking many of the tools and little confidence in my skills I was hesitant to start making.  After some time I decided a course would be the best way for me to go to begin. Researching the different courses around led me to Richard Osborne, a luthier working in Lewes.  I believe Richard offers the most realistic and balanced course around, and after talking on the phone and a visit to the workshop, I was completely committed to take a place on Richard’s course as soon as possible.  Taking a new job working in a school this year has meant that I was able to have the month of August free, to build a guitar under Richard’s tuition in Lewes.

The Course . . .

Seven days into the course and so far everything has been fantastic!  We have all made so much progress, more than we thought we could in these initial days. It has been really satisfying to see our own, and each others, guitars coming together slowly.  Neil and Phil are great guys to be on the course with – I really could not ask for two better people to be working alongside!  It is so enjoyable to share in the excitement with each other at certain stages, such as rosettes coming together or sides being bent to shape, and to be able to encourage and help one another out, as we build our guitars each in a slightly different order.  Richard’s tuition has been brilliant – just the right amount of input, theory and support. At no stage have I felt that something was impossible, nor too easy! My main reflection so far is that although building a guitar from scratch is a big task, it is a process which is made up from many small processes, all of which so far are achievable given careful attention, time and correct application of a few techniques.  Making an instrument is hugely rewarding, and although I can’t wait to see and hear the three finished guitars in a few weeks time, I don’t want to rush through the process at all - every day on the course is so enjoyable!

The Future . . .

Neil, Phil and I have all said that we would love to build another guitar after this course.  Neil and I have agreed that the most likely way for this would be to get a parts kit from one of the luthier’s suppliers and begin to work independently, using an instruction book to guide any parts of the process of which we are unsure.  I will most likely begin by buying the specialist tools which are required, and in the evenings use some of the workshop space at the school where I work.  I am sure that the experience gained with Richard, even so far after one week, gives me confidence to try building again in the future – after all “There is nothing in making a guitar that cannot be fixed!”