Flamenco blanca - lutz & leyland cypress

[lamanoditrento]

It has been great seeing so many flamencos lately. I thought I should probably share mine recently finished. It was built to Paco Chorobo's plans.

Soundboard: Lutz spruce (thanks Martin Turner)
B+S: Leyland cypress (thanks Pete Curly)
Neck: Cedar
Fretboard & bridge: IRW
Finish: Hard shellac - french polish
Tuners: Perfection pegs
Weight strung up: 1048g

Really happy with the sound (hopefully get some recording soon). The volume and projection are fantastic but also has a surprising amount of sustain and just comes alive in your hands.

[Mark McLean]

Trent, you really knocked it out of the park with that one. I love the classy austerity of the design. Very Shaker in the styling. Rosette, bindings, headstock - all really original and beautiful, but also simple. If it sounds good too, then it is the whole package!

[RodC]

Nice Trent.
I don't think I've seen this completed IRL. Looking forward to seeing it at our next guitar extravaganza.

[Bruce McC]

Hi Trent

Congrats that is a very nice looking guitar, looking forward to a sound clip.
I gather that with the heel cap and back being one piece that it has a Spanish heel,
if so how do you manage to do such a great job with the French polishing where the
sides abut with the heel? Is the binding inside the sound hole cosmetic or to adjust
the air frequency and did you increase the width of the tie block to accommodate
the 12 holes in the bridge?

[lamanoditrento]

Thanks fellas. Mark, my natural inclination is probably to be too ornate, so I have been trying to tone it down a bit.

Yes, Bruce, it is a Spanish heel to keep weight down. Thanks for noticing the heel transition, I spent a while on it. I pretty much use Trevor’s hard shellac French polish technique but slower and with higher grit than in the book. I try and get a really good build on problem areas like the heel during the early build sessions and then use a bevelled eraser to carefully sand them flat.

The bound soundhole is for cosmetic reasons and is what Paco does in his instructions. I increased the soundhole diameter by a mm when cutting it to account for the .5 binding. I did have the thought however that if need be, I could increase the binding or remove it if needed to adjust frequencies. As it turns out I didn’t need to adjust anything.

The bridge is per the plan, so not sure if that was Paco’s widened it for the 12 holes. I really like the 12 hole system although I have had a few issues with it.

[Bruce McC]

Hi Trent

Thanks, hm duh I mean't to say 18 hole bridge, there appears to be three holes per string.

[Andos]

Love the head design
+1 for the 18 hole bridge

[Mr K]

Lovely work and wood selection, very elegant.
cheers Mark

[ozziebluesman]

Hi Trent,
Beautiful build mate.
Could you tell me about the friction tuners please? Is there a how to make in th plan.
Could you put me onto the plan please?
It looks like a little smaller size guitar a 7/8th or even smaller.
Love it all.
Cheers
Al

[lamanoditrento]

Thanks, hm duh I mean't to say 18 hole bridge, there appears to be three holes per string.

Haha, me too, despite reading and writing 12, I meant 18 too.

Could you tell me about the friction tuners please? Is there a how to make in th plan.
Could you put me onto the plan please?
It looks like a little smaller size guitar a 7/8th or even smaller.

Al, the tuners are actually geared tuners available from here https://perfectionpegs.twofold.com.au/ Simon also offers a bit of a luthier discount too.

But it is full-sized and 650mm scale. Although it is slimmer than a classical being about 80mm at the heel.

[ozziebluesman]

Thank you Trent.

[kpcart]

That is so nice to look at.

Leyland cypress has an interesting story, it's a hybrid, its parents are 2 cypresses commonly used for guitar making, Monterey Cypress (macrocarpa) and alaskan yellow cedar. The mother plant was yellow cedar, and the father was macro, by wind pollination, the property owners of where this hybridization occurred, did the reverse too, pollinated macro cones with yellow cedar pollen. That one came out a lighter green foliage and is called Leighton green cypress. Other open pollinations have occurred and another famous hybrid from these 2 trees is Castlewellan cypress. So many of these hybrids are available in Australian nurseries. Nice to see hybrid conifers now grown up big enough to be entering in the guitar market. One day luthiers will be able to pick and choose hybrid timber, ie euro spruce x sitka spruce, caucasian spruce x engelmann spruce. Just give the trees a few hundred years to grow first.

[kpcart]

this is probably my favourite looking guitar I have seen in this forum.

[lamanoditrento]

this is probably my favourite looking guitar I have seen in this forum.

Wow! Thanks. The leyland cypress has a good back story too being salvaged from a backyard in Melbourne.

[Bruce McC]

Hi Trent
I really like the 18 hole bridge. What is the head stock angle and did you increase it to suit the Perfection pegs?
I am assuming that as the string pegs are 90 degrees to the head stock face and the wound string remains above
the plane of the head stock the break angle of the string over the nut would be less than with conventional slotted
head tuners. ( Hope you can follow my reasoning )

[lamanoditrento]

What is the head stock angle and did you increase it to suit the Perfection pegs?
I am assuming that as the string pegs are 90 degrees to the head stock face and the wound string remains above
the plane of the head stock the break angle of the string over the nut would be less than with conventional slotted
head tuners. ( Hope you can follow my reasoning )

Hi Bruce, yes I made the headstock 15 degrees the same as I've used for a steel string with a solid headstock. Having said that, I have used 15 degrees on a slotted head stock and it works fine but didn't like how large I had to make the string ramps.

[Steve.Toscano]

Hi Trent,
That looks really good. Good weight too.
Well done.

[Bruce McC]

Hi Trent.

Thanks for that info Trent.

[kiwigeo]

Wow...that's one beautiful guitar Trent. Glad to hear that lutz was to your liking.