Captain Cooks Classical

[Bob Connor]

If you you had romantic notions of of a beautifull Tahitian girl strumming a vihuela whilst James Cook observed the Transit of Venus back in 1768 you'll be sorely disappointed.

This is where I'm at with a nylon string O-16NY for a bloke here in Geelong whose name happens to be Cook so we've nicknamed the guitar Captain Cook's Classical.

The back and sides are Gum Tree - more specifically Eucalyptus Delegatensis (Tas Oak, Victorian or Alpine Ash)

It has a really nice bright tap tone but the bottom end is huge.

Bending this stuff was easy. In fact the sides started out being bent for a dreadnought but were a little short so I ironed them flat. When bending them into the O shape one of the sides slipped in the bender so I had to iron it flat for a second time. (slow learner me )

The form in the Fox bender is solid (all our other shapes are slatted)

Once I had the top glued on I flattened the sides with a sandpaper block and I have to say that it was the quickest I've ever done it. So I'm sold on the solid bending form to stop cupping in sides and I'll be building more solid forms for our other shapes

The top is Engelmann and it'll get bound with Ebony (which I'll do tomorrow.)

Instead of the diagonal lower tone bar that's typical of the O-16 I put in 3 fan braces like you'd see on a classical. ( all under 1/4 " in height) The rest of the bracing is typical Martin.

The soundboard is 2.45mm thick.

I've got a Spanish Cedar neck blank from Uncle Bob that's going on it. Slotted headstock and ebony fingerboard will finish it all up - hopefully sometime next week.

Thanks fer lookin.






(I got the guitar out of the way before the Jack Russel cocked his leg on it)

[Dominic]

Nice looking figure Bob. Look forward to seeing it finished.

I have just made a new bending form for an MJ and i made it solid for the same reason as you, to help keep the sides flat. It would also help to contain the heat which can be lost in a slat setup.

Another thing i have done to help keep my sides flat is adapted from one of Mike Doolins ideas. i have these on both ends.



I crank down the waist most of the way, then bend both bouts, put on the turn buckles then crank the waist all the way. That way there is nowhere for the wood to buckle.

Dom

[kiwigeo]

Cute looking little guitar Bob. If its not too much trouble could you throw up a better pic of the bending form.

Thanks Martin

[Kim]

Looks great so far Bob, the 3 fans sound like a good idea to me and I look forward to hearing the results.

Dominic, that's a fine looking bending set up, how about you show us in your own thread a closer look at your take on the Doolin system.

Mine is a solid form but ids much more agricultural than yours

Cheers

Kim

[Dennis Leahy]

I have a sneaking suspicion that this guitar is going to look incredible with a finish on it. By that I mean the visual impact of the curls is going to triple under a finish.

You sure are cranking them out, Bob! But always different, always high quality...

Dennis

[sebastiaan56]

Hi Bob,

Lookin gooood.... Is this the same stuff that I saw at Bunnies on the weekend? Sometimes they have gems in their racks. Pity its from Gunns....

[WaddyT]

Hey, Bob, that's coming along greatly. I love the woods. Where's the neck?

[Bob Connor]

I'm fairly happy with how it's looking.

I'll get some pics of the new bending forms today and throw some pics up later today.

Dennis - I think I think that grain will really pop under some finish.

Sebaastian - Yep some stuff as at Bunnies. Gunns are the largest hardwood processor in the country which includes Jarrah in WA. If you buy Tas Oak chances are it came from Gunns.

Waddy - the neck is on top of my shoulders. I'll be doing some work on it today and I'll post some pics if it starts looking like a neck.

[Craig]

G'day Bob ,

As Dennis said , That wood is really going to pop under finish. I used Tas. Oak myself this week for my first time ( non guitar ) . I must say I'm really impressed with it's qualities. Didn't look much until I put on finish (Tung oil ,in my case ) .

Yours , having all that flame will come up visually stunning I'm sure.

My thinking is that this local wood is pretty much underestimated by many

It's going to be a striking guitar !

[Bob Connor]

My thinking is that this local wood is pretty much underestimated by many

I think so too. It's lovely to work with, has a nice bright tap tone with plenty of bottom end, it's plentiful, it's cheap and it's easy to find figured stuff.

I think Tim Spittle is selling sets for around the $70 mark. That's where this set came from. (The price may have gone up after such a glowing report )

[Hesh1956]

Very nice Bob buddy - got any pics of the beautiful Tahitian girl strumming a vihuela

[jackspira]

That looks great Bob! And I look foward to your thoughts about it when its finished.
I'm making some ash guitars myself at the moment, and have found it a very good material to work. The stuff I'm using is e.regnans from Gippsland, but it looks pretty similar.
Jack

[TimS]

Set price for Alpine Ash will probably remain at $70 for some time so I wouldn't fret. I wonder how many other possible tonewoods are lurking out there?

regards

Tim

[Allen]

You got any pictures of the bracing Bob? I've had a couple of people ask me if I do nylon string guitars, and as I don't know much about building a classical, it doesn't seem to be that much of a jump to turn a steel string into a nylon string with some modifications.

[Kim Strode]

Could you please explain Bob (for those novices in the forum) how a nylon string guitar differs from a classical guitar, and what style of music you would use it for.

[Dominic]

Dominic, that's a fine looking bending set up, how about you show us in your own thread a closer look at your take on the Doolin system.

OK. I will take some pics this weekend.
Cheers
Dom

[Dominic]

Set price for Alpine Ash will probably remain at $70 for some time so I wouldn't fret.

I'm sure thats what they were saying about Tas BW a few years ago. Until people started shamelessly splashing pictures of beautiful guitars made with it around the internet and the billions of people in the world started buying it.
Bob, maybe next time you make a nice looking guitar you can pick a more overcast day to take pics. And maybe use some Vas on the lense.
Dom

[Bob Connor]

Could you please explain Bob (for those novices in the forum) how a nylon string guitar differs from a classical guitar, and what style of music you would use it for.

The classical has a flat fingerboard, which makes bar chords difficult for beginning to intermediate players.

They also have a different scale length from most steel string guitars.

The neck is also considerably wider on a classical guitar.

If building a classical guitar for use in a concert scenario your main aim would be projection to the end of the concert hall, hence, one of your primary aims in voicing the body would be in the long dipole response.
(end to end stiffness)

The nylon string guitar that I'm building at present has a fingerboard with a 16' radius, a neck width somewhere in between a steel string and a classical and the response that I am looking for from the body of the guitar is one that will sound best to the player of the instrument rather than someone in the audience at some distance away from the guitar.

The way I'm doing this is to make the back quite flexible and ensuring that the cross dipole response is good. (in structural terms I've widened the X-brace and shaved the finger braces down to bugger all)

I've also used a Padauk bridge plate on this as it's the lightest hardwood that I know of that will stand up to the rigours of a string ball-end being mashed against it. Because the string tension is lower on classicals than steel I'm trying to keep the fairly light - thus the use of Engelmann Spruce.

It's going to get a Brazilian Rosewood bridge, partly because I like what Braz does to steel string guitars and I know that it has been successfully used on classical guitars.

All of this is conjecture mind you. I've never built anything like this before but these are some of the considerstions I've made in planning this.

[Bob Connor]

Set price for Alpine Ash will probably remain at $70 for some time so I wouldn't fret.

I'm sure thats what they were saying about Tas BW a few years ago. Until people started shamelessly splashing pictures of beautiful guitars made with it around the internet and the billions of people in the world started buying it.
Bob, maybe next time you make a nice looking guitar you can pick a more overcast day to take pics. And maybe use some Vas on the lense.
Dom

No worries.

The next one'll be out of MDF.

[WaddyT]

Showtell, the standard classical guitar is very lightly braced compared to the steel string. Here is a shot of my fan braces which are 3mm wide and progress from 4.5mm to 6.5 mm in the center. I have also chosen not to use a bridgeplate, which Romanillos says is neither good nor bad, he just can't see an improvement when using one, so he leaves it off. Good enough for me.


I get the impression that Bob is using a much different bracing strategy with his, and it will be more like a very light steel string. He is, also, using construction techniques more like a steel string, i.e., building a box and attaching a neck. In traditional Spanish Construction techniques, the guitar is built on a solera, and is neck-through construction, where the neck is attached before the sides and back. Here is a shot where I have just glued up the neck/sides and before the back is attached.


I did use a wedge technique to join the sides to the neck, which is also a Romanillos technique and a little different from standard tradition of cutting a 2mm slot for the sides to rest in.

Sorry, Bob, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

[Bob Connor]

Got the bindings (Ebony) on today and some Z-poxy, so it's the neck to do next.

[Allen]

Looking lovely Bob. The wood is really showing off that figure now.

Never seen and end graft like that one before. I really like it. Gives all kinds of possibilities as is, or as a canvas and frame for some inlay work.

[Kim]

That looks fabulous Bob, it is surprising the dramatic colour change from beige to honey blond. Very noice

Cheers

Kim

[Kim]

Never seen and end graft like that one before. I really like it. Gives all kinds of possibilities as is, or as a canvas and frame for some inlay work.

Don't be fooled Allen it's just MacGuitars trying to save on some wood. I hear Bob is so tight that when Dave left for home one day with a splinter in his finger, Bob rang the coppers and tried to have him nabbed for stealing wood from the job.

That is going to be a great looking guitar Bob.

Cheers

Kim

[Bob Connor]

Never seen and end graft like that one before.

And you won't see another one from me for a while. It was a prick of a thing and I'm still not overly happy with it. Still - only took a day's work.

Those fibre purflings we got from Gurian a terrible things to get a nice mitre joint with. Much prefer working with real wood purfs - they don't seem to compress as much when you're trying to cut them. I ended up making a jig and cutting these on the bandsaw.

That's just some Z-pozy Kim and yeah I was really pleased with what it did to the Gum Tree. Gives a it a nice champagne tinge.

Captain Cook hasn't seen it yet but I'm sure his timbers'll be shiverin'.