Author Archives: ntredwell

Build No. 3 English Walnut guitar

Well I suppose that it time to get started on another build, so here goes. I am planning on building an small bodied English Walnut guitar approximately 00 in size. I really like the size of my No. 1 the English Cherry small bodied guitar, so I have decided to use the same body shape and scale length. But adjust the bracing slightly and also add a sound port. The spec is still not fully decided, but should be finalised shortly.

Spec:

Back & Sides – English Walnut
Soundboard – Western Red Cedar
Bracing – European Spruce
Neck – still to be decided.
Headstock veneer – English Walnut
Binding – English Walnut with a light pinstripe purfing
Purflings – still to be decided.
Rosette – English Walnut.
Fretboard – Bog Oak
Bridge – Bog Oak

Here are a couple of shots of the Walnut for the back being glued up and with a quick clean up.

English Walnut 00 - gluing up the back            English Walnut guitar - Back

No. 1 finished.

My first acoustic build is now complete, and i have been playing her for several weeks and what can I say, it blows my expectations. When I with trepidation tuned her up for the first time I had serious doubts that she would play in tune but I can happily say my fears were unfounded. There are a few cosmetic flaws (mainly caused by impatience towards the end of the build as I just wanted to string her up) but these are all things that can be improved upon in later builds

English Cittern Capo Prototype mk1

I decided to make the English cittern capo from some 3500 year old Bog Oak left over from my first acoustic build I also require some form of bolt and wing nut in order to attach the capo to the neck. Unfortunately I was unable to find anything that would be visually in keeping with the age of the instrument so I had to improvise.

To solve the problem, developed my own wing nut, but embedding two brass nuts into a piece of Bog Oak which was then shaped so that it could be easily turned by hand. I then used a 3mm brass bolt that would fit through the holes in the neck and embedded the head into another piece of Bog Oak that was then chamfered to fit the indentations on the back of the neck.

Next I shaped the capo’s bar to have the correct radius for the Citten’s neck, and finally lined it with some rubber so that it would not damage the strings.

Unfortunately, when testing on the actual instrument, there was a slight alignment issue causing the capo not not be 100% centrally aligned but hay that’s what prototypes are for. However other than not looking even on both sides, it does work as intended. luckily this was only a prototype so I now have to remake the capo with the hole off centre.  

Applying the finish

I have finally started to apply the finish, for this build I am using Liberon Finishing Oil, wiped on by hand. Its a rather time consuming process, as the coats have to be as thin as possible, and lots of them. I am aiming for 15 coats, but with a minimum 5 hour drying time between coats and other commitments it is unfortunately taking a long time.

Back with 6 coats of finish applied

Back with 6 coats of finish applied

 

English Cherry 00 front with finish applied

 

Side on profile

Side on profile

The colour of the Cherry is really starting to develop, and I am really looking forward to stringing her up. Hopefully I should be playing her before the end of the month…

 

 

 

Capo for an English Cittern

I have been asked to make a Capo suitable for a 200 year old English Cittern that was made by Preston of London. Unfortunately, the owner does not have the original capo, but would like one made in a sympathetic style.

English Cittern

There are several good examples at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford including what appear to be original capo’s so these will provide a good source of inspiration.

English Citten Capo As you can see from the pictures, the capo is attached via a hole through the fretboard and neck, this this is then secured with a thumbscrew.

There were two examples in the Ashmolean, one made of ebony and the other of rosewood. They both sported brass through neck bolts with a thumbscrew in the fretboard side for tightening the capo over the strings. Hopefully I will be able to find a thumbscrew that will look in place on an instrument of this age rather than having to resort to a modern equivalent.

 

English Citten Capo

English Cittern Capo in the Ashmolean

 

 

 

 

 

English Cherry small bodied guitar

I had been planning on getting started with an acoustic build since the completion of the thin line Telecaster I built in 2011 but got delayed due to the construction of a new workshop. No more working in a freezing cold shed for me! I now have a fully insulated workshop it maybe a little on the small side, but compared to what I had before, I’m more than content.

As I was gearing up to start the build, the Official Luthiers Forum, decided to run a Newbie build competition  so I decided it was time to get on with things so duly signed up.

I am very keen to try and utilise Native and reclaimed woods in my builds, there are many suitable English woods that are suitable for instrument building, so I have decided to try and use only British grown wood for the competition build.

So far my plan is as follows.

Model – English Cherry small bodied guitar

Back & Sides – English Cherry
Soundboard – European (Alpine) Spruce – The only part I wont be able to source locally.
Bracing – European Spruce
Neck – English Sycamore
Fretboard – Bog Oak
Bridge – Bog Oak
Binding – English Walnut
Rosette – Cherry with Black, Pear, Black purfling

A more in depth build thread can be found on the OLF forum here so rather than duplicating content, bellow you can see a series of pictures charting progress to date.