Quarantine Classical

[Brian Itzkin]

Hello all, I've just joined the forum on the advice of John Hall! Feel free to read my introduction post to learn more about me!

This is a concert classical guitar in Madagascan rosewood and Swiss spruce I built in Granada Spain during the 48 days of lockdown in March and April. I used a modified Bouchet bracing in keeping with modern Granada tradition as established by the maestro Antonio Marin Montero after his correspondence with Bouchet in the 1980's.



https://youtu.be/M_x08XczVg0

[tippie53]

very nice are these french polished?

[Brian Itzkin]

very nice are these french polished?

Yes! This one was polished by the maestro Antonio Ariza in Granada who polishes my mentor Stephen's guitars as well as most of the other makers in Granada. I wanted to spend my time in Spain building instead of polishing

[Brian Itzkin]

You can find more photos of this instrument on Siccas' website!

https://www.siccasguitars.com/shop/guit ... zkin-2020/

[rcnewcomb]

Due you do a traditional Spanish heel for the neck joint? What about on your steel string builds?

[Danl8]

Beautiful guitar, Brian. What scale did you build it to? Do you have a photo of the bracing that you can post here?

[Brian Itzkin]

Due you do a traditional Spanish heel for the neck joint? What about on your steel string builds?

Yes I build in the traditional Spanish method in a solara for my classicals. I use a modified Spanish heel joint with wedges as made famous by Jose Romanillos; a wide tapered slot is cut to accept the side as well a wedge which forces the side perfectly against the heel. The maker whom I apprenticed under used the standard 2mm slot in the heel but I find the wedge method to be a better method for me.

I use a bolt on neck with glued fingerboard extension for my steel strings.

Here's an example of the wedged heel joint I use from Wilson Burnham's blog:

[Brian Itzkin]

Beautiful guitar, Brian. What scale did you build it to? Do you have a photo of the bracing that you can post here?

Thank you! This one is a pretty standard 650mm scale with 52mm nut width.

Here's the carved fans before gluing the cross struts above and below the sound hole and a photo of the instrument in the solera before the back was glued on

[Danl8]

Is the Bouchet brace glued to the fan? I know some variations just bridge the fan bracing without touching. Thanks for the comments on wedging the sides slots. I have a neck that has been waiting for decades due to a wider kerf than I thought prudent. :-)

[Diane Kauffmds]

Absolutely gorgeous! I'm a French polisher too. I get into a zen state while polishing. You do really beautiful work.