How OUR Guitars Are Made

In this article you get an insight of our guitar building routine and the stages of the build from commission to consummation.

The Materials

When starting a build, the first two things I discuss with the customer are the body shape and materials, respectively. What kind of a guitar are you looking for? What do you plan to play with it? Picking and strumming, fingerstyle or both? What are the physical dimensions of the player, that is, what kind of a body shape is comfortable for you to hold and play? 

Some guitarists have a strong notion of the materials they prefer (the timbre of rosewood family over mahoganies, for example), while others have a certain sound or appearance in mind, whatever the Latin name of the wood is. I discuss the materials based on my own experience with different tonewoods and also my trained eye for exquisite beauty. In every build I make sure the materials I use are the best available for the price and best suited for the tone we’re after.

In nowaday’s global market, virtually any (legal) material is available through the internet. During the years of sourcing, I have established quite a few go-to contacts around the globe. We can build you a premium guitar from luxurious exotic woods adorned with Finnish curly birch. Or we can build an understated premium guitar from locally harvested tonewoods with a hint of tropical flash in the rosette. Or anything in between. Your choice!

The Top and Bracing 

The top wood is first joined, then sanded to thickness. Then I cut the rosette channel and glue in the solid wood rosette around the soundhole-to-be. Lately I’ve been using a random pattern wood mosaic rosette as my main design trademark. Guess I’m a bit of a wood-grain-junkie to begin with.

As the top is the thing that drives the sound of the strings out to the world, it is important to make it as responsive as possible. Yet, it has to withstand the constant pull of the strings at the bridge. This is why quarter-sawn spruce has been the time-tested choice for the majority of stringed instrument throughout the times. The weight-to-stiffness ratio of a good quarter-sawn spruce is superior to almost any other wood species. In case you want to deviate from this standard (which, of course is always fun and exiting), other good options are western red cedar (usually lighter and less stiff) for a faster response and smaller dynamic range for fingerstyle or redwood which usually falls somewhere in between the two. Both cedar and redwood are darker in color, redwood leaning toward red and cedar from amber to chocolatey hues.

I use 6mm (1/4”) quarter sawn spruce bracing on my tops. Braces are the skeleton of the guitar. They ensure the vibrations of the strings spread all over the top and that all the frequencies have a place to vibrate on the plate. Braces are carefully hand shaped and tuned (scalloping and tapering)  so that they provide the optimal amount of support and flex for the top. Brace it too heavy and it’s a dull and lifeless guitar. Go too light and it gives in to the pressure of the strings and explodes. The truth is somewhere in between these ends, usually closer to the verge of explosion. Rather a lightly built guitar that lasts only for a hundred years, than a bulky yet safe that takes 200 years of abuse in a Quentin Tarantino western film scene.

I use hot hide glue for all the essential build stages. This type of animal protein glue has been around ever since the glorious day someone came up with an appealing idea of melting a horse and using the resulting goo to stick things together. Hot hide glue dries glass hard. As a glue it doesn’t damp any vibrations. Therefore it is the glue of choice for an instrument whose performance is based on vibration of wood chunks glued together. Another benefit of hot hide glue is that it is reversible: Things put together with it can be taken apart with proper heat and a pallet knife easily. This makes the possible future repairs easier for the luthier. The downsides of hide glue is that it is applied hot (needs a milk bottle warmer) and the prepared glue has a short shelf-life. This is probably why most of the big names in the guitar industry have either ditched hot hide glue of reserved it only to their custom shop builds for a big additional price tag.

The Body and Comfort

The back and sides wood have less effect on the rudimentary sound of the guitar than the top and top bracing do. However, the choice of wood in the body do affect the timbre, the color of the tone you get from your guitar. Heavier and denser woods tend to have more reverby character, yielding more overtones to the harmonic response of the guitar, while lighter and softer woods prefer the primary tones. Neither of these features are ’better’ over the other. It’s a matter of taste, use and personal preference. My all-time personal favourite guitars are made with feather-light mahogany back and sides. And on another day they are the darkest rosewoods I could find. See? No better or worse. Just different woods for different moods and challences.

I brace the sides lightly to prevent the whole side from splitting in an unlikely occasion of you dropping your phone edge-first on your bass side upper bout (don’t ask how that came to my mind). 

As much as I value and retain the traditional aesthetics of an American steel string guitar, I like to offer a few comfort features to my guitar customers. The armrest bevel takes away the strain the edge of the lower bout puts on your forearm in a prolonged playing session. It makes the body of the guitar feel really smooth and is quite easy on the eye too. 

The sound port, an additional soundhole on the bass side facing the player, acts as an acoustic monitor for the guitarist. It opens up the sound of the guitar multidimensionally and enhances the perceived bass response.

It is also possible to build the body of your guitar with a Manzer wedge, a feature that was invented by the great luthier Linda Manzer as she built the famous 42-string ”Picasso guitar” for Pat Metheny. The top of the guitar is ’tilted’ towards the player: The bass side is made thinner and treble side thicker so that the guitar is more comfortable to hold and play. Combined with the armrest bevel, the Manzer wedge makes the guitar really easy for your strumming hand elbow and arm.

Neck Construction

I make my necks with a scarf joint and laminated heel block. Scarf-jointed headstock is stronger than a one piece neck that is so often mentioned in guitar marketing sheets. This is because the grain of the jointed headstock runs along the length of the piece and makes it less prone to cracking. Usually I like to laminate curly birch, walnut or rosewood in the centre strip of the neck. This makes the neck plank more stable and looks good too! The neck is equipped with a double-action truss rod and two carbon fibre bars. 

The neck is attached to the body with two 6mm bolts and hardwood rails that run along the underside of the fingerboard to the top. The fingerboard is attached to the top with two 4mm machine screws. This allows a very fast neck adjustment, yet retains a very good transfer of vibrations from body to neck and vice versa.

The Finishing

I finish my guitars currently with Colortone Water Based Clear Coat finish. It is a non-toxic, high gloss, easy to apply laqcuer that gives a thin, hard surface and can be applied with a brush and without masks or industrial ventilation. I’m also very familiar with French polishing, if you prefer a shellac finish. I finish my necks with Tru Oil for the comfortable, worn-in satin feel.

Setup

The guitars are finished carefully to suit the style of the player. My guitars have buzz free action at low settings too and they play in tune all over the fretboard. Bone nut and saddle ensure the vibrations of the strings are delivered straight to the guitar.