I am currently making several styles of guitar. The bulk of my effort has gone into fairly standard classic and flamenco guitars. The classic guitars have tops of spruce, western red cedar or redwood. Standard backs and sides are of Indian rosewood or morado, but padouk, south-east Asian rosewood, cocobolo, mahogany, bloodwood, and occasionally other woods are available. Necks of Honduras mahogany or Spanish cedar. My preferred wood for flamenco guitars is Canadian cypress, although Spanish and Monterey cypress (true cypresses) are also available. Necks of Spanish cedar.
Recently I have added a small, or "parlor"-sized, classical guitar. I am also experimenting with laminated sides and sound-ports this year. In addition, I will be adding laùds and bandurrias to the line. These are traditional Spanish instruments, generally with twelve strings, in unison rather than octave tuning. They are used in Spanish folk music and street bands. For many years I have built occasional 12-string guitars. It has always seemed to me that there is much similarity in sound quality between good 12-strings and flamenco guitars, so I build accordingly. I have both a 'jumbo' 12-string--essentially a large classic shape--and a "laùd grandé" that is a full-sized guitar, tuned in octaves (see the pictures of guitars below).
In addition to making instruments to order, I have several guitars for sale that were built in the last few years. These are listed below.
CLASSICAL GUITARS
#36
Price: $3,600
MATERIALS
Top: Western red cedar
Back/sides: Indian rosewood
Neck: Honduras mahogany
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Indian Rosewood
Tuners: Schaller gold
Finish: KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 656 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 52 mm
at 12th fret: 63.5 mm
#38
Price: $5,500
MATERIALS
Top: Western red cedar
Back/sides: Indian laurel sides, Lawson's cypress back
Neck: Spanish cedar
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Honduras rosewood
Tuners: Schaller gold
Finish: KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 651 mm
String spacing at bridge: 12 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 54 mm
at 12th fret: 64 mm
Builder's Notes:
A slightly larger guitar than usual, big sound!
Price: $650
MATERIALS
Top: Western red cedar
Back/sides: Indian laurel / Indian rosewood
Neck: Honduras mahogany
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Indian rosewood
Tuners: Schaller gold
Finish: top - shellac, B/S/N - oil and shellac
DIMENSIONS
String length: 660 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 53 mm
at 12th fret: 64 mm
Builder's Notes:
A good student guitar. lightly used, has a few cosmetic “dings”, an early variant of my current bracing system
Flamenco Guitars
#29
Price: $2,700
MATERIALS
Top: German spruce
Back/sides: Canadian cypress
Neck: Spanish cedar
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Honduras rosewood
Tuners: Schaller gold
Finish: top - shellac, B/S/N - KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 660 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 53.5 mm
at 12th fret: 63 mm
Builder's Notes:
A good, balanced, full flamenco sound. Recently refretted and refinished, repair of minor shrinkage cracks in back. Ideal for strong player with big hands.
#30
Price: $1,250
MATERIALS
Top: Port Orford cedar
Back/sides: Monterey cypress
Neck: Spanish cedar
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: ziricote
Tuners: Grizzly, gold lyre
Finish: top - shellac, B/S/N - KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 655 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 51.5 mm
at 12th fret: 63.5 mm
Builder's notes:
repaired crack in top and just refinished. New crack(!) in back—it has been absurdly dry this winter and tough on instruments. I expect this crack in back will disappear with return of normal humidity. I will fix it, if it persists.
#32
Price: $850
MATERIALS
Top: Western red cedar
Back/sides: Louisiana cypress
Neck: Western red cedar, Bocote head insert
Fretboard: cocobola
Bridge: cocobola
Tuners: Grizzly, gold lyre
Finish: KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 650 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 52.5 mm
at 12th fret: 63.5 mm
Builder's Notes:
A good student guitar—mixed features of classic and flamenco. was my personal guitar for a couple of years.
#35
Price: $1,650
MATERIALS
Top: Engelmann spruce
Back/sides: Monterey cypress
Neck: Spanish cedar
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: cocobola
Tuners: Grizzly, gold lyre
Finish: KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 650 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 51.5 mm
at 12th fret: 62.5 mm
#42
Price: $2,700
MATERIALS
Top: Engelmann spruce
Back/sides: Louisiana cypress
Neck: Spanish cedar
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: cocobola
Tuners: Rosewood friction pegs
Finish: top - shellac, B/S/N - KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 640 mm
String spacing at bridge: 11.5 mm
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 50.5 mm
at 12th fret: 61 mm
Builder's Notes:
Very light, with traditional peg tuning, nothing fancy, but nice sound, sweet trebles, plays amazingly easy. A few “dings” from the Montreal flamenco festival last year. Dennis Duffin (Toronto flamenco troupe “Fin de Fiesta Flamenco” and "Vendanas") liked it so much he borrowed it for a performance set one evening, too.
Recently refinished, healing most of the "dings"!
Other Instruments
#41
Florentine Cutaway Acoustic
Price: $2,400
MATERIALS
Top: Adirondack red spruce
Back/sides: Indian rosewood
Neck: Port Orford cedar, Bloodwood laminate
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Indian rosewood
Tuners: Waverly gold individual
Finish: KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 25.5 in (650 mm)
String spacing at bridge: 7/16 in (11 mm)
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 1 & 15/16 in(49 mm)
at 12th fret: 2 & 5/16 in (58 mm)
Builder's Notes:
slightly wider neck and spacing than most 6-string steel guitars. More a finger-picker’s instrument (big hands); definitely not a bluegrass-type set-up.
#27
12-String "da Gamba" Style Guitar
Price: $1,100
MATERIALS
Top: Western red cedar
Back/sides: Indian laurel
Neck: Morado
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Indian laurel
Tuners: Grover mini
Finish: KTM
DIMENSIONS
String length: 25.5 in (650 mm)
String spacing at bridge:
Fingerboard width:
at nut: 2 & 1/16 in(53 mm)
at 12th fret: 2 & 7/16 in (58 mm)
Builder's Notes:
an unusual shape—I have made a couple of these “da gamba” like guitars. The mitering of the purfling is definitely more trouble than it’s worth! Good sound and easy to play. A bit heavy due to the materials (Indian laurel is very dense, morado pretty dense, and the tuners are not as light as a plate set would be).