Serial Number 007

3rd Customer Guitar

Started on January 18, 2023: completed on March 28, 2023

*edited on July 18, 2023

This guitar is for a co-worker from my last (major) workplace. He is a top notch player and was one of two people that inquired about a custom guitar back even before I took the course. Talks about the guitar specifications and options were on and off but I finally managed to get the details hammered out with the customer.

A left handed classical guitar. He has left the build specs up to me as he plays on an electric guitar more because it is thinner – and I understand. I am not too fond of thick bodied (acoustic) guitars myself. It is part of the reason why I have been trying different body heights but I think I have figured out the heights I will continue to use for my guitars now.

S/N 007 has a bear claw Sitka Spruce top and Indian Rosewood back and sides. I decided on an Ebony fingerboard and made an Ebony bridge with Purple Heart for the tie block. I think the Purple Heart gives the tie block a nice accent in colour. I used a traditional rose patterned rosette on this classical. This was the better of the three rose patterns that I have.

I tried something a little different with the head stock shape. I don’t feel that it is bad. I really need to sit down and design a custom head stock shapes and bridges.

With the neck, I did a double lamination – one Wenge and one Purple Heart strip. I have seen some electric guitars that have double or even triple strips through the neck, so why not give it a try?

This will also be the first Classical guitar that I will install a truss rod into. I know it is not uncommon for Classical guitars to have them now and they would be considered as “modern Classical guitars”. I know that a truss rod has a lot of advantages to not having one in there.

I did have to fix a couple of things on the neck. One of them being that the neck was off to one side making the high E string having a further distance to the edge of the fingerboard than the low E string. The second was a rough spot on the heel of the neck.

SPECS

Body Classical Ramirez, left handed

Scale 660mm

Top bear claw Sitka Spruce

Back Indian Rosewood

Sides Indian Rosewood

Neck Spanish Cedar/Wenge and Purple Heart strips

Fingerboard Ebony

Bridge Ebony

Tuning Machines Gotoh 1800s

Strings D’Addario Pro-Arte hard tension