Proto

Classical Ramirez

I don’t consider the Proto guitar as the first guitar only because there was outside help with the construction of the guitar.  It was built during my time at Hamm-Tone Guitars in a 5 week course on building acoustic guitars back in April of 2022 and I can say, anybody that is interested in taking a build course or to even build your own guitar, Hamm-Tone is great place to go to.

The class was very informative: Jeremy Hamm tries to cover as much as he can in such a short amount of time.  The limited space per class also gives him the chance to come around and help out when you need it. There is a lot of information to take in especially if you’re not very familiar with guitar building procedures or doing any wood working to begin with.

The Proto guitar is made with the Sitka Spruce and Indian Rosewood. It’s a good combination in terms of sound and Rosewood is easy to work with/bend. Rosewood and Maple would be ideal to anybody that is new to building guitars. As you would see, a lot of my guitars are with Rosewood – better to start with something you are more comfortable with before going into other/more expensive woods. I tried to follow the blueprints as much as I could but there were some exceptions.

Things that were not to blue prints were 1) the Wenge rosette – I saw it on another guitar Jeremy had in his shop and it really appealed to me. The dark coloured wood was a fresh alternative to the traditional rose patterned rosette that is usually on a classical guitar. It’s a little more work than putting on a premade rosette but was a good oppurtunity to get some hands on experience with wood. I think it was a good change on the guitar.

2) Laminations in the neck – I was looking at some of Jeremy’s finished guitars on the wall and saw some with laminations in the neck and asked Jeremy how it was done. Right away, he said that I should do laminations. It wasn’t like the laminations I was impressed with on his guitar but still, it’s experience and something that I can offer customers. The guitar still uses Spanish Cedar as per blue prints.

The rest of the guitar is to the Ramirez specs – Ebony fingerboard and bridge and a scale length of 660mm was used – apparently 650mm has become the new normal for a classical scale length.

As expected with doing something new for the first time, things can only go so well: The headstock is a little tilted and the carving in those slots are only so good. Jeremy helped me with finshing the slots and the angled carving – his carving skills with a chisel are top notched.

Jeremy said that the class would have a finished guitar for the student. How the final outcome of the guitar really depends on the student’s ability and considering I didn’t have any previous wood working, I think this turned out well. I did have some really good help to get things that way and help when I made mistakes. Although the guitar is not close to being perfect, it’s a good standard that I try to aim and surpass with my work.

SPECS

Body Classical Ramirez

Scale Length 660mm

Top Sitka Spruce

Back Indian Rosewood

Sides Indian Rosewood

Neck Spanish Cedar/Wenge strip/Maple veneers

Fingerboard Ebony

Bridge Ebony

Tuning Machines Gotoh 1800s

Strings D’Addario Pro-Arte hard tension