Materials for Classical Guitars
Sides - Sides can be
made of any wood that can be bent. Traditional instruments use rosewood or
something closely related. Rosewood is becoming scarce, so other tropical
hardwoods are becoming common. Several domestic hardwoods are good choices.
Beech is easy to bend, looks good when finished and is readily available.
Maple is another good choice, though is slightly harder to bend. Ash is strong,
easy to bend and easy to get in the form of baseball bat blanks. It has an
open grain that needs to be filled when finishing.
Top - The top can be
made of any appropriate wood. The body shape was developed using a description
in
polar coordinates.
Traditionally, tops are either spruce, cedar or redwood.
Back - The back can
be made of nearly any wood. Materials vary much more than for the top.
Rosewood is the traditional choice, but is scarce and expensive.
Neck - The neck must
be light and reasonably strong. The traditional choice is mahogany, though
Spanish cedar is sometimes used. Walnut is a good domestic wood.
Headstock - The headstock
is usually made of the same material as the neck with a decorative veneer.
The shape of the headstock and the choice of veneer are often used as the maker's
'signature'.
Blanks
Before starting construction,
you must have blanks of the correct sizes. For the M1 classical guitar, the
required sizes are
|
Part |
Size |
Material |
|
Neck |
3" x 7/8" x 17" |
Mahogany (traditional), Beech, Maple, Cherry. Should have high elastic modulus.
Ash is a good choice if the the open grain is acceptable. |
|
Headstock |
3" x 7/8" x 12" |
Same as neck |
|
Sides |
4" x 1/8" x 32" |
Mahogany or Rosewood are traditional. Beech, Ash, Cherry, Maple also work
well. Material has relatively little effect on sound quality, so non-traditional
materials are OK. |
|
Back |
17" x 1/8" x 21" |
Mahogany and Rosewood are traditional. Lots of tropical hardwoods are also
being used as rosewood has become scarce. Maple and cherry are good domestic
choices. |
|
Top |
17" x 1/8" x 21" |
Cedar, Spruce and Redwood are traditional. Occasionally, other softwoods are
used. |
|
Bridge |
1 1/4" x 1/2" x 7" |
Ebony and Rosewood are traditional. Any hard, closed grain wood is fine.
Hard maple and Beech are good choices. |
|
Fretboard |
3" x 1/4" x 19" |
Ebony and Rosewood are traditional. Hard closed grain woods are generally
OK. |
|