Making a Falcate
Classical Guitar
John Parchem 4/5/17
pg. 0
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When John first showed me three or four of his newly built guitars I was astonished at their vocal
attributes – in over half a century of playing and trying guitars from renowned classical guitar
makers such as Kohno, Ramirez, Hauser, and Fleta to name a few, John’s guitars were not only
universes away from the attempts of many students who had built their own guitars (which were
beautiful visually, but unimpressive vocally), but more responsive than instruments from the best
of the renowned Luthiers that I had played. Their superb basic tone color and resonance,
especially their high overtones presented a harp-like quality. They exhibited a wide dynamic
range and followed responsively throughout the range, enabling a vastly broadened interpretive
menu: for example, piano subitos were not simply softer, but seductively engaging to the ear.
The sustaining quality enabled impressive legato lines. The treble-bass balance enhanced voice
leading and unfolding rich harmonies.
But the ergonomic features were the final deal maker. The cut-away enables high register access
with far less strain. The slight fretboard arc helps considerably in counteracting an arthritic bar
finger joint.
Playing my sleek, beautifully hand crafted, falcate braced classical guitar does require
considerable revision on both right and left hand technique, support, and voicing strategies. The
increased expressive responsiveness to these revisions is like having a sensitive conversational
partner who listens intently to just you and then replies with things you have always longed to
hear.
I find myself falling in love with the guitar all over again!
Douglas Rice
Preface
This is a blog of the making of my second falcate braced classical guitar based on the work of
Trevor Gore as described in his and Gerard Gilet’s Book Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design
and Build. The falcate top braces used are sickle shaped laminated spruce braces with carbon
fiber reinforcement. The design is also a derivation of the Trevor Gore Medium Size steel string
guitar. Basically, the falcate and back brace layout for the steel string design applied to a Hauser
37 classical guitar shape. My falcate steel string guitar is a very responsive and balanced good
sounding guitar. My hope was to keep many of those positive qualities but with a traditional
classical guitar sound. My first attempt produced a good sounding classical guitar but the high E
treble string lost its punch up the neck. This second classical guitar has some brace changes
described in the blogs to raise the guitars fundamental resonances to better support the high
treble notes. This blog as the guitar build proceeded was originally posted on several luthier
forums and my web site www.harvestmoonguitars.com.
John Parchem
Second Falcate Classical Guitar Build
This guitar is a commission
from Doug Rice, my classical
guitar instructor. He loved the
sound of my first falcate
classical guitar and my falcate
steel string. More importantly
though, he really liked the
ergonomic features I added, a
slightly narrower nut and the
20" radius on the fret board.
He also liked the cutaway. For
this guitar I selected a nice
Engelmann spruce top and
Panama rosewood back and
side set. The tap quality and
the stiffness of the rosewood was
outstanding. I picked up the rosewood set a
couple of years ago from Luthiers
Mercantile International. I went totally
classical and chose Spanish cedar for the
neck. The main design difference from my
first falcate classical is that the braces are
one mm taller based on the results of my last
guitar. Also I am trying to avoid all of the
hidden mistakes I had in the last one. So far
that is going well.
I used a plane and a shooting board to make
a perfectly flat edge on the two pieces of
spruce that will make the soundboard of the
guitar. The gluing jig is based on an old
Egyptian design using ropes and wedges to
apply a joining force while keeping the
plates flat.
1
The same process for the back plates.
2
The sides are
profiled using a
template I made the
last time I made
this style of guitar
and thicknessed to
about 2 mm using a
drum sander.
Preparing to bend I
also include a set of
bindings with each
side that I will use
to trim the guitar
body.
3
I use a Fox style bender named after Charles Fox, a luthier known for designing small shop
guitar jigs. The wood is heated to about 300 F and bent into a mold.
4
The Venetian cutaway that this guitar will have requires a very tight and difficult bend. To make
the bend possible I first thinned the tightest part of the bend a quarter of a millimeter using a
cabinet scraper. I also sprayed the side with Supersoft II a veneer conditioner. I use a separate
mold and an extra press to make the Venetian cutaway bend.
5
The bend went well for both the sides and the sets of bindings I bent at the same time.
6
This guitar will have a bolt on bolt off neck. The heel block is larger than most as the neck will
join the body in a mortise and tenon between the neck and the rims and another mortise and
tenon under the fretboard extension. The block also needs to be shaped to support the cutaway
side.
7
As shown a few clamps are required to get block properly glued to the sides.
8
Here are the rims with both the heel block and a plywood tail block glued on. Not shown in the
pictures, the back rims of this guitar were profiled with a 10’ radius dish to give it a pretty
significant curve. The top rims were profiled with a 32’ radius dish. It curves the top and
provides the start of the neck angle built into the rims.
9
Stiff solid linings at the
top of the rims helps the
sound of the guitar by
keeping more of the
energy from the strings
on the top instead of
vibrating the rims
(which do not produce
sound). The linings are
laminated to get them to
the desired 5.5-6.0 mm,
thickness, a thickness
that would be very
difficult to bend without
the laminations. I used
my Fox side bender to
bend the lamination
strips for the non-
cutaway side. Those
curves are shallow
enough that I can
compress them when
stacked on top of each
other. I hand bent the
cutaway strips on a hot
pipe using my rims as
the bending template.
The inside curve of
each sequential strip
needs to be tighter; each
strip was bent to match
the rims and the
previously bent strip.
Ultimately I ended up
with a set of strips that I
laminated right on to the
rims using epoxy.
10
Laminating linings right onto the rims.
To finish the rims I fabricated and installed a couple of side mass mounts and some rim
reinforcement strips. The side mass mounts allow one to add a heavy plate to the rims to lower
the tops resonance if required during final setup. Here I am gluing on some standard kerfed
linings to the rims for the back.
11
With both sets of linings installed I used the previously described 10’ and 32’ radius sanding
disks to put the final profile on the rims. The tape in the picture is just there to stop me from
sanding the top on the back’s radius disk.
Here the rims are assembled and profiled.
12
I build a rough neck blank using a 15 degree scarf joint. I cut out the headstock flip it around and
glue it to the back of the neck as shown below.
13
I glued on a block of Spanish cedar for the heel.
I used a router table to make a slot for a two way truss rod.
14
The neck on this guitar is built a bit different than most classical guitar necks. As mentioned
before it is a bolt on bolt off neck. Also to get the string paths correct, a classical guitar’s neck
generally needs to be pitched forward a degree or so to provide optimal string height over the top
and the desired action. This guitar is being built with the neck pitched backwards a degree. The
backwards slope allows the guitar to be built with a longitudinal curve on the top. I think the
curve is pleasing esthetically but also pre loads the top allowing for a higher resonance on a
lighter top. To make up for this slope in the wrong direction the fret board will be attached to a
Spanish cedar wedge that will put the top of the fretboard in the correct plane. So I am tilting the
neck back and tilting the fretboard forward. Visually the wedge becomes part of the neck as the
glue line disappears.
I hand cut the slots in the fretboard using a miter jig and a template.
A thin ledge for the nut.
15
Gluing on a 4 mm strip of Spanish cedar that was then planed to form a wedge described above.
I went away from using special
neck jig with a router and just
used a table saw to cut the
tenon. The advantages of the
table saw is that I can still set the
neck angle, but I can also angle
the cheeks making it easier to fit
the neck on the body. Also the
procedure was so clean
compared to mucking with the
1/2 inch router bit. I have a
sawstop saw, so I am less
nervous about cutting my
fingers off. Ultimately I will buy
a tenoning jig to make this an
easier process. The neck will be
a bolt on bolt off neck. The
Spanish cedar glued to the fret
board will be planed to a wedge
to create the negative angle
required for a classical.
16
I wanted to make a classical guitar
style rosette. I like to have them hint
at being traditional but still be based
on a solid wood ring. I got a new
stack of rosette blanks off a luthier
forum’s classified pages and found
one that looked like it would make a
nice rosette. Also I have this whole
stack of East Indian Rosewood\Black
fiber strips I got at a Seattle Luthier
Group auction from Gurian
Instruments and thought this rosette
was a nice opportunity to use them.
Instead of routing out the whole
channel, I decided to make it on
the sound board one section at a
time. That way I can create tight
channels for the rope binding
and the EIR\B strips
I tried to put in the stack without
pre-bending. I was using a heat
gun as I worked put I got so far
and the rope binding started to
come apart.
17
Ultimately I pulled out my
bending pipe, bent everything
close to the correct shape and
found it easy to inlay the stack. I
sealed the channel with shellac
and I pushed the stack in place
and flooded it with thin CA glue.
Before moving on to the next
channel, the router base is set up
perfectly to cut the outside of the
wood rosette. I only cut to the
depth that matches the thickness
of the rosette channel. So
without changing anything I cut
to the outside line of the wood
rosette. No measuring just
negative space.
After first trying to cut the
second ring I noticed that I
needed to scrape the ring level
so that the router will cut the
next channel at the correct
depth.
My stack is just a touch wider
than my bit so I take a few
passes and sneak up on the
correct width. I make sure that
any needed passes are going into
the wood rosette area so that the
router base is set to cut the
inside of the wood rosette. Later
when I run the back of the
rosette blank though the drum
sander a perfect sized ring
should drop out.
18
I pushed in the second purfling stack and ran the rosette blank through the drum sander until my
ring dropped out.
19
I routed the inside of the rosette
channel sneaking up on the
black fiber. This is where the
Bishop Cochran base shines. I
have gotten to where I can move
the bit in .01 mm increments.
The ring snapped right in place.
Not wanting to break it by
pulling it out, and having
previously sealed the inside of
the channel with shellac, I
flooded the rosette with thin CA
glue.
Here it is finished and all cleaned up
20
Today I installed the sound hole patch and am starting to
brace the back.
The back was thicknessed using a tap tuning method. A plate will vibrate at a frequency
proportional to the stiffness of the plate. Using a formula from the Gore\Gilet book I am able to
normalize the stiffness of a plate by controlling the thickness. In this case the thickness target
was 2.4 mm. Once thicknessed the first task is to apply a cross grain center strip. This strip
supports the long joint of the back plates.
I prepared a set of braces as per the Gore plans for an active back.
21
I cut channels in in the back
center strip with a scalpel
and chisel and rechecked the
layout of the radial braces. I
used a home built vacuum
box to glue down all of the
braces.
Glued and profiled Braces
22
I used my table saw to
rip a whole bunch of 1.7
mm strips that I used to
make the laminated
falcate braces
I used my hot pipe to
bend all the strips to the
two falcate brace shapes.
I bend them at better than
2 times the width. After
they are laminated I rip
each to make the pair of
falcate braces.
I also cut all of the straight braces as
well.
23
I was a bit more deliberate while epoxying on the
braces and carbon fiber and overall I was less messy.
Still have a ways to go in that regard.
24
Here are a bunch of the components ready for assembly
25
Well I did one step forward, about 8 steps back then forward again.
I closed the box successfully, but when I tapped the closed box I was not happy with the
resonance frequency of the top. It ended up about 10 hertz lower than my target. I was pretty sure
the guitar would end up close to my first. As I really wanted to hear what the higher pitched top
would sound like I ripped off the top with plans to make another.
I put the project on the back burner and built a top for an eight string classical guitar with higher
falcate braces (8.5mm) and ended up with a top pitched at my target.
I pulled the first top I was using for this project. I had previously accidentally spilled a bottle of
brown stain on a top after the rosette was installed and put it off in disgust. Well the stain came
off with light sanding so I had a nice top with a nice rosette all ready for bracing.
26
Gluing on the new top!
The Australian Blackwood bindings for the cutaway side I bent in the Fox bender were cracked
so I bent a new set on a hot pipe. A fun job but I did learn a few things about bending on a hot
pipe. First after very carefully achieving a perfect bend for the waist and cut away sections be
careful. One can still crack a side bending the easier lower bout. Also I bent these bindings dry. I
use a very very hot pipe. I found the wood got plastic much quicker dry, probably as the moisture
keeps the wood closer to 220 degrees as it evaporates. Bending by hand I ended up with bindings
that fit without having to be forced into the channel shape wise. Also I used a long fabric strip to
bind the bindings after I glued them on. I have a 10' radius on the back. The binds fit the profile
but they still need to be forced to the back radius. That forcing wants to twist the bindings a bit
so they pull away from the channel. Binding them helped close any gaps.
27
Also I am happy with the resonance frequency of the box now. I think when I finished the guitar
it will be very close to my target.
28
With the body finished I moved back to the neck.
For the first time I used my 20" radius bit to put a radius on the fret board. I got the bit from SJE
Tools.
Radiusing the fret board on a router table:
29
I cut close to the final taper of the neck in the heel
portion. This allowed me to fit the neck to the guitar
and check the neck angle before I routed the pocket
in the top for the fretboard extension tenon.
30
31
Note how the
mahogany glued
to the fret board
is sloped 4mm to
0 mm to give fret
board a negative
slope
32
Trim the head stock veneer for the head stock angle:
When the fretboard and wedge is glued on to the neck the glue line disappears.
33
I used a Luthier Tool jig to route slots and drill tuner post holes.
I used a spoke shave to remove most of the wood when shaping the neck. I measure out facets to
guide the shape.
I use a rasp to shape the heel
34
Starting to look like a guitar!
35
The finishing process takes a few weeks. I use zpoxy (a finishing epoxy) as a pore fill. Before
filling the rosewood, working with rosewood and white purfling lines I mix a small amount of
zpoxy up, dilute it with alcohol and seal the bindings and purflings. The stuff dries to tack within
an hour or so. At that time I zpoxy the rest of the instrument.
36
I used royal-lac shellac to finish the back and sides and neck and I did a true French polish
shellac finish on the top. I have not yet done any sanding or buffing but it looks pretty good now.
I am going to let the guitar sit a week to allow the shellac to cure a bit before finishing it.
Before finishing the top I looked for glue on the top with a black light. Yup I had some smears in
the center and some along the bindings. You can see the bright spot in the lower bout especially
along the edges. This is after I thought I had the top clean.
37
I made one of two possible bridges Gore style bridges for this instrument. The first one I made is
made out of Brazilian rosewood, the second will be made out of walnut and ebonised. I think the
walnut will be a lighter bridge. They both are reinforced with two separated layers of CF fabric. I
used a very dark block of Brazilian rosewood.
In the first set of photos you can see me ready to put the block together. I resawed the bridge
blank I had into three strips 2mm, 3mm and 4 mm. These are put together such that the 2 mm is
on top and 4 mm is on the bottom. The carbon fiber fabric will be separated by the middle 3 mm
slice. As shown in the picture I used west system 105\206 epoxy for the lamination.
38
I had a previous walnut layup that I made when I made my last falcate classical guitar. They sort
of look a mess until they are trimmed to size.
39
I marked out the tie holes on the blank and drilled them in the drill press. I attempted to make a
nice aluminum jig for the tie holes but had trouble drilling the holes the twist bits I had did not
cut it in the aluminum. I did not use the cross vice as a cross vice. I had punched the holes and
just moved the vice in place for each hole.
I mounted the blank (actually the second attempt) in my routing jig. In the first attempt I relied
only on double stick tape and it did not stick. I cut that spoiled bridge diagonally and made the
wedges that you can see in the photo.
I do four passes in this jig. The first pass with a bull nose 1/8" veining bit is to separate the tie
and saddle block. This is done to the depth of the wings. I switch to a straight edged 1/8" bit and
create 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm rebates on the tie block for bone strips. The last uses the same bit to cut
the saddle slot. The Gore\Gilet book describes on additional cut with a 45 degree bevel bit to
slope the inside channel toward the saddle. I do this with a chisel. I used a Luthier Friend jig to
shape the wings.
40
41
42
Here it is just needing a bit of finish sanding.
I finished applying shellac last week. To position the bridge I bolted on the neck. A perfect time
for some encouraging photos. I still have yet to level sand or polish the royal-lac back and sides
or the French Polished top. It looks good in the pictures, but it definitely has a hand applied
finish look.
43
I set the fret board nut location to have a nut compensation
as well as saddle compensation. I really spent a lot of time
calculating and triple checking the location of the saddle. I
did all of the measurements from the first slot as the fret
board is about 3 mm short of the zero slot location. After it
was taped in place I also checked the location against my
other falcate classical (I could have thought about this first)
and I had located it exactly in the same location.
44
I drilled a couple of 1/16" holes in the saddle slot and used the drill bits as location pins.
With the bridge in place using a new scalpel blade I carefully scored the finish and used a utility
blade (actually three by the time I finished) to scrape the shellac under the bride.
45
I glued the bridge in place. Added a couple of shims to the wings to help push them down and
fired up my vacuum clamp to clamp the bridge. After about 6 minutes I stop the clamping and
removed the still soft squeeze-out. It has been clamping for about an hour now so I can head
back down.
46
I made the compensated nut and saddle and strung the guitar up. The guitar sounded great about
a half an hour after I put the first set of strings on. I am really excited to hear how it sounds over
the next week. My target for the top, T(1,1)2, was 190 Hz, almost got it. I ended up at 94.2 Hz
for the T(1,1)1 188.5 for T(1,1)2 and 236.5 for the T(1,1)3 as shown in the graph below. I still
need to clean up the nut and saddle buff out the finish and do a final set up in a couple of days.
Also I will add a small fret marker dot on the side of the fret board at the 7 fret.
47
I sort of cheated on the compensation as I used the same scale length and the same strings that
are in the classical guitar example in the Book. I did not have to run the calculations. I made the
compensated nut and then measured the active string length for each string and marked the
saddle. I make the compensated nut a little differently than Trevor's method in the Book. I used
my saddle slotting jig and my Bishop Cochran router base as a little milling machine. One turn of
the set screw for the fence is equal to .8 mm. It is really easy to see it hit 1/8ths of a turn so I can
cut with an accuracy to .1 mm or so. I leave a little extra compensation on the nut and fine tune
once I have the nut mounted. I use a sharp chisel to nail the compensation numbers.
48
49
The Book has a table and tells how to make a table to calculate nut and saddle compensation
based on scale length, strings and action. As I mentioned, I was able to use the example in the
book. The table includes the active string length for each string. I used that measurement from
the nut to mark out the saddle compensation.
50
The guitar is complete and it sounds pretty good. Since I completed the guitar I made a new nut
to allow for some more spacing on the edges. This of course narrowed the distance between the
strings at the nut. Here is a final set of photos
51
52
53
54
55
Luthier Terms
Falcate Braces: sickle shaped laminated spruce braces with carbon fiber reinforcement developed
by Trevor Gore.
Linings, kerfed linings, kerfling: The linings are used to provide a gluing surface for the top and
back. They are glued on to the guitar rims prior to gluing on the the top and the back. Kerfed
Linings are linings that have regular cuts (kerfs) to allow easier bending. Kerfling is just another
name for kerfed linings.
Purfling: an ornamental border, as the inlaid border near the outer edge of the guitar or sound
hole.
Radius dish: A 24” round sanding dish that has a concave cavity with a machined radius. This
guitar used a 10’ and a 32’ radius dish.
Scarf joint: a butt joint between two pieces beveled on their meeting surfaces.
Bibliography
Gore, Trevor, and Gerard Gilet. Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build. Terrey Hills,
N.S.W.: Trevor Gore, 2011. Print.
"Second Falcate Classical." The Luthier Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.
<http://luthiercom.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=5126>.
Parchem, John. "Second Falcate Braced Classical Guitar." Second Falcate Braced Classical
Guitar. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. <http://harvestmoonguitars.com/falcateclassicalII1.htm>.
