Borradaile Guitars – Custom Built Classical Guitar

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Posted by Siphesihle Hato in Power Tool Reviews, Uncategorized

This is a guitar I was commissioned to build, built in the traditional Spanish style of the late 1800’s.

Author: Peter Borradaile

Book matched Sitka Spruce top (4mm thick), sourced from luthier suppliers in USA, joined and groove routed to fit rosette inlay. Rosette consists of ebony , maple, mahogany, and ABS plastic .Once fitted it is scraped level with a blade
Finished rosette with sound hole centre cut out
Glueing kerf strips to sides, this creates a larger surface area when gluing the top and back to the sides.
Glueing kerf strips to sides, this creates a larger surface area when glueing the top and back to the sides.
Traditional fan shaped bracing glued to the underside of the guitar top, bolted through the sound hole to the work board
Top and back ready for fitting neck and sides.Shop cat supervising proceedings.
Aforementioned pipe contraption
Finished set of sides ready to be trimmed to size and fitted
Book matched Bubinga back with inlay stripe fitted into routed groove.
Bubinga (African rosewood) sides . The bending process involves, a home made contraption consisting of a piece of 75mm steel pipe heated with heat gun, soaking the wood strip overnight , and slowly rocking the wood over the pipe until the water in the pores turns to steam and makes the wood pliable. This process an take up to 45mins per side.
Gluing the scarf joint for the neck (black walnut).
Trimming neck down to size
Trimming neck down to size
White stinkwood headstock plate glued on
Trimming and shaping headstock
Trimming and shaping headstock
Trimming and shaping headstock
Trimming and shaping headstock
Drilling and checking fit of tuning hardware
Drilling and checking fit of tuning hardware
Glueing heel block
Shaping heel block, otherwise known as a Spanish foot
Shaping heel block, otherwise known as a Spanish foot
Checking fit of sides to Spanish heel
Neck is first glued to the top
Tail block is glued to the top
Sides being glued to the top. Now you know what the slots in the work board are for.
Sides being glued to the top. Now you know what the slots in the work board are for.
Sides being glued to the top. Now you know what the slots in the work board are for.
Sides being glued to the top. Now you know what the slots in the work board are for.
Sides being glued to the top. Now you know what the slots in the work board are for.
Sides being glued to the top. Now you know what the slots in the work board are for.
Glueing kerfed lining for the back.
Glueing kerfed lining for the back.
Gluing on back.
Main parts assembled.
Main parts assembled.
Main parts assembled.
Label fitted to the back inside the body
Grooves are routed into the joints of the top and back to the sides, and ABS plastic binding is glued in.
Bindings are trimmed flush.
Ready for fretboard and final sanding
Metal frets are fitted into slots cut in the fretboard using a Japanese pull saw. The fretboard is masked up for the sealing process, as that will receive an oiled finish rather
Water slide headstock are applied and coated with clear sealer.
Once sealer, (in this case nitrocellulose) is dry, the guitar receives a final polish and the tuning hardware and bridge are fitted
Happy customer

Thank you for reading through all the steps, this is the type of project that really pushes the boundary of your skill set, and is very rewarding to see the look on your customer’s face, setting eyes on it for the first time. All in all this project took just over a year to complete.

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