Maccaferri Guitar Project 2 - Construction Sequence

    Photos of each stage are on OneDrive - click on the photos for the link.

Back & Sides Soundboard Neck
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Bridge

French Polishing

 Completed photos
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Here it is being played at Hobgoblin Music Bristol

The significant difference in the construction of this guitar is the heat bent dome in the soundboard - sometimes called the "pliage" (pleat / fold in French).

Construction details:
The guitar was built in a similar way to the first Maccaferri, the main difference being the heat bent top (pliage). 
Full details of the heat bent pliage construction.

Soundboard - European Spruce, 2.2mm thick .

Sides & back - East Indian Rosewood

Neck - American Walnut, scale length 640mm. A slim, modern design and using the Cumpiano bolted mortise & tenon neck / body joint.

Fingerboard - Ebony

Binding - Rosewood - much easier to heat bend than the ebony bindings used last time.

Finish - French polished with transparent Shellac.

Tuners - enclosed gold plated Schaller.

Sound - brighter, louder and more responsive than the first Maccaferri guitar. I am guessing that this is due to the heat bent top making the soundboard stiffer.

After experimenting with different bridges it seems this can have a significant effect  -

  • A bridge making contact all along its base sounds mellower.

  • A bridge with less mass sounds  brighter.

  • There is a tonal difference between ebony and rosewood. 

The guitar was constructed over a period of 2 years.

 

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