I’ve always been fascinated by small guitars and that’s why I bought an all mahogany concert sized guitar dating from the early years of the last century. This guitar with its flat saddle and high action is perfect for slide guitar with a fabulous growly tone, but impossible to fingerpick. I have made one guitar based on its size and shape but did it with a more modern X bracing scheme. Then John How came along with his take on a ladder braced Oscar Schmidt that was just fabulous and my interest was aroused.
Rather than do what John did – which was to stick to original build except for a cf bar in the neck, a radiused fingerboard and compensated saddle – I wondered what I would have done if ladder bracing was the norm now and I was to build with it as the standard reference point. Being time rich and cash poor and having bits and pieces around the workshop, I decided to make a ladder braced copy of the same size but with the modern touches of my build style. So “Jack the Lad” was conceived and born:
Concert guitar with 624mm scale length (24.57”)
Euro spruce top
Sapele back (4 piece) and sides
Maple bindings with bwb side purflings and bwbbwb top/back purflings
Cocobolo bridge, headstock veneers, fingerboard, end graft and heel cap
Side soundport
Pinned bridge with ebony pins
Spanish cedar neck with Lutz spruce/Cuban Mahogany/Lutz spruce centre laminate – adjustable neck system
Slotted headstock with Gotoh tuners:
Some pics:
“Jack the Lad” with his mentor:
The top bracing is Lutz spruce and was based around the original but adapted for an A frame and soundhole support. The braces are narrow (5mm) but tall and shaped into a triangle and then tapered – my Triabolic bracing scheme. The bridge plate is Lutz spruce with a piece of Brazilian Rosewood inlaid where the pins will sit. The top braces are radiused to 13’ and the back braces to 10’. The back braces are shaped similar to the top and I used my usual cf flying buttress braces:
The guitar finally weighed in at 3lb15oz which is positively heavy compared with the old mahogany guitar which clocks in at 2lb10oz. And now for some sound clips. The guitar is very clear and loud for its size with good projection and lots of sustain. It is a very versatile guitar and sounds great in alternate tunings, but ragtime is very much in it’s armoury so I thought I'd try some ragtime pieces as it seems appropriate for the guitar. They're a little bit boomy as the mike was a little too close I think, but it gives you a flavour of the guitar’s sound. These two are my arrangements from the John James/Pete Berryman record "Sky in My Pie" which I bought back in 1972 in the shop behind Jesus College, Cambridge that sold Transatlantic Record rejects. Most of my guitar influences came from those records! The first is "Mammy O' Mine" and the second "Weeping Willow" - the Scott Joplin rag.
Mammy O' Mine
Weeping Willow
Thanks to the unknown last century builder and John How for setting the example. Thanks for looking and listening.
