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Hi everyone, I've made a few instruments, including steel string guitars. Unfortunately my health isn't great these days and it's getting increasingly difficult for me to stay on my feet for long periods, making me think I might not build anymore. But there again, I can't imagine doing nothing at all and I've been challenged by my brother to have go at building a classical guitar, so it's something I'm considering.
The question is, where do I start? I've had a quick search online and discovered there are many different variations. Names such as Torres and Ramirez crop up commonly. Is there a particular one which would be a good starter build? And are there any free plans? I don't mind buying plans if free ones are not available. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance. Mike

I had it suggested by a seasoned classical builder to start with either the Torres SE114 plan by Jeff Elliott, or the 37 Hauser plan by Richard Brune, both available from luth.org and highly detailed. If followed, they can yield a pretty good guitar. Pablo Requena has good videos on YT for starting out.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Plus one for the SE 114 plan by Brune. This will give you good, possibly great classical. And all the detail is there in the plan.

Dave

Many thanks for the suggestions, I'll certainly look into the Se114 plans and I've already just looked at the Requena video channel. Very interesting.

You're getting very good advice, and it is hard to go wrong with the Torres plan.

Something not yet mentioned is that there are a couple of excellent books by Alberto Martinez on Santos Hernandez and Vicente Arias. Both include detailed plans drawn by Karel Dedain. Any of these options (Torres, Arias, Santos) are a great place to start.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

If you can find the Roy Courtnall book ("Making Master Guitars") at your local library it will give you an overview of several guitar makers and plans of their guitars and building techniques from which you can get a good sense of what goes into making a classical guitar.
You need not spend long periods of time on your feet to build musical instruments - I do much of the work sitting at an old mail sorting table discarded from the post office. I'm not in a hurry, and don't have a schedule to keep.

thanks again everyone. Mike.

+1 on the Courtnall book.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

The JS Bogdanovich book "Classical Guitar Making" is a terrific illustrated play-by-play with the bonus of online videos as well....

I liked the Bogdanovich book too, though I find his solera plan overly complex.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Quite right Pat!
My first classical builds were 15 years ago where I first followed the Cumpiano method with some cork glued to paper to create the desired neck geometry.
Then I built a bolt-on model that sounded so dead I didn't built another one until now.
It took a week to build the solera following JSB's method in his videos - even more complex as it includes a ramp for the neck going right up to the sound hole. This eliminates the need for a wedge under the fretboard at the body.
Which is fine - I like building jigs and had not built a new one for a long while...
Not done yet - joining the top to the body today - hoping all that work ends up with exactly the right body to neck geometry...

The plans I have come across here in the UK just say Torres plans and don't specify a number e.g. SE114. Am I to assume they are all pretty much the same? Mike

Where are the plans from? I would be careful selecting plans, as sometimes people consider anything with fan bracing as being a "Torres". It's well worth investing in a good set of plans from the GAL.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Ditto. The cost of a good plan is miniscule compared to what's at stake.

Roy Courtnall runs https://www.masterguitarplans.com/. He's in the UK. I haven't used or seen his plans, but I would certainly trust his plans.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Good plans are a great idea, but don't expect to get the same sound, no matter how carefully you work and closely you hew to the marks. No two pieces of wood are ever alike, and, having tried, I'm pretty sure it' impossible to make matched guitars that sound the same, even with closely matched wood. Makers like Torres and Hauser knew how to compensate for the differences in wood, at least to some extent; that's why they could make consistently superior guitars.

The cost is not the issue, and one of the plans I talked of, is the one above. It only specifies 2 Torres plans, one short scale and the other presumably standard. Only on the sample plan does it show 1884, which means little to me. I guess that refers to the year.

Unlike modern luthiers who can source high quality materials with the click of a button Torres often had to scrounge materials locally and often built his instruments to fit the wood available. That being the case he made instruments in a number of different shapes and sizes. Some plans were created by carefully measuring an existing instrument and can be used as a general guide to building a similar guitar to the model. As Alan mentioned, closely following the plan does not guarantee you will have a superior instrument. Conversely, deviating slightly from the plan does not mean it will be a failure.
Torres set the standard for the modern classical guitar, and the standard scale length (650mm?) plan is probably the one to follow.