My Classical Guitar - Australian King William Pine

It was time to upgrade my guitar and after a visit with overseas family to Montsalvat, where we met Chris and saw some students having fun building their own instruments, the decision was made instantly.

That was going to be my next project.

I had to wait until Chris came back from his annual pilgrimage to Italy and used my time to study his website and followed a number of links to familiarize myself with the idea of building a guitar and the possible timber combinations.

On the first day Chris and I talked about guitars and timbers and really all combinations are interesting. I wanted to make a classical guitar with the best sound possible for an amateur made product.


We settled initially on blackwood sides and back, Queensland maple neck with Mulga fingerbord and Bunya pine soundbord.

After our sixth working day and had just glued the top on, it became obvious that I had done something not quite right and the result could not be altered easy.
The top was not glued on properly !

That’s where my appreciation of Chris’ ideas took really shape. I was allowed to start all over again . Chris donated the timbers and I had to spend some more days at Montsalvat, which is not at all a punishment. I loved the atmosphere there.

I also developed a taste for Tim Tam Biscuits - Chris's Favourite.

This time we went for King Billy Pine in lieu of Bunya pine for the soundboard. Chris really felt sorry for me and found somewhere a priceless piece of King Billy.
Making all the parts again showed me that experience comes with repetition and the result felt a lot better straight away.

The end result was a remarkably sweet sounding guitar with heaps of sustain. Playing the guitar at home I found one spot where some light buzzing took place and because I made this instrument myself and understand now how it all works, I decided to remake another bridge piece, slightly higher on one side only and the buzzing was gone. In the mean time I changed the strings to high-tension strings, which improved the harmony and nice clear brassy high tones.

It is amazing how different this guitar sounds in comparison with my original quality high mid range guitar.
Needless to say that I am looking forward everyday studying music and I honestly have not touched my old guitar as yet.

I have photos of the building process,  King William Pine Acoustic Guitar via this link.


Student 2009 - Ted van Vugt