Last week I had the great pleasure of teaching a Guitar French polishing class which lasted 3 days and covered all the basic, and some advanced areas of French Polishing Such as:

The French polishing technique I use on my guitars which I covered in this class is traditionally based, though I have developed many of my own techniques over the years. The core of this class is built upon what I learned while studying with my teacher and good friend, master luthier and French Polisher; Eugene Clark.

The resulting finish of this technique is a super high gloss coating that doesn’t check and does not compress or limit the voice of the guitar. This natural finish gives the wood a richness, warmth, and depth, that is unmatched. When comparing it to modern finishes many people have described it as; “Like looking at a real diamond compared to a synthetic diamond”

I truly enjoy teaching this because I believe the proper French Polishing technique embodies the core aspects of the art and craft of Lutherie. I encourage anyone interested in building hand made guitars to learn this art of French polishing even if they may not use it on all of their guitars. Understanding the chemistry and finishing process, as well as the physical calisthenic and technique; will aid them in many other areas of their work as it certainly has in mine.

I am currently forming another class, if you are interested in learning more about class options such as: on-line or in-person classes, costs, available spots, topics covered, or other questions, please contact me , I would be happy to talk with you more about it. – Tom

Even though my build list is over 1 year currently for custom orders, I’m writing to let you know about two spec guitars that I have been working on for a while now that are available for sale. They have been in my build list for a couple years and are being made with my other current orders that I’m working on. The guitars are not completed yet, and are in about the same stage of construction with the body assembled and much of the tap tuning and other work completed. Basically they just need a neck and some final touches before they are ready for finishing.

Both guitars are my G2S model steel string guitars with a 12 fret neck, slotted headstock, and elevated fingerboard like the guitar featured in the image above and to the left.

Brazilian Rosewood 12 fret slotted headstock G2S

A stunning Brazilian Rosewood back and sides with a German Spruce top. It has snake wood accents and will have Koa Bindings. It is intended to have a 1.75″ nut and 2.25″ string spacing at the bridge.  I haven’t begun building the neck yet, (though I intend to soon) so it is not to late to customize to your specifications. To inquire about pricing or ask other questions about this wonderful guitar please Contact Me.

Indian Rosewood 12 Fret slotted headstock G2S

Beautiful Indian Rosewood back / sides, and German spruce top with Koa bindings and Lacewood Purflings. This guitar is also set to have the standard 1.75″ nut and 2.25″ string spacing at the saddle, however I haven’t started its neck yet and it could be customized to fit your needs as well. Here is the best part about this one, I’m offering it at a discounted price because it was very slightly damaged while I was building the body and it has been fully repaired. Contact me to find out more.

Images coming soon!

click this link to see more examples of the G2s design: http://tbguitars.com/portfolio/acoustic-guitar-pictures/

For pricing or any other questions please contact me by email  or by phone.

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Thanks again for supporting my work, I truly appreciate it!

Tom

314-631-1435

Achtop Guitar Book

Selecting Tone Woods

Selecting the right tone woods for a guitar is an intuitive process. I usually go for balance as I intentionally select pieces of wood that have opposite characteristics. I may choose a warm and woody sounding top paired with a back that is harder and more resonant – with more ring to it. This creates a dynamic sort of balance that gives complexity to the finished guitar’s tone and response. Factored into this equation are the final goals of my customer: what sound do they want, what look, what feel? There are no rules; it’s just something you get a sense of in your gut and just “know” when you have the right woods for a certain guitar.

After much discussion, Roberto and I settled on the target sound for this special guitar. It was to be a very dynamic, sensitive acoustic instrument, with a warm, thick, lyrical voice. I chose a warmer sounding top of aged, master grade Sitka Spruce from Alaska, which was light weight and stiff, with perfectly quartered grain. For the back I used a special piece of master grade Big Leaf Maple, with beautiful figuring, that I had been saving for many years. This wood had just the right balance of ring to its tone. Still, it was light weight and with a certain warmth to the notes – which was the key to getting this guitar right. I only have master grade tone woods in my private collection, so the intensity of the flamed Maple figure, grain orientation, stiffness to weight ratios, and other similar criteria are not something I have to worry about. I know for sure that these woods are some of the best tone woods on the planet. With that assurance of quality in mind, I can focus on the finer points of selecting the woods that will produce the warm, responsive acoustic tone we are aiming for.

The bindings and appointments on this guitar are all crafted from jet black ebony, and there’s quite a bit of Paua shell too – over 47 feet of it – which adds brightness to the guitar’s sound due to its high density. With this in mind, I’m keeping my top and back a little more on the warm side, tonally, by my wood choices and building treatment.

Since we do not live in a perfect world, I may often choose a top, and after carving it for several days, discover a flaw. Even if it is minor and wouldn’t be considered a problem in most guitars, I will immediately go back to my wood supply to choose another and carve it. I will do this over and over until I get the perfect top and back for the guitar I’m working on. Oftentimes, I’ll carve several tops and backs for just one guitar, as I did on this guitar before I found what I considered to be the perfect set to accurately bring the vision to life.

Read More From:”The Creation Of the Natura Elite Archtop Guitar“

Part 3 comming soon! – Subscribe to the Newsletter to get the next edition in your inbox.

• Used Tom Bills Guitar For Sale
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Achtop Guitar Book

The Creation Of The Natura Elite Archtop Guitar

By Tom Bills

Preface:

A player’s dream……

I believe the art of guitar-making (like many other arts..) is God’s gift given to few.. you are either blessed with it or not. The builder’s personality, emotions, and values flow into the instrument and remain there forever.
Close attention to detail in the building process assures that as time passes the voice of the instrument will grow toward the desired direction….toward that searched sound that can be a companion for life….. a player’s dream.
However, to make all this come true it takes a long time, it takes a lot of dedicated time for the creation of all the components of the instrument and the ability to make them play like in the dream.
After over 30 years of guitar playing and collecting, I found Tom in my search for the perfect archtop, a fine guitar maker in St. Louis. His attention to detail and the gift he is blessed with, make his archtops the most responsive guitars I have ever played, so far. That’s why after purchasing the first archtop named Natura, I decided to have him make me another one according to my specifications, and the result was truly breathtaking.

Therefore Tom, thank you for your creation and your efforts in making my dream come true…it took me a long time but I finally found what I was looking for…

Roberto Pagnotta

The Art of Listening

One of the most important parts of creating a truly great instrument, or any other great work of art, is fighting and winning the battle to get quiet inside oneself. Finding and staying in a place of peace is essential to being able to listen. When we begin to listen, we move from the stress-filled, pressurized responsibility to come up with a solution or direction, to the peaceful and exciting adventure of being part of something larger than ourselves – simply following that leading we hear deep inside. When I’m building a guitar, it’s as if I know someone who already has the perfect instrument in His hands. He is the Master Builder; He cares about me, and wants me to understand its mysteries. These mysteries of the guitar are not hidden from me, but hidden for me to seek out and discover. If I can stay out of the way, keeping my own ego and other motives in check, and assume a posture in my heart of listening and seeking after the truth, I can simply ask Him, and it’s His pleasure to share the answers with me.

This same leading, drew me to guitar making, guides me through the building of each guitar, and has helped me to choose and stay on the path of lutherie that was right for me. I realized that when I work with my simple hand tools I’m forced to trust in the gifts and talents that I have been given, instead of trusting in power tools or jigs. I also have to trust in my ability to stay in that place of quietness so I can hear that leading, and see what to do next on every guitar, because it’s different every time. I must have the quiet to stay sensitive and to force myself into the sometimes uncomfortable situation of relying on my own hands and heart to do the work perfectly – now and every time in the future.

There is another core aspect to my methods and my guitars that, at first glance, may not seem very important to many, but, in my opinion, is crucial to making sure we don’t miss a vital aspect of hand crafting custom guitars.

I have observed that musical notes are containers. When we create a note, we fill it either consciously or unconsciously and then release it in an instant. The listener hears the note, receiving its contents, whether good or bad. The guitar itself is the point of genesis where the idea and thought behind the note gets translated into this physical world, and thus, adds its own fingerprint during translation. Understanding the fact that musical notes and guitars themselves are containers, or vehicles to convey something, helps me stay conscious of what I’m filling those containers with as I’m creating the instrument.

It’s when my heart is filled with care for the customer that my best work is done. I just like people. I can relate, and I care about their situation. I want to make sure their experience with me is about more than just a possession, but maybe even a life changing event, a turning point, at least a point in their life that was positive and uplifting, and of course, resulted in an amazing, unique guitar they can treasure for a lifetime.

Fortunately for me, this approach is a two way street, and my life has been deeply impacted and blessed by many of my customers whom I consider some of my closest and dearest friends. With nearly every guitar I have made, there has been a wonderful connection for which I feel very grateful. Because I truly care about my customers, I want to make sure they have an instrument that embodies the highest level of excellence I am capable of producing. That genuine care goes into the guitar, permeating every atom and stays there.

Up until this guitar, my top of the line handmade archtop guitar model was the Natura Deluxe. However, with the new aesthetic treatments and appointments that we chose for this guitar, I felt that I needed a brand new name to symbolize its ultra high level of quality and style. And so the Natura Elite was born.

Once Roberto and I decided on the heart and vision of the guitar, we were ready to begin the exhilarating and amazing journey of bringing something of true excellence from the intangible realm into the physical world – where we can hold it in our hands, see it with our eyes, and hear it with our ears.

You might also be interested in:

• Archtop Guitar Book Series  Part 2 – Tone Woods
• Subscribe to the Newsletter to get the next edition in your inbox.
• Used Tom Bills Guitar For Sale
• Download Full PDF eBook version
• View the full online Preview
• Buy the Hard or Soft Cover Print Edition

Audio Clip: Impromptu living room recording by Roberto Pagnotta and Enrico Bracco enjoying two Tom Bills Archtop  Guitars.

The Importance of Scale Length

The scale length (or distance measured from the nut to the saddle; the vibrating length of the string) of any musical instrument is probably the most commonly overlooked element of design when engineering the “voice” or “tone” of a guitar. The scale length is responsible for regulating the initial input of vibration energy that is injected into the guitar’s top setting the entire system in motion. Everything after that point can only be filtered or somehow modified, but not added to in any large way. While the myriad of components and other variables of the individual guitar will play a large roll in determining its voice, the scale length will still set the main parameters that the rest of the system will have to work within.

The Effect of Scale Length On Guitar Tone

One of the best illustrations I have heard regarding the critical influence that the scale length has on guitar tone is from Ralph Novax, the father of the modern fan fret resurgence.  He described this in his Fan Fret Technical Lecture as follows:

“The familiar example might be the “Strat vs. Les Paul” comparison: as stock instruments they have distinctly different voices. We could put the Les Paul pickups in the Strat and vice-versa, then take the screws out of the Strat neck and glue it in, and break out the Les Paul neck and screw it back in. Voila! The Strat still maintains much of its clear, cutting quality, although a bit “fatter,” and the Les Paul still has a round attack and mushy bass, although “thinner.” We’ve discovered that the pickups and construction can’t override the tonal effects of scale length. The upper partials present in the harmonic structure of the longer scale Strat string tone give it a cutting clarity that distinguish it from the sweet, round, lower partials that dominate the shorter scale Les Paul string tone.”

Other Factors To Consider

So now that we know the importance of scale length, there are still other factors that we have to think about, which are at play in tandem with the scale length to give the guitar its basic tonal or harmonic envelope. Those factors are: string tension and mass.

Without getting into the mathematics of it (see this link for further reading) the basic premise is that each time we increase the diameter of the string, thus increasing its mass, we also increase the amount of tension required to bring it to pitch. This is why players most often use larger gauge strings for the lower notes of the guitar.  If we used the same high E string for the low E, I’m sure you could imagine, it would not sound too good.  It wouldn’t have enough tension to sound in the overtone series and it also wouldn’t have enough mass to give it any volume. So having more mass (larger diameter) is better for a string tuned to a lower pitch, but we also have to keep in mind that this added mass and tension brings with it two side effects. The first is that the extra mass helps the string get more volume and clarity, but the second side effect is increased stiffness. As the stiffness is increased, the strings ability to divide into complex high frequency nodes decreases.

Understanding The Effects Of String Stiffness

My good friend and mentor luthier Gila Eban, explained something like this to me years ago by using the analogy of a dish cloth. If you start with a regular dish cloth and fold it in half, it’s very easy and folds nicely. Fold it again and it is still OK, continue folding in half again and again and each time it becomes in effect thicker. With that extra thickness its ability to fold gets diminished and requires more energy or simply isn’t possible to fold again. This type of folding is akin to a string as it “folds”, or divides, into smaller and smaller sections that make up the overtone series of the strings fundamental note and give the note its tonal and harmonic character.

The Single Scale Problem

The problem is that we usually have six strings each with a different set of the above mentioned criteria. Using only one scale length causes us to compromise overall. Lets say I decide that for my new customer the best scale length to get the sound he wants for a steel string high E might be 25″, but he also wants to tune down to a dropped D on the low E string. That D will sound floppy and muddy at 25″ (with a standard gauge string). OK, no  problem, lets use a 26″ scale then and the dropped D will be great; but now at 26″ the high E sounds like a banjo and could possibly shatter a wine glass or something with its shrill piercing voice. This is where the fanned fret (multi-scale) type of guitar comes to the rescue.

The Fan Fret Solution

If we use a fanned fret system, we can specifically choose a different scale for each string that perfectly suits our needs and allows us to incorporate all of the necessary criteria we have without compromising on any of the strings. We can get that great mellow treble at 25″ AND that clear powerful bass note at 26″.

“But what about playing the thing…, is it really comfortable to play those fanned fret guitars?”  Yes, it is actually more ergonomic than playing a standard single scale instrument! Look down at your hand and spread your fingers as wide as you can. Do you notice how your fingers are actually fanned out, emanating from a common point? This resembles the angles on a well thought out and implemented fanned fret guitar fingerboard and in most cases requires less of that awkward wrist tweaking we guitar players all hate as we strain to make our “fanned fingers” go in parallel lines perpendicular to the strings like a traditional single scale fingerboard.

OK, don’t get me wrong, I still love my traditional single scale guitars, they are wonderful instruments in their own right and for most people they are the way to go, but for you adventurous thrill seekers who just want to push the limits in harmonic complexity and power on your guitar even further than on your standard guitars, then the fanned fret system is definitely something to consider on your next handmade guitar.

Fanned Fret Nylon String
Fanned Fret Guitar Gallery

If you have any other questions, comments, or other thoughts, leave a comment below or send me an email, I would love to hear from you!