As a classical guitar maker it is rare to be asked to make a steel-string one, but this is that rare case. The Roudhloffs’ Melophonic guitar body shape is exactly ” parlour guitar” size, and with suitably adapted X-bracing and front struts it has made a lovely sounding instrument.
I used alpine spruce for the front and antique mahogany for the back and sides – sawn from an old table top. The table top was not very thick, so I had to saw the boards out by hand using a fine-kerfed Japanese saw to preserve the material – a lot of work, but worth it because of the fine rippled figure in the board – quite rare to find in mahogany. This figure doesn’t show up too well in the photographs, unfortunately, but it is delicious to the naked eye.
