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CB
best of lucks!
miguel.
You are referring to the toxicity of cocobolo, right? Haven't had a problem so far. In general, I'm pretty tolerant of wood toxins, but I'm being very careful with it. Because the b/s are laminated, there is very little machining of the wood. No planing or heavy sanding. It is also the oiliest wood I have every encountered, which can make gluing a problem. I used a mineral spirits wash before laminating and used epoxy which does better with oily woods than water based glues. Laminating is really the only significant gluing operation on the cocobolo and it involves a large surface area which helps. The oil comes off easily on the hands when handling it and so far have not had an eye or mucus membrane reaction. I try to wash up immediately after handling it. When it comes time for final sanding, I'll certainly use a respirator, try to do as much with a scraper as possible and hand sand only.
Pau Ferro dust, on the other hand, gives me flu like symptoms including fever that take days for me to get over. Knocks my mouth chemistry out of the park. After four times, I've learned, I just can't work with the stuff. Too bad, makes great fingerboards and bridges. But both involve a lot of working of the wood.
Craig
While Cocobolo and Cedar may not give you symptoms right away as the sawdust gets into your lungs (along with many others) damage is being done and it is cumulative. I found out with cedar the hard way. I would advise you to not follow my example, wear a dust mask and have a good extraction system and deep clean the sawdust out of yoru shop every few days(weeks) with compressed air
sorry for derailing the thread, i wish the best of lucks in your guitar endeavors. do you plan on building others besides Castellucias?
thanks,
miguel.
For those of us who don't own Castelluccia, or Baumgarner versions of Castelluccia guitars, what are the principal physical differences between them and a Selmer style guitar?
Heretic,
J. Castelluccia is not as well known as Selmer, Busato and Favino of course, but as far as I can tell, he was a very active contemporary who built a LOT of guitars, a variety of models and quality standards according to his customers needs.
The ones I've been able to examine are the fairly common D hole guitars he made for French music shops under their names (not his), like Paul Beuscher in Paris. These were inexpensive instruments, built to a price point and not highly refined. While they were not exquisitely made, they possess a unique sound quality that makes them ideal for acoustic swing jazz. In particular, they have a loud, clear, authoritative voice that cuts well and has a grit that pleases the ear and suits the music well. They are uniquely lacking in overtones which might sound good in a solo concert, but tend to muddy up an acoustic sound in a hard driving group setting. Combined with a strong right hand, they really excel at Hot Club music and the noisy club environment we so often find ourselves.
Though patterned on Selmer's concept, they are different in many ways. In appearance, the oval D hole is the most obvious. J. Castelluccia's body outline (plantilla) is uniquely his own and is easily distinguished from Selmer. Three of the four I have examined had shallower bodies than Selmer. The neck heads are different, the neck shape much thicker. There are numerous small construction details that are different.
The main difference, however, is the top. Where Selmer used a relatively thin top (2.5mm average) and as many as five main and four minor braces, Castelluccia tops were much thicker and often relied on only three braces. The bridge sits on the top alone, 30mm from the closest brace.
This is contrary to where much of the guitar world was headed in the 20th century be it classical, steel string, whatever. Today's classical guitars have nearly a dozen braces and tops below 2mm. Only archtop acoustic guitars retained relatively thick tops and minimal bracing. The difference in concepts is pretty significant. One is a membrane over a substantial lattice structure, in the other, the top itself is pretty much the whole deal with a couple braces to hold it in place. The violin family of instruments fall into this later category as well, just a well dimensioned top, sound post and maybe a tone bar. The top is really doing all the work by itself.
I cannot argue that one approach is better than another, nor can I explain what is going on in terms of acoustical physics. Clearly there have been great guitars on both sides of the spectrum. Interestingly, I think the weight AND the overall flexibility of the top assemblies (top & braces together) on known good examples are pretty much the same no matter how it is done. It all works, but what J. Castelluccia did really worked! Sound wise at least.
Which is not to say that everything he did worked, at least in the ones I have seen. The original necks where huge in section even by GJ standards and most people today would say they are unplayable. Even as thick as they were, they bowed pretty badly. The combination of flexible unbraced backs, less than solid neck joints, small neck blocks and a small upper brace under the fingerboard (10mm x 16mm vs. Selmer's 16 x 20) seems to result in caving of the top from neck rotation. This appears to have been an issue with almost all of them, at least the D hole models. Unless fixed, these guitars are virtually unplayable with huge action and intonation issues. Look closely at pictures any of the JC D holes and you'll see they have all had a variety of neck work, or are in need of it. Other issues include the plastic bindings on most have shrunk and broken, the tuners were junk, the finishes where mediocre, but now I'm being a nit picker.
Don't get me wrong, I very much admire J. Castelluccia's work, he really opened new doors for me, but I would rather not make exact copies. I have not copied his neck style, neck joint, back treatment, bindings, wood selection, assembly procedures, etc. I would rather try to capture the sound and combine it with a more modern instrument that is more playable, durable and perhaps more refined. We'll see 8) . I admire the elegance of his oval D hole design, rosette and shape of the head stock, I have shamelessly used them in my recent builds. As time goes on, I hope to develop my own shapes. (If I use a round hole, am I copying Martin, Ramirez, etc? ha, ha).
If we achieve anything at all in this world, it is because we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.
Is your approach similar to those luthiers that might make copies of the famous Fleta classical guitars of Barcelona, where the main relationship is the plantilla and headstock design? Yet the neck join ( dovetail on Fleta, not a "Spanish heel") and many other details are dissimilar. Here, opting for modern materials and techniques to ensure a bit of longevity and improved playability ?
Fletas are notorious for being didfficult to play but a tone unique in guitardom and highly revered. Their output for a lifetme long ago filled.. No new orders for many decades.
I hope the same for you.
Yeah, exactly. Of course, nothing new about this across many different fields and throughout history. Just like musicians that are not content to play Django & Stephane's songs note for note and keep pushing the envelope (Gonzalo's new Walking Home is a great example), most hand builders of manouche guitars are not content to build exact duplicates of vintage instruments, revered though they may be. Most believe they can make improvements to even the best instruments and try, such is human nature.
Thanks, but I can assure you I'm not sold out for a lifetime, just the next 3-4 months. 8)