Nathan Dale - Luthier , Guitarist
For photos and pricing click here
Classical Guitars , Handmade by Nathan Dale
Nathan Dale - Luthier , Guitarist
For photos and pricing click here
If an affordable handmade classical guitar or acoustic steelstring guitar is what you're looking for you have come to the right place. All of my guitars are individually handmade for guitarist looking for instruments with great sound, structural integrity, playability and beautiful aesthetics. For the past thirty years I have been playing fingerstyle and classical music. I believe that all those years of playing has contributed to my musical sensitivity and understanding of how an instrument should respond and feel to the player. For the past decade, I have dedicated all of my thoughts and time to building and designing classical guitars with a lot of traditional Spanish influences, some of these include styles by Antonio de Torres, Robert Bouchet, Daniel Frederich, Ignacio Fleta, Miguel Rodriquez. Thanks to this wonderful age of information sharing, I have been fortunate to study the art of guitar making from many valuable sources. I would like to say thanks to all who have contributed to my efforts to make flawless and inspiring musical instruments. I would now like to talk a little about my guitar construction and material selection. Like many other classical guitar makers, I make a lot of my own tools, such as clamps, the bending iron, work boards, jigs and fixtures. Working single handedly and very carefully I produce less than fifteen instruments per year. From the time I begin construction I am the only one that handles the materials. I am very particular when it comes to wood procurement. Fortunately, I have been able to acquire some really fantastic sound board woods all considered to be AAA grade in nature, close grained and well seasoned. Cedar and spruce being the most common sound board woods, while the rosewoods, mahoganies and maples being the most used back and side woods. All of my customers are welcome to view and discuss the wood I select for their guitars. Like all serious guitar makers, I will only use wood that is well quarter sawn. All of my brace wood is split from billets to insure against grain run-out which can affect tone production and strength quality. I make every component of the guitar with the exception of some of my classical guitar rosettes. I use factory produced rosettes for some of my classical guitars, because I find that this gives my customers a much larger selection to choose from. There are some truly beautiful rosettes available at reasonable prices. All of my finger boards, necks, sound boards, backs and sides, bridges and braces are produced from rough cut wood. I once out of curiosity evaluated some factory produced pre-slotted finger boards from one of the oldest production guitar makers in the US and found them to be inaccurately slotted. I have also found other prefabricated parts to be unacceptable. I use mahogany for the necks on all of the steelstring guitars and either mahogany or Spanish cedar for the classical guitar necks. Because I have used both mahogany and Spanish cedar for classical guitar necks, I have found that the material used for the neck can definitely affect the sound and feel of an instrument. This is just one of the many variables that I can use to influence changes in the response and feel of an instrument. These changes will definitely be the most noticeable to the player. For classical guitar necks, I tend to prefer Spanish cedar for several reasons. It is considered to be a very traditional neck material used by many of the worlds most notable historic classical guitar makers. It is very light, yet it's weight to strength ratio is very comparable to that of mahogany. It is also much easier to cut and carve than mahogany. For my classical guitars, I use the one piece Spanish neck attachment method. This method is perhaps the oldest of neck attachment methods used by classical guitar makers. This is the method I am now using for my classical guitars. Having used both the dovetail joint and Spanish methods I have come to believe that the one piece Spanish neck to body joint does allow for more sound transfer into the body of the guitar somewhat affecting volume and response. I would now like to talk a little about steelstring guitar neck attachment, specifically dovetail joint versus the bolt on neck. Recently this has been an area of much debate for some steelstring guitar makers trying to devise a method of neck attachment that allows them to service their guitars faster and more accurately. I have found that the traditional dovetail neck joint to be quite satisfactory. There is somewhat of an art to cutting and fitting a dove tail neck joint. I have been very fortunate not to have encountered any real difficulties with this process. I am using a neck to body angle relationship that allows for adequate back set of the neck , but at the same time avoids the hinged neck effect at the fourteenth fret, associated with the older traditional steel string guitars. My method eliminates this high spot at the fourteenth fret and allows for a lower action without the likelihood of string buzzes. This neck to body relationship starts with soundboard radius design and goes somewhat beyond the scope of this text. It is hard to explain without illustrations, so lets move on to the topic of producing the silhouette of the guitar or in other words side-bending. It has been deemed one of the most challenging elements in guitar construction. All production guitar factories that I am familiar with and many custom guitar makers use bending iron molds of some kind or the other to bend their guitar sides. There are some draw backs to this method in that you must have a mold available for each different guitar silhouette you must bend. This is one reason I prefer to use a free style traditional bending iron. This allows me the opportunity to produce any shape desired. It also allows me to bend my sides precisely to the exact shape. It allows me to come back at the time of gluing to make final adjustments to the shape after the wood has thoroughly dried. Using this method along with the free style side assembly method I am able to make a guitar that is free of tension and stresses sometimes associated with guitars that are constructed inside molds which tend to force the sides of the guitar in place. I also am able to bend my wood bindings and purflings to any shape needed. Another reason I prefer bending by hand is that it is one of the most satisfying aspects of guitar construction. Fortunately, I have never had to discard any side material while bending sides using this method. Let me talk briefly about bindings and purflings. Due to the very sensitive acoustical nature of the classical guitar I use only wood bindings and purflings. I use combinations of rosewood and maple on rosewood, rosewood on mahogany and traditional white ivoroid bindings on some steelstring guitars. All of my inlays are cut entirely by hand using a jewelers saw. This is a very time consuming process, but thanks to having been blessed with a very keen eye sight and a steady hand it is one that I tend to enjoy. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to discuss the single most important sound producing element in guitar construction, top graduation. I have done considerable experimentation in this area and will continue to do so. I have built guitars with very thin tops and ones with thicker and far more complex graduations. I have built guitars with a variety of sound board bracing patterns and silhouettes. All of these instruments have had different tonal characteristics and volume levels. Without going into great detail I would like to discuss how I use, what has been for hundreds of years, considered good violin making principals in order to achieve a different timbre or tonal color within a design without changing overall design. This method of control is based on changing the relationship between the top and back tap tone modes or resonant frequencies. I have found that changing these modes not only affect the timbre of an instrument, but can also affect the way in which it projects sound. A semitone separation of the top and back modes tends to produce the strongest coupling, but not necessarily the strongest volume, while a separation as much as a fifth apart can aid in stronger projection or volume. Thinner sound boards with lower tap tones or resonant frequencies tend to have a sweeter full noted or more romantic sound while thicker sound boards with higher tap tones, if graduated properly, can give a more direct sound with a bell like quality to the trebles. These differences can not only be heard, but felt by the player, as well. I have noticed that stiffer tops give a harder feel to the strings, and thinner tops give a softer feel to the fingertips when the strings are plucked. These are observations based on my personal experience. I would like to add that other factors may have had some bearing on these results. This method of control is one that I use to tailor the sound of an instrument to the needs of my customers. As you can see, there is much to be considered when trying to produce certain sound characteristics in any guitar. There are several desired guitar characteristics that I have found to be universal among classical guitarists, and they are volume, playability, and the ability to inspire the player as well as the audience. My commitment to you, the player, is to provide an instrument you can really appreciate and utilize to your full potential. Thanks for your interest. For further information please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]
Dale Guitars are finished with shellac by the French polishing method.
What is French Polishing?
Shellac is a natural resin secreted by insects, called Lac-bugs, which attach themselves to certain trees in and around India. Approximately 1.5 million bugs must be present to produce enough secretions to make one pound of shellac. These secretions are mixed with other resins to produce shellac flakes. These flakes are then dissolved in denatured alcohol to produce what is known as liquid shellac or French polish.
What is French Polishing?
French polishing is a technique. It's not a finish. It' s the technique of applying shellac with a cloth pad. This is done by going over the surface hundred s or thousands of times in circular or figure eight motions, leaving endless coats of minute thickness which eventually add together to make a full depth surface. French polishing is an art and an acquired skill. It takes some time to learn and quite a lot of patience in order to achieve an excellent finish. The steps involved go far beyond the scope of this text. Suffice it to say that in the case of a guitar finished completely with French polish, I will apply shellac over a period of weeks or even months. I feel that a minimum of one month is necessary for a fair job, and three months is needed for a good finish.
Why use Shellac?
Other than violin varnish, shellac is the only finish with a proven track record for longevity. It was the favored finish for quality musical instruments and furniture throughout the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. French polished shellac is considered to give the best finish for sound production and tone. It is known for its inability to have a detrimental effect on the tone of an instrument. Any finish tends to have a dampening effect on certain tones and takes the edge off the sound, depending on how thickly its applied. Having played all of my instruments before they are finished, I have noticed a definite difference between one that is finished and one that is not. Personally, I prefer the unfinished guitar sound. For this reason I apply my finishes as thin as possible. Like many of the most sought after and valuable guitars, the Dale guitar has a very thin and delicate finish, particularly on the soundboard where most sound production occurs. The soft cedar or spruce underneath the finish allows the finish to dent easily. This holds true with other finishes such as lacquer or varnish. It is far better to developed good guitar handling and care skills than to rely on a finish to with stand any degree of stress such as contact with fingernails or other hard objects. If such stresses do occur I recommend that the guitar be returned to the maker for rejuvenation. This means repairing small dents or scratches and restoring the finish to its original luster, if need be. Although shellac is susceptible to damage by prolonged contact with water or alcohol (common solvents for those who drink or wash) it is an excellent barrier against water vapor (humidity exchange). Also it is not as wear resistance as varnish or lacquer. As you can see, there are disadvantages to the use of French polish, but whatever the drawbacks there are, the claims of the worlds most experienced classical guitar makers can't be ignored, when applied to the guitar it is unrivaled in the way it pleases the ear and the eye.
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