Plan for making Hernandez y Aguado guitar
These are detailed, full size plans of guitars by famous makers. Each plan is accurately drawn, and is based on a careful examination of the instrument concerned. They include all information needed to build a reproduction. Scale lengths are all 650 mm unless otherwise stated.
Each plan is printed on three separate sheets of A2 paper (600 mm x 450 mm) :
Sheet One : Construction Notes, Rosette design, Bridge, Head, Neck Joint
Sheet Two : Soundboard and Strutting
Sheet Three : Neck, Fingerboard, Section through Body
Manuel Hernandez and Victoriano Aguado were one of the most successful guitar making partnerships of the 20th century. They worked in Madrid, where they developed their own particular guitar designs that proved extremely popular with players. Some musicians like their guitars precisely because they seem to lack a strong personality - this makes it easier for the player to put his or her own character into the music (in contrast, for example, with a Fleta, which sometimes appears to sound "like a Fleta" whoever is playing on it).
These makers used various strutting designs, and the plans available here include two different designs; the first uses five fan struts and closing bars; the second uses six fan struts, two closing bars, and a long diagonal strut that cuts across the treble side of the soundboard, to increase volume and clarity.