Crossovers

[ken cierp]

And here's the brace pattern -- pretty much a standard Torres .25 +/- x .12 +/- thick

no bridge plate -- note that this guitar has provisions for finger-board extension mechanical fasteners.

[TonyinNYC]

Kapich! (as Tony might say)

Kevin

Madonna mia!!! It is spelled capisce. Thank you.

[Lonnie B]

Well however it's spelled I understand the premise. I got my first Classical in 1982 so I've kinda gotten used to it. For many years it was the only guitar I had. But now that I have steel strings I do feel a little stretched when I go back the the Classical. But it takes a little and all is cool.

[Kevin in California]

Thanks Ken for the pics. I want to start doing screwed down fretboard extensions and I figured I would start with this crossover. Not sure I'll do it on the dred I'll be making at the same time, but I might.

Kevin

[Kevin in California]

Soooooo, I'm thinking of taking a drawing of the OM top, and taking a plan I have for a classical, and basically drawing the bracing layout onto the OM, stretching it here and there to "fit". Does this sound reasonable? The rest of the guitar will be like a steel string OM; little bit wider at the nut and bridge. The other thing I'm not sure about is if I should do 12 or 14 frets to the body. What do you all think?

Kevin

[ken cierp]

Your basic design plan will work fine

To me the idea of a cross over / Hybrid is to make a nylon string that is a little more playable/friendly for a steel string player than a regular classical -- Thinner more narrow neck, and for better access to the 12th fret, join at the 14th fret. And I believe a cutaway is a normal feature.

[John Link]

Ken,

I was looking at your "crossover" pictures. It is an impressive looking instrument that fits one working definition of good design that reads: it is attained when there is nothing left that can be removed without harm. Slotted headstocks are especially appealing to me because they add what designers call small scale detail without resorting to "bling", thus fitting well into this definition of good design (of course there are others - witness Martin's 1 millionth instrument).

One thing that might interest you that I noticed on my Collins D-mouth Maccaferri plan: the cutaway rib is compound curved to meet the edge of the neck's heel smoothly. His heel uses a 5 degree taper, and it looks like yours is in that neighborhood. If I had not seen it on Michael's plan and watched him build it on the DVD I would have said it is not possible to twist a rib like that without screwing it up. Obviously I would have been wrong.

I also like your bridge design a lot. Simple, but not brutally so. Distinctive in a very lean manner that looks completely competent.

A question about setup: How high do you typically set the string action?