Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar
After spending the last couple of months with the finisher getting French polished, this Somogyi guitar arrived back at the workshop for final assembly and setup. And just on time, as the customer was flying in, in two weeks to pick it up!
It sure looked nice under finish.
A few days before it arrived back from the finisher, I started making the bridge.
The finish was then removed under the bridge area, and the bridge was glued on with hide glue.
Then I made the nut and saddle.
Somogyi nuts are carved in between the string slots.
At that point, I could put the strings on and go through the steps of setting it up.
Doing this part of the build, I picked up a ton of useful information. One thing that stands out was a trick Chris Morimoto showed me on how to set the intonation more efficiently. There was some pressure, as the customer had their flights booked, but with a bit of help from Chris and Ervin I managed to finish just on time. What was really special was getting to meet the new owner of this unique guitar, when they came and picked it up.
I made a short recording of playing the guitar, which you can see below. This was just after stringing it for the first time. My playing and recording skills really don’t do this guitar justice, to my ears it really does sound incredible.