Steve Geroge's Page

Yesss! I made it!
Harry

Did you receive these pictures? It's not exactly my cup of tea....... Harry

Steve, good luck in your project converting a classical into a Baroque guitar. You can't go wrong. Feel free to ask if you run into problems. I made a mistake in my first comment: The 4. course is not the G, but the D, but I guess you figured it out!
Best wishes
Harry

Steve, nice to hear from you! As for my "Quasi-baroque guitar" I took a set of spare tuners, filed them off, so that I ended up with three single ones, with one or two screewholes in each. Then I took a spare guitar of mine, drilled holes for the ivory rollers (I also had to make new holes in the rollers nearer the top), and then I inserted the rollers from behind, using the scews to keep them in place. I drilled the holes in the upper end of the headstock as close to the edge as I dared, to make sure that the tuners would turn freely, not catching the headstock. But I still needed one more for the nine strings, so I drilled a new hole in the middle of the headstock for a wooden peg that I made myself, you can of course use a violin peg. Then I had to make a new nut with slots for the 9 strings. I arranged them to egual the 5 first strings of a normal classical to make it easier to switch from one instrument to the other. The most difficult task was to drill the holes in the bridge. But then I found a useful tip on the Internet: You can easily have two strings through the same hole! You just have to separate them by inserting a little screw in the bridge between the strings of the courses. Then you avoid the difficulty of making new holes in bridge! I use the French tuning, I have found it to be more useful, with only the 4. course in octave tuning (the G) , whereas the fifth course (the A) is tuned up one octave and works as a treble course, ideal for the campanella-technique which was so popular among Baroque guitarists. I strung it with LaBella strings for Baroque Guitar, and I think the result is fine! If you send me your e-mail address, I can send you some pics and a sound clip as well!! If you want to buy an inexpensive Baroque guitar, I would recommend TiendasLatinas and their luthier Martin Zalapa, you can get one there for appr. 7-800USD. Delivery time only 6-7 weeks! I have bought both a vihuela and a Panormo guitar from them for that price with an outstanding quality considering the low price. I hope this can be of any help to you, and don't hesitate to ask if you need further information!
Best wishes
Harry