Sounds from deep inside the tree

Silvia Calado Olivo
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

Ebony, pine, fir, lignum vitae... Once they were trees; now they're a guitar. And they're still alive today in the guitarist's hands. The particular sound of the guitar depends on factors like where and how these trees grew, or the temperature and humidity the wood was exposed to once the tree had been cut. And, of course, on the meticulous craftsmanship during the thirty days of work that go into the making of the guitar. Guitarras Giralda, founded in 1998, opens the doors of its workshop to show step-by-step how the metamorphosis occurs.

Once the tree has grown and the wood has been treated, the first job for the workshop is storage. This step requires just as much care and attention as the tuning of the instrument: the raw materials are susceptible to climatic change, and need optimum humidity, temperature and ventilation. They'll later define the quality of the finished product: studio guitar, concert guitar...

When it comes to selecting the wood, careful attention is paid to the dryness of the wood: if it hasn't reached an optimum point the wood must be stored. This is especially frequent with extremely hard woods like ebony, used in the fingerboards of flamenco guitars. At the end of the sorting process, in which knots and imperfections in the wood are eliminated, the wood is separated according to the part of the guitar it's destined for: ebony for the fingerboards, Honduras cedarwood for the neck and part of the head, pine and cedar for the soundboard, cypress for the sides and the back, lignum vitae for the bridge... Out of these pieces the sides and back should always be matched.

All the materials have to be re-expanded and pressed in the next phase; the fine maple and lignum vitae veneers and the flamenco guitar's decorative purfling are prepared too. It's also time to prepare pieces such as the neck: it's expanded, smoothed down, it's treated... The wood is selected according to grain, and the finer the grain and the drier the wood, the finer the quality of the instrument. At the Guitarras Giralda workshop, the neck is normally comprised of three parts, although it can be made from a single piece of wood. The craftsmen position the tail block, with one part showing, and the other inner part stuck to the back.

Another piece prepared at this stage is the head, joined to the neck at the bevelled edge. And while it depends on the model, a good guitar often has a central bracing which acts as a reinforcement. It's also time to prepare the neck, its two parts joined by a central ebony binding which strengthens it and prevents the pressure of the strings on the living wood giving way to bowing.

Ninety per cent of the work carried out at this workshop is done by hand. The only tasks done using machinery are those which don't affect the sound, like the openings in the peg-box (although even these are hand-finished) or the drill holes of the head, the piece whose design becomes the guitar maker's trademark.

Once the head is on, the craftsmen start work on the back. The two parts of the rear face of the instrument are put together symmetrically, closely observing the natural grain of the wood, and joined with a black transverse binding. A specially designed machine is used to cut out the shape of the back, which is now finished off by hand and left for a couple of days to allow the glue to dry. The process of putting together the soundboards is similar: the two parts are joined and left to dry. The sound hole is cut using a machine, then finished off by hand ready to inlay the rose. The rose is hand-made from tiny pieces of wood, making geometrical forms whose design also becomes a trademark of the manufacturer. Guitarras Giralda have their own unique design, hand-made by a Valencian craftsman. Once the rose is inlaid it's sanded down by hand.

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