Learn to Make a Solera – The Foundation of a Good Guitar

The key to making a classical guitar that will set up properly and play well is in the solera. You simply will not be able to make a good guitar without a good solera. If not constructed properly a solera may be unstable causing it to change shape or deform with time and humidity changes. This will result in an improper set up. Which will require compromises to make the guitar playable.

At set up time there is a desired range for things like the height of the strings above the top, the break angle of the strings as they slant upward from the tie block to the saddle, and the height of the strings at the 12th fret. Learning to construct a solera like this one will put your setup right where it needs to be.

The design of this solera not typical. Itwas the result of building guitars with inconsistent results as far as the set up goes. The set-up back then took a long time, and often involved compromises. This design puts everything where it should be right off the bat. Set up should only take about an hour. Since building the solera this was I have never done it any other way.