Shamrock

I actually use a self contained HVLP (High Volume/Low Pressure) unit that I got from Harbor Freight for $79.99. It sprays nice even coats with very little overspray and therefore, very little wasted lacquer. Does a very nice job and leaves very little mess. My shop is pretty small ( a 10' X 14' shed ) and I just use a box fan in the window set on high speed to exhaust the fumes and It works great. Just my 3.785 cents (after interest and penalties)

Will do....soon as I get a few minutes extra minutes.

Sorry, haven't done much work on classicals. All of the ones I've done have been steel strings. Forgot about that danged string looping system that classicals use. My bad. If anyone is interested, I will take pics of my bridge clamp system and post the whole thing in the tools forum.

Carpenter's glue works fine...I use Titebond to glue on my bridges. As for clamping, I use a system designed and built by Me. It consists of a piece of MDF (3/4" shelving board) cut to approx. 2"X7" with the contour of the bridge cut into the bottom side and three (3) #8 X 2-1/4" bolts with nuts and washers, and a thin piece of wood that will fit between braces at the bridge position. Drill holes thru the both wood pieces that correspond with the (2) outer bridge pins and one of the center bridge pins. Put your glue on the bottom of the bridge. Set bridge in place and put all three bolts (with a washer on each one) thru the clamp, bridge, soundboard and thin inside support piece. Put a washer and nut on the inside of the body. Tighten until you get a nice even glue squeezeout around the bridge and let it dry at least 24 hours with the clamp in place. I have used this method several times and have never had a bridge failure (yet!!) If this needs to go to another forum, sorry. I was trying to answer the question and it turned a bridge clamp tutorial.

A Cheese Farmer????? Cheese Silo??? Just kidding!!!!

Being in Toronto, you might want to look up Grit Laskin, one of the premier luthiers in the business. He is located in Toronto and would be able to give you more info than you could possibly ever use.

For all you young'uns, Vans were checkered sneakers that were popular with Skateboarders waaaayyyy back in the '80's. (God I'm gettin old). They became popular with the rest of the US after Greg Kihn of the "One Hit Wonder" Greg Kihn Band (no I don't remember the song, I said I'm gettin old) wore them in a video (That was back when MTV still showed mostly music videos, before VH1 even.)

Even at $1600 you got a steal. Especially on a guitar that is exclusive to the manufacturer's store. I want your luck...maybe I could win the Mega Millions and go into lutherie full time.

To answer your question about the body being laminated....From the looks of the grain on the back and inside the soundhole, it appears to be solid wood. The grain pattern looks symmetrical (like it goes all the way through). Unless they used matching rosewood laminate on the inside and outside. Looks like you got a nice guitar for a pretty reasonable price. Any solid rosewood bodied guitar worth owning will run you in excess of $1000 anyway. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

Thanks for the input. I will let her know that I can do it. Also, I have been experimenting for the last few weeks with using Whitetail deer antler for nuts and saddles. So far they seem to work exceptionally well, great sound transfer and not too soft. They polish up beautifully, kind of looks like Ivory. I think I can pressure dye them purple, too. This girl is serious about her purple guitar. If I could get purple strings, she'd probably want them too.

I have a customer that wants a Purple burst Dreadnought and wants to know if I can make the soundhole heart shaped. Has anyone tried this? How did it affect the sound? Any help would be greatly appreciated.