Selmer Gypsy type guitar build advice

[hat]

I find myself getting really attracted to the gypsy jazz style of music. I wonder if anyone here on the boards has experience in building a Selmer type guitar? If so, do you have any tips on construction? They look fairly straightforward.

[redir]

I would suggest getting Michael Collins book on building a Selmer/Mac. I did not follow it verbatim but it's a good book and I think the only one out there on building them. You can also get some plans from Elderly and probably elsewhere. The François Charle's plans are commonly used but I think Collin's has a plan too. I used the Charle's plans and if I did it again I would build even lighter than the plans, which is a common thing in any guitar plan.

Collins also sells materials and jigs for building. The first one I built I purchased pre-bent sides from Michael. They are laminated mahogany and rosewood.

If you are already building guitars you might find only a few things challenging. The hardest thing for me to get my head around was the head block. The Selmer's have a really smooth transition in the sides where the cutout meets the head block. It's angled in and kind of tricky to get right. The other thing would be the peghead joint. I didn't follow that in the traditional way simply because I think it is necessarily difficult. It is a beautiful joint though when done correctly but I just stuck to my tried and true methods.