L'Atelier de Sorbiers
The Sorbiers workshop is where I spend most of my time, engaged in a variety of activities. I believe that mastering traditional techniques is paramount, as true craftsmanship begins with the ability to work with one’s own hands. Wood, being an organic material, responds to our care and guides us toward the best approach to shape it into an acoustic instrument.
Simultaneously, I am developing advanced techniques and tools to aid in the design and construction of truly exceptional instruments. My acoustic engineering background guides my methodology for approaching instrument building. The most fascinating and challenging task remains the search for a bridge—a connection between objective and subjective data. This involves defining a comprehensive set of measurements capable of fully describing the experience of playing a guitar, while always remembering that this journey will never end…
I carve the neck of my guitars by hand, as I do for several other steps of the build. Squaring the stock and tapering both the thickness and the width before carving the profile is necessary to ensure a correct geometry. And gives the material a bit of time to release internal stress, to make small corrections, if necessary. It takes a lot of time, but I believe that using hand tools before moving to CNC is giving me an invaluable feel of what is important, and how. And yes: “everything is important”, as usual.
My craft is a synthesis of expertise.
My diverse professional background has provided me with a comprehensive understanding of product design from multiple perspectives.
My workshop reflects this attitude, adapting various approaches to the art of craft, to get the best from different technologies and eventually reflect in the instruments I build my passion and love for the sounds of music.
Here a selection of chort videos, please follow my activity on my Youtube channel.
Soundboard bracing
The whole process of bracing the soundboard of a seven string brasilian guitar.
Soundboard gluing
The process I use to prepare and glue the bookmatched soundboard, following a traditional method, using handtools.
Building the neck of a classical guitar
The first steps to build the neck of a classical guitar: selecting the wood, orienting the grain, squaring the side, then cut the headstock joint, and the installation of a double action truss-rod.
Bending sides
Bending mahogany sides for an brasilian seven string guitar.
Slotting the fretboard and assembling the overhang neck
I usually cut the fret slots with a dedicated jig on the table saw, and a custom 0.6mm blade. Then the assembly of the FSC ebony fretboard with the neck, gluing and truing of the FSC mahogany blanck following the fretboard profile on the router table.