Gourlay Guitars

I had originally planned on building a case to house my FE24 Torres replica, but... I was still so bummed by the router disaster that I...

Having recently completed two Torres replicas...each with its own wooden coffin case, I've become inspired to build more. This time I am...

At the recent Orange County Classical Guitar Competition and Festival (March, 2019) I met two students from the Vanguard University...

All done. Finished. French polished, strung up...and ready to sell! I have referred to this guitar as my tiny Torres replica. It is...

Making this guitar was always about building the case...and that has now been completed. Building a couple of wooden coffin cases has...

I have gotten a lot completed since my last post. The back is glued on, bindings bent and installed, fretboard and neck completed,...

This past weekend (March 2-3) I exhibited several guitars at the first ever Orange County Classical Guitar Competition and Festival held...

This has absolutely nothing to do with building guitars - just fun stuff! On President's Day we took the opportunity to spend the day in...

The end block, heel and Spanish foot, and the Spanish cedar kerfed linings for the back were all sanded to a 28ft radius. The end block...

After profiling all of the top braces and harmonic bars and cleaning up the side profiles of the heel, it was on to bending the sides and...

Having never inspected the original SE77, upon which this instrument is based, I relied on the bracing diagrams of the nearly identical...

Using my shooting board and jointing plane to create a perfect join, I glued together the two halves of a set of European spruce and...

This has absolutely nothing to do with building classical guitars...just fun. For years I have said I would consider exiting a perfectly...

I will be exhibiting several of my guitars at the upcoming (first ever) OC Guitar Festival and Competition at Chapman University on March...

Having recently completed a replica of an 1852 Torres for which I also built a wooden "coffin case", I was inspired to consider making...

"La Principia". That is the name I gave to my replica. It translates in English as "The Beginning". While it appears that Torres may...

I knew I needed a special case for my Torres replica, one that not only fit, but was befitting of the instrument itself. Due to it's...

The scroll headstock. The moustache bridge. Those are the two elements that really grabbed my attention. Yes, the rosette was also...

Working strictly from photographs of the outside of the 1852 Torres, I had no idea as to what it looked like inside. In fact, I became...

The back of the 1852 Torres is comprised of five sections of Brazilian rosewood separated by 1.5mm wide strips of maple that are angled...