Santos Hernandez Flamenco Guitar plan

These are detailed, full size plans of guitars by famous makers. Each plan is accurately drawn, and is based on a careful examination of the instrument concerned. They include all information needed to build a reproduction. Scale lengths are all 650 mm unless otherwise stated.

Each plan is printed on three separate sheets of A2 paper (600 mm x 450 mm) :
Sheet One : Construction Notes, Rosette design, Bridge, Head, Neck Joint
Sheet Two : Soundboard and Strutting
Sheet Three : Neck, Fingerboard, Section through Body


Santos Hernandez was the most gifted and famous maker of flamenco guitars in the 20th century. His work on perfecting the design of the flamenco guitar helped establish it as a fine instrument, very different in character to the classical guitar. 

There are two basic ways in which the flamenco guitar differs from the classical guitar. The first is in the choice of woods to use, and the second is in the design and thickness of the component parts. The strutting in the flamenco guitar is usually kept quite simple, because the rather free, open, earthy sound is best achieved if the soundboard is not too controlled in how it vibrates. Santos Hernandez used seven fan struts, but no closing struts at the lower end of the guitar. 

The weight of the guitar is kept to a minimum by using a thin soundbaord, and thin Cypress for the back and ribs (which is much lighter than Rosewood).

If you are planning to make your first Flamenco guitar, then this is the ideal model to follow.