Larry Whatley is an 84-year-old retired electrical

　　engineer who made his first guitar in 1967 as a ‘keeper’ for himself to play.  In addition to building classical guitars, he

　　has built stand-up basses, violins, violas, and ukuleles.  He specializes

　　in restoring vintage violins, violas, cellos, and basses for use by needy

　　orchestra students in his local school district.  I have had the pleasure

　　of speaking with him by phone and conversing via email.

　　This is the 6th classical guitar he made, dating

　　from 2002.  It uses a Romanillos plantilla and bracing design, and the

　　Irving Sloane construction method.  The top is tight-grained Western Red

　　Cedar with cross-grain silking, while the back and sides are a spectacularly

　　figured, book matched set of Eastern Curly Maple. The neck is Mahogany, and the

　　fretboard and bridge are Rosewood.  Hot hide glue was utilized throughout

　　the construction process.  The Hauser style headstock utilizes Schaller

　　tuners from Germany.  The bracing is traditional Spanish fan with the

　　addition of Bouchet harmonic bars. As a result, the sound is distinctively

　　crisp, with excellent note separation, and precise voicing with a minimum of

　　overtones.  Vibrato is easily achieved.  It lends itself especially

　　well to contrapuntal music.

　　This guitar was played for 20 years by a close

　　family member of his, and the top shows evidence of this use. There is a small

　　patch of fingernail wear above the bridge by the high E string, and there is a

　　cloudy, slightly discolored patch of top finish on the upper bass bout where

　　the arm rests.  I have intentionally photographed these to exaggerate them

　　as much as possible.  In person they are not nearly so noticeable. 

　　One small top crack was glued and internally cleated, but it is essentially

　　invisible as it runs precisely on the grain line (as circled in red in the

　　photo).  I discovered it only by inspecting the underside of the top with

　　a flashlight and mirror.

　　She sounds wonderful, and the playability is

　　excellent.  The present setup is as low as can be, but it could easily be

　　raised to suit your playing style preference simply by shimming the bridge

　　saddle.  The neck profile is a substantially chunky C shape.  The

　　scale length is 650mm, and the nut width is 50mm.  The label is signed and

　　dated by the maker.  As the original case was worn out, I’ll ship this in

　　a brand-new Levy padded gig bag made to fit a classical guitar.

　　All in all, this is a very satisfying

　　instrument.  It is well suited for a beginning or mid-level student and,

　　as an entirely handmade instrument, it far surpasses any factory-made guitar at

　　DOUBLE the asking price.

　　For a sound demo filmed on an old iPhone, search YouTube for:

　　ANLmUTAjnRg