Brentrup BRW GC-6

[KevinLPederson]

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

This seems familiar...Do I recall reading something about this with your most recent build thread that went to Dream Guitars after Healdsburg? I assume that's terrifying. I found out I sent a lady home with a hip fracture that I missed and found out about the next day. I had that same terrible feeling all day until I was able to rectify the situation.

Matthew - I don't specifically recall an incident with that guitar. Actually my build in that thread went fairly smooth. I'm not sure exactly what you could be referring to, but sure, "incidents" happen from time to time. Usually not an x-acto knife through the top anyway (I still feel your pain on that one Haans).

Sorry to take your thread off course Haans.

Beautiful job, I really like your bracing ideas and layouts. I love experimenting too.

I wanted to ask you about laminating your bracing as I've seen you do in other threads. Is this Carbon Fiber (CF)? or ebony? What are you gaining in tone by doing this? I'm sure you've been over this before so sorry if the question seems rote.

Have a great day.

Kevin.

[Haans]

No problem Kevin, I think it's important to let folks know that we are just like them, we have accidents and make mistakes too...
What I was trying to accomplish with the different bracing patterns was a combination of the structural integrity of X bracing and the tonal qualities of ladder bracing or a combination of the two tonal qualities. Lately, however, I have been thinking of how much I prefer ladder bracing to X by far.
The center of the laminated braces is Wenge. I have never liked the idea of using CF or such for brace laminations, nor any other part of the tone producing parts of the instrument. While I use CF for the "tone tubes", I doubt they really contribute anything to the tonal qualities of the instrument, but I don't speculate much. They are primarily structural.
What do the laminated braces contribute to the tonal qualities of the instrument? Who knows. Again, don't like to speculate. As most builders that experiment go, you pick a path and start down it. If you find something better, you start another path, or work slowly towards it. Changes are made slowly, or any large ones are kept until you are confident that the change is viable and repeatable tonally and structurally.
Hope that helps, and that you follow your intuition in experimenting.

[maurerfan]

Hello Haans ... about those tone tubes. Do you build without them? Given your skepticism about their tonal contribution, are they essential to the structural integrity ofyour builds, or, can a build proceed without them?

[Haans]

Maurer, I just can't say whether they add something to the tone or not. The tubes are there to prevent the rotation of the neck block and pulling of the end block toward the neck block. My skepticism is more like my unwillingness to speculate.
Yes, I could build them without the tone tubes, and maybe I will as an experiment sometime...just to see if there might be a difference that is discernible.