Shaved the braces on my Guild JF30!

[gitnoob]

Originally Posted by Left of Sam

Aside: How do you get a main air lower and and not bring down the main top as well?

Decrease the sound hole size.

The danger of going too far on the brace shaving is manifold:

1) you can lose projection
2) the sound can "break up" if you strum too hard
3) it can get "muddy"
4) it can lead to structural problems

Sounds like you're on the edge of going too far.

[Sam VanLaningham]

Originally Posted by gitnoob

Decrease the sound hole size.

The danger of going too far on the brace shaving is manifold:

1) you can lose projection
2) the sound can "break up" if you strum too hard
3) it can get "muddy"
4) it can lead to structural problems

Sounds like you're on the edge of going too far.

Yep, I think I did go too far just a bit. Still sounds better than before I did anything but it has shown the early breakup and just a bit of muddiness. I think that's visible in the spectrogram with the wider main top at 160 hz.

So, I'm done unless I learn a lot more about bracing and see a potential improvement. If there was one I think it would be very specific and subtle.

Excellent. Thanks for all the help, gitnoob. Awesome!

[Sam VanLaningham]

I couldn't leave well enough alone. I had a visual goal for how the braces should look to be a "light braced" instrument. Ridiculous I know but I once i started I couldn't let well enough alone.

I also was thinking that when people said "you can go too far" I saw this happen but I also saw the tone come back around after more shaving. Thus it seems to me there is a harmony between all the bracing. True?

Anyways, maybe its just as simple as the top being in some sort of tuning relationship with the back. Well i think I got there (again?). The top is now a D# and the back is a F#, ie tune to fifths, which is the same As the Santa Cruz d12 (fifths but not those notes...).

It is loud, huge low end (maybe a bit too low but I like it!) mids and highs are coming through but it's still got that good strumming imbalance. Hopefully the top doesn't collapse. I'm done.





BEFORE, remember?:

[gitnoob]

Pretty clean work for blind shaving. If I do another one, maybe I'll get one of those endoscopic cameras so I can see what I'm doing.

How's your forearm feel after all that sound hole abuse?

[Sam VanLaningham]

Originally Posted by gitnoob

Pretty clean work for blind shaving. If I do another one, maybe I'll get one of those endoscopic cameras so I can see what I'm doing.

How's your forearm feel after all that sound hole abuse?

Ha! My arm is killing me.....I kept expecting to have my elbow finally break through the sound hole as that is what it seems I wanted to do to get to that back tone bar. Whoa.

Also, I forgot to mention that sustain, and high tolerance to breaking up seems to be excellent.

And I added a wooly mammoth ivory saddle. Seems less bright than bone, maybe.

[random works]

Sounds like you have an improved guitar and lots of knowledge/experience to boot. Now to play it with every style you can and find out what it really shines at, cause I bet it will!

[infiniteposse]

I know this is a very old thread, but I'm curious how the Guild has held up post-brace shaving?

[Sam VanLaningham]

Dear infiniteposse and anyone else......Just saw this as I was looking for some other info in a thread I started. Anyways, I big time overdid it on the guild! take it from the experts who say to remove very little at one time, let it equilibrate for a week or more, then take a bit more if its not where you want it.

I removed so much that it just sounds boomy and flabby on the low end. I will end up removing top and re-bracing. Or it will be art on the wall....or both!

Live and learn.

Sam

[Jim.S]

If you have nothing to lose Sam you could try removing weight from the bridge (not sure what it is made of) by making a new bridge in a lighter wood. Not sure it will cure your "boomy flabby" but it will raise the main top, you may be able to bring it back to 170 or even 180 and it should drag the main air up a bit as well.

[Sam VanLaningham]

Originally Posted by Jim.S

If you have nothing to lose Sam you could try removing weight from the bridge (not sure what it is made of) by making a new bridge in a lighter wood. Not sure it will cure your "boomy flabby" but it will raise the main top, you may be able to bring it back to 170 or even 180 and it should drag the main air up a bit as well.

That is an awesome and thoughtful suggestion, Jim! Thanks a lot. I wil try that first.

Thanks again. Sam

[Tom West]

Good for you for getting in there and helping out your guitar..................now I hate to be critical but your plane does need to be sharpened...!!
Tom

[YamaYairi]

This sounds crude, but when I shave braces I use the round side of a file that is flat on one side and round on the other. When you do it that way you can directly hear the effect it has on the top. When you're filing, you hear a "vooba, vooba" sound that gets gradually lower in pitch. I file a bit and then tap the top to hear if I now get a nice ring. Do it a little at a time then string it up and try it. When I am satisfied I go back in with sand paper and smooth out the braces where I filed them. I would never do this on an expensive instrument, I have only done it to try and get better tone out of a cheap guitar. I had very good results.

[Sam VanLaningham]

Originally Posted by YamaYairi

This sounds crude, but when I shave braces I use the round side of a file that is flat on one side and round on the other. When you do it that way you can directly hear the effect it has on the top. When you're filing, you hear a "vooba, vooba" sound that gets gradually lower in pitch. I file a bit and then tap the top to hear if I now get a nice ring. Do it a little at a time then string it up and try it. When I am satisfied I go back in with sand paper and smooth out the braces where I filed them. I would never do this on an expensive instrument, I have only done it to try and get better tone out of a cheap guitar. I had very good results.

That's cool. I had great results in beginning but I just wanted even better tone!!!! Always cool to live and learn on a $1k guitar .

[Sam VanLaningham]

Originally Posted by Jim.S

If you have nothing to lose Sam you could try removing weight from the bridge (not sure what it is made of) by making a new bridge in a lighter wood. Not sure it will cure your "boomy flabby" but it will raise the main top, you may be able to bring it back to 170 or even 180 and it should drag the main air up a bit as well.

Jim....YOU ARE THE MAN! That helped a ton. I'm serious. It will take awhile for me to be convinced but I sat and played it for a good run and thought it sounded great. It's still a bit flabby if I strum hard but medium picking and strumming is very responsive. I really really appreciate the suggestion. Thanks a zillion.

I think I took off almost half the mass on the bridge. Here's a pic (showing my hand shaped cave man bridge pins of walrus jawbone). The break in pin diameter is about where the old bridge thickness was.

Sanded down bridge by samvanlan, on Flickr

[Jim.S]

Did you get a graph? Did it go up much from 161Hz Sam?