Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer
I don't usually pursue "Bloom" in my work, preferring to have less delay between string input and the complete sound result, but if my customer asks for it it can be achieved fairly simply. Many modern builders are moving away from the vintage "Live back" concept, preferring to isolate the top from the rest of the instrument, and this concept is not for that group. Those who do build in the live guitar vintage style, as I do, can pursue bloom by adding mass to the back plate while keeping the bracing relatively light. The heavier tonewoods make it easier to get such mass. Since the back's contribution is mostly driven by air column coupling, the additional mass slows down its response without actually impairing the hook-up. This results in "Bloom".
IMO, of course.
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Many thanks for your response Bruce. What you shared was very interesting and it is always so illuminating for us to get an insight into the mysteries of luthierie from experienced luthiers like yourself.
So according to how you would do it, tonal bloom would be achieved not by improving sympathetic resonances within the guitar body but by manipulating the differing speed of sound as it passes through heavier mass back like rosewood or ebony? How would you produce bloom then if you had to use lower mass woods like mahogany or maple for the back?
Am I right to understand you that the initial attack is thus produced mostly by the top while the follow up bloom effect is then produced by the back? Does this kind of bloom differ from the kind of bloom that Somogyi referred to in his article?
You also mentioned another interesting issue in your post about how a live back is an aspect of vintage guitar construction. Is it also an important part of the Somogyi school or approach? If so then who would be the modern luthiers who fall within the school that basically take the back out of the equation at all? I would expect in classical guitar Lutherie, Greg Smallmann and all those who follow him would be an example, but would Michael Greenfield be an example of this approach for steel string? I notice he uses a tone halo bracing for his backs and I wonder if the effect basically is to nullify resonance from the back.