What is voicing a guitar? In one way or another everything done when making a guitar affects the voice. When I say I am voicing a guitar I am talking about tuning the top by shaping and shaving the braces I've glued on. This is the highest order of work I do when I build a guitar. The better I do, the closer the guitar gets to my goals on each particular instrument. The woods have been selected, matched, stress tested, patterned, weighed, and glued. Voicing is what ties it all together. I voice a guitar by mastering a set of techniques, experience, my ear, and touch. I need a clear head and an undistracting calm environment. It's a first thing in the morning job:
First thing in the morning is 6:00am at my shop. I'm up, I've eaten, and had one cup of coffee. I haven't read the news, e-mails, nor have I been on social media. When voicing I know I get what I give so I want to be at my best. The night before I have mounted the top in it's tapping mold which holds the top for carving and secures the edges all the way around so its as close as I can practically get to it being already on the guitar. In the beginning its a bit of a dead drum.
Now I am ready to try out my new chisel!
And what a fine chisel it is! The slight upward turn really helps control the blade as I feather a finger brace to nothing on the delicate cedar sound board. I am set to spend the next several hours bringing life to all the work I've done so far. There are many steps here but, basically it is cut, tap, cut, tap, shape, tap, sand, tap, repeat. When I think I'm close to being done I flip it over and tap the top:
I'm tapping to see if I can identify where any of the braces are. If I can find one, I'm not done yet. I'm really good at finding them so this goes on for awhile.
That's what I mean by voicing and I'm really happy with my new chisel!