Honestly, in the flat top guitar luthier community there are very few trade secrets compared to classical guitar or violin luthier communities where builders are more guarded in their sharing of techniques. In general, it is an open and supportive community.
One exception that I do know that Ervin Somogyi used to tell luthiers who attended his “master classes on voicing the guitar” not to reveal the bracing system that he showed them and some builders still honor that request (despite the fact that a number of his apprentices have shown theirs...
).
Joel’s top bracing pattern actually reminds me of Florida luthier Simon Fay’s top bracing pattern. His back bracing is also derivative of Jeff Traugott’s floating beam. As you said, guitars are complex systems and subtle differences in design, materials and construction can result in profound differences in how an instrument sounds.
Over time, you see many luthiers evolve their approaches across their time at the bench. Some start out traditional and branch out to other approaches and others are just the opposite; returning to traditional approaches later in their career.
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Originally Posted by virob
Hi Pandaroo,
You are right, Joel is very generous about sharing his knowledge and ideas. I once jokingly referred to his “trade secrets” in conversation to which he seriously responded that he doesn’t have any. Before starting this thread, I did inform Joel that I was considering doing this and asked for his permission which he gave. In fact, long before we even started this build, Joel asked me if I would be OK if he shared a build profile on this guitar to update his methods, build options and web presence.
It does bring up an interesting question. I suspect that if you asked 10 experienced luthiers to each build a guitar using this bracing pattern the result would be 10 guitars that sound more like guitars they typically build than to this one.
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