Barry, Michael shifted away from his fan fret approach of top bracing (as well as a more heavily dished, thinner top) to a more evolved traditional bracing approach about 4 of 5 years ago. I noted this top change between guitars that I played at Woodstock Invitational in 2013 and those later that I played in 2016 at the Artisan Guitar Show. I personally much prefer his current guitars (my 2018 Bashkin 00-12 is shown below as a reference). The back bracing concept to control the back plate has changed more subtly. He has always to the best of my knowledge combined ladder braces with the rear x-brace. What I see that is new in Justin’s guitar here is the addition of the two black reinforcement strips (ala Ervin).
Remember, Michael is also a certified repairman for traditional guitars (Martin, Collings etc.) and also has regularly attended the Swannanoa Gathering in NC were many traditional guitars are played. I think over the years, he realized that there were things that he preferred sonically in a more traditional guitars.
It is all too common in lutherie for a artisan’s work to significantly evolve over decades at the bench. People all too often think of a luthier’s work as a homogeneous body of work when in reality most reflect an evolutionary journey. It matters what period the guitar comes from...
. Overall, Michael’s current work still falls clearly in what I refer to as the “evolved traditionalist” camp, where his earlier work was in the “modernist” camp.
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Originally Posted by gitarro
These photos of the top bracing and back are interesting. Back when I had a bashkin more than 10 years ago, i believe the top bracing below the x brace was fan bracing but your top bracing there is the traditional arrangement. Has michael change the top bracing for all his guirars or is this an optional bracing depending on certain voicings desired by the customer?
I always thought the back bracing had the x brace extending from top to bottom of the back but the x brace on your back is only in the centre portion with ladder bracing. Is that also another recent change?
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