"Words Mean What I Want Them to Mean"

[redir]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

It is dandy if you are building a bridge, and want sufficient support along its whole length without using excess material. For a structure intended to vibrate and pump air effectively at certain frequencies, the picture is very different. I'm talking only about the longitudinal curve here.

The beam theory applied by structural engineers is relevant to guitar bracing. But guitar bracing plays both a structural and a musical role. Treating it a solely as a support structure for load bearing is an error. The job of a guitar top or back is not the job of a floor.

Hence the scalloped bracing which as some one pointed to earlier was criticized for what it is.

I always taper the soundboard thickness around the perimeter too for the same reasons. I've started building true flat tops with tapered braces from full thickness at the X down to zero at the linings. They sound different then my previous designs but over all I like it a lot. I don't really claim to know why but that has been my reasoning and I've only built about 5 of them this way so far so it's ongoing for me. If I was building a floor I'd want to keep it strong throughout too. So I'm not sure I see it as such.

I mean to say, I understand what you mean. But there is a balance between structure and purpose too. I won't claim to have found this balance but I think I have found something that works for me at this point.