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#76
05-18-2018, 05:45 PM
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If I may, as Bruce says those on the rigid side of building want to keep as much energy in the top and back in the way a drum is made. but unlike a drum skin which is extremely flexible our tops and backs are not. To make it simpler I will explain with the top although the back operates in the same fashion.
For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction, think I learned that in school some time ago. Say the string whips the bridge forward and the top goes with it. Fine for the first half cycle where the whole guitar is thrown forward, but then the bridge goes backwards while the body is still moving forward. (But wait, aren't we holding the guitar in one place? Not necessarily if you consider we are just bags of water.) With the center of the top moving backward and the rim moving forward their is an area around the surface of the top that remains in one place. With massive rims the (circular) dead spot (node, my mind finally spit out the word) moves closer to the rim creating a larger area of the top used to create sound. Sounds good we like more sound, defiantly a win. But if you build like Bruce does without a definite 'wall' where no vibration is to pass something else happens. And I think it happens also because of another trait Bruce builds into his guitars, he has thin sides. Now this is where I might get into trouble as I have no real data to prove it one way or the other, it is just how I envision his instruments working. Because there is some give built into the top/side interface it is allowed to flex, the sides are allowed to do the same given they are thinner than most. So rather than the top moving forward and the rims back and forth in opposite direction, the sides bellow in and out. All guitars do this to some extent, that is why the Helmholtz frequency (sound hole resonance) is lower than the theoretical given the volume and the hole diameter. On most guitars the back gives the most 'give'. I think in Bruce's guitars the sides may also 'give' a little. I think when you build light enough and have the lining flexible enough rather than relying on heavy sides to move the node towards the outside of the top the amount of flexibility in the sides and the side-top interface dictates where the node will be. Not only will this make for a louder guitar it also gives the sides the opportunity to add another resonance or two to sweeten up the sound of the guitar. Playing the guitar should give a pleasing sensation with the instrument feeling alive. Something different than a solid walled heavy sided guitar would give. I could be wrong, never met the man or played his guitars, they may operate different from what I described. The whole waves flowing around the guitar theory will be tested in a ways when I finally finish my balsa and 00 pine guitar. Or maybe it will just bring up more questions.
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Fred 
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#77
05-18-2018, 10:10 PM
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Bruce and Fred. Thank you both for your responses.
Bruce you were the first person (though I’m sure there are many) who I had heard specifically say you weren’t trying to get the sides as stiff as possible. I have heard the drum analogy many many times. I also really appreciate your description of the reversed Kerfing, I can easily understand the concept behind that....even from a perspective of stiff sides, leaving the top more “detached” or “free” makes sense. I do my best to be a sponge when it comes to guitar building techniques and theories. While they may not all be right, or right for me I think here is value in knowing all methods and the reasons behind them. I will definitely have to give more thought to the “whole resonance theory” as I shall affectionately call it. Thanks again both of you for the input!
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#79
05-19-2018, 10:18 AM
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Yes indeed, Tyler Wells! I spent yesterday playing the guitar and comparing it to other guitars I have. It is a plug in archtop, and biased to the plug in side. My own arch tops are biased to the Acoustic side. tyler’s Guitar works better that mine plugged in IMO, and that is because his pick up works better. I’ve been using Bartolini, and his uses Kent Armstrong. I called Kent yesterday and ordered a couple of pick ups. It’ll be slightly challenging for Kent because my string spacing resembles my acoustics more closely than traditional arch tops, which are narrower. It’s really only a couple of millimeters, but I’ll be after perfection, so that’s a lot.
The “whole resonance theory” is actually pretty old news. It is the way traditional guitars like prewar Martin’s and Ramirez and many other were built. The rigid box “drum” guitar is what I usually refer to as “modern”, where the other is what I call “traditional”. I am by no means alone in favoring the traditional approach, and the results of both approaches look like guitars, but are actually quite different, especially so when well done.
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#80
05-21-2018, 10:13 AM
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I spent the week end attending my daughters college graduation from Sacramento State College. Not counting that they left her name out of the program and that there was a lot of tedium, it went very well. This week she is also moving out of her apartment, and she quite her job with Wells Fargo.
She plans to spend the summer with me learning to build a guitar, and is count on someone to buy it. Depending on price, she ought to be able to reach that goal IMO. In other news, I am spending the day with Tom and his wife Kathy (unless she goes “antiqueing”) who have come out from New York (Originally from Minnesota, headed for Texas, he says) to spec a new build. I have spent 50 years stocking my woodlocker, and it is gratifying to see how attractive it has become.
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#81
05-21-2018, 12:26 PM
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Looking forward to seeing what Tom picks out and what you come up with.
I'm sure it will be stellar...
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2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle) 2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW) 2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga) 2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco) 2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak) 2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk) 2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa)
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#82
05-21-2018, 07:24 PM
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Oh it is Stellar, trust me details to be announced later. However I will say it's the finest Italian Spruce top in the shop (well I think so anyway haha) and it rang like church bells on Sunday morning in the Vatican City. I am being honest when I say that the tap rang for 6 seconds as I counted. Bass and treble notes. Bruce was a very congenial host and we spent many hours talking laughing and going through the wood Locker a fantastic day. AndCole contributed as well...
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PS. I love guitars! Last edited by TomB'sox; 05-22-2018 at 09:22 AM.
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#83
05-22-2018, 09:27 AM
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I would also like to add that Bruce had several of his guitars for me to try out. The set-up on all of them was buttery smooth, low action, but not so low to lose any sound or tone. I did not pick up any guitar that I would not be proud to own. Bruce had his favorites and a pecking order one might say, but I would take the last on the list and walk away with a smile on my face. I noodled a little as I like most of us probably are, self conscience about our playing, but all it did was give me even more confidence in what he is going to build for me (not that I needed a whole lot after playing Bob's single O at Woodstock), but it is still refreshing to know I made the right choice.
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PS. I love guitars!
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#84
05-22-2018, 09:50 AM
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It sounds as if you had a good visit...
 Being there to select the top and back/side sets with Bruce I suspect will make how you feel about your impending instrument all the more special. Having experienced both tactile and audible distinctions between sets of a given species, it really opens one’s eyes beyond eye candy n’ figure (which is beautiful and fun, no doubt). What are the basic spec’s that you decided upon? Quote:
Quote:
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#86
05-22-2018, 10:17 AM
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Tom and Kathy are transitioning over to Sonoma today, I believe, to assess a couple of wineries, so I will answer re his choices.
We are going with Imperial Brazilian Rosewood, sister wood to the classical guitar I made a couple of years ago. Like the classical, this necessities a multi piece back. The classical has 6 pieces, but this guitar will be a bit over a half inch wider and may require more pieces! It will be a JB-L00, which means an L00 based asymmetric MultiScale. Binding, Fingerboard, bridge, and tuner buttons will be Snakewood. The BRW is so dark and the Italian top so creamy that the Snakewood will be a strong and consistent graphics element. Ought to be very striking. Edited to say Tom is clearly lingering in the Metro Hotel: Vacation Mode.
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#88
05-22-2018, 01:11 PM
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Quote:
Nice Tom! That is along the lines of what Bruce recently made for me when we knocked off aspects of Bob's Pernambuco L00. My "surprise" was a body that is thinner than normal and still wedged. I use it for fingerstyle playing with a classical oriented technique. I love that guitar: super comfortable, balanced, the notes jump out, sustains great, perfect scale length, perfect neck profile for me (lots of wood to grab...), and I like the trade-off of the 13 frets. The deeper L00s are surely a different animal and doubtless very nice in their way. But that isn't my guitar which is instead the perfect fingerstyle solo instrument. You will love it.
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Multiple guitars including a 1979 Fender that needs a neck re-set Last edited by jmat; 05-22-2018 at 01:47 PM.
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#90
05-22-2018, 05:05 PM
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Unless Tom changes his mind, which any of my customers is welcome to do right up until I actually cut wood, this will be JB-L00 rather than FT-L00-JB/2 as the two previously mentioned are.
FT is my regular flat top, L00 is the tip of the hat to the Gibson template, and JB/2 means 1/2 of my typical JB 1/2" MultiScale offset, otherwise known as 1/4" offset. When JB replaces FT that means it is my asymmetrical body including 1/2" offset MultiScale. This nomenclature may appear to be madness, but there IS a method to it. Career military personnel will have it down in no time, as will LMI employees and customers  .
Last edited by Bruce Sexauer; 05-23-2018 at 10:26 AM.
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