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#1
10-12-2016, 08:25 PM
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Who likes Ladder Braced guitars
What one did you like or did not like?
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Rick Schmidlin Don't Think Twice It's Alright Last edited by Glennwillow; 10-13-2016 at 07:01 PM. Reason: fixed typo in title 
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#2
10-12-2016, 09:05 PM
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I have a Harmony ladder-braced parlor that is every bit as sweetly resonant as a Slingerland x-braced parlor, so I don't really know what to think as per which method does what.
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#3
10-12-2016, 09:37 PM
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I have a Kalamazoo KG-14 from 1937 that's honky as all get out, but it's a very specific sound and it's fun.
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Solo acoustic guitar videos: This Boy is Damaged - Little Watercolor Pictures of Locomotives - Ragamuffin
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#4
10-12-2016, 09:41 PM
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As rogthefrog said, it's a very specific sound and if you don't understanding it, you probably won't like it. I own an old 67' Gibson LG1, it's fun to play but not one my main players.
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Dump The Bucket On It!
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#5
10-13-2016, 02:50 AM
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I like them for a specific purpose. If I want that old, '20s blues sound, nothing beats a small-bodied, ladder-braced guitar. Usually produces a rather boxy sound, but that's what old blues is supposed to sound like. As to which ones, I might be less help than others. The Waterloos are impressive, but I can't handle the neck. Years ago, I played a ladder-braced John How that just knocked me out... seems like it might have been a parlor. Had a really cool vibe to it... just took me right back to the sound of '20s blues. It was an unusual guitar, but had a striking personality like none I had ever played.
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#7
10-13-2016, 11:37 AM
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Harmony Sovereign H-1260 seems to be a fairly popular guitar.
Dan
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#8
10-13-2016, 12:00 PM
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I guess you could say I cotton to them. At last count I have eight ladder braced guitars - an Oscar Schmidt-built Galiano jumbo, a Regal-made spruce top and maple body Oahu parlor, two Harmony Sovereigns (one a late 1950s and one a late 1960s), a Supertone parlor, a Schmidt "Westbrook" Stella, and two Kay Krafts.
Like any guitar family, they are all over the place in sound. Some, especially the all-birch small body guitars, have a boxy, hollow sound to them which is what I assume most refer to as a "blusey" sound. Others though can hold their own against many X braced instruments. That Oahu, as example, has a fat treble and real punchy mids. It will ring out till Kingdom Come. Despite having a less than 13" lower bout, it is loud enough to scare the Hellhounds off your trail. And while I am not going to say the Sovereigns are in the same league as a Martin D-18, they will at least get you knocking on the door, especially the one on which the pinless bridge was swapped out for a pin bridge.
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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard
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#9
10-13-2016, 12:04 PM
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I have a couple of catalogue stellas - I think they are 929's, a kay music note, k-g101 silvertone, Silvertone No. 319-12029 , a stencil guitar from the late 30's for slide.
THe ones I had that I liked the least was the Oahu with the metal bridge as the bolts rusted so I could not get to them to lower the action, and a harmony f-hole, rare little guitar from the 30's that I could not get any kind of a sound out of. Other than these two,I like them all but each is for different material and I would say with the ladder braced revival there are ones that would probably get me closer to the tone I am looking for - the waterloo, but then I'm in trouble if I need more than one at that price level. The one I tried that was inexpensive and comes close to the stella was the Jim Dandy Toby Walker picked this sample of the stella which he liked enough to put on his site of student/enthusiast examples, for which I thank him:
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http://www.youtube.com/user/studio249 Last edited by slide496; 10-13-2016 at 12:16 PM.
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#10
10-13-2016, 12:35 PM
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I have a John How Ladder Braced Concert guitar, bought it new from John and it's one of my favorites, I was just going to restring it today. It's my only custom built acoustic, sure enjoyed the process, love the guitar.
Everyone who plays it is blown away by the sound and playability. BTW, Joan Baez's Martin O-45 that she let Bob Dylan play was the inspiration for the inlay.  
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#11
10-13-2016, 12:49 PM
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I played a ladder braced guitar that is in my list of the best guitars I've ever played. It did not sound like I expected it to, nor did it sound like any other ladder braced guitar that I was familiar with. The guitar was made by Hans Brentrup; a Grand Concert in BRW and Red Spruce. Prior to this, I played a number of Hans' x-braced GC's, and I did not expect this ladder braced instrument to surpass the GC's I had tried.
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Chuck 2012 Carruth 12-fret 000 in Pernambuco and Adi 2010 Poling Sierra in Cuban Mahogany and Lutz 2015 Posch 13-fret 00 in Indian Rosewood and Adi
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#12
10-13-2016, 01:11 PM
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I own an 1887 Washburn parlour, one of the very first Washburns ever built and one of the very oldest Washburns still around today. It has ladder bracing and according to moderns standards sounds like cr*#. But you should not judge this guitar by modern standards. Its tone is almost 130 years old.
I am sure you could dramatically improve this guitar's tone by taking off the back (easy - it has no back binding) and replace the ladder bracing by X-bracing. And that's probably the last thing in the world you should do.
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Last edited by Picker2; 10-13-2016 at 04:33 PM.
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#13
10-13-2016, 01:46 PM
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Like Kerbie, I love using them for old time blues, as those were the types that those 'old-time' blues musicians used. I've owned quite a few of them and this Kalamazoo KG-11 is one of the ones I hung on to.
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Fingerpicking Acoustic Blues/Rag/Folk/Slide Lessons https://www.tobywalkerslessons.com/
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#14
10-13-2016, 05:39 PM
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Quote:
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#15
10-13-2016, 07:49 PM
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Quote:
Buck Owens The Harmony Sovereign in this video is also ladder braced. These are wonderful guitars for singer-songwriters. What's really annoying is that Silvertone has created a reissue of the OM style Harmony Sovereign the Buck Owens was based on but the owner decided updating their Harmony inspired creations to more traditional X bracing made more sense. He's completely missing the mark on the rejuvenated interest in ladder braced instruments and that their unique tone is why so many musicians are interested in them (Collings gets it, but then again perhaps that's why Collings is Collings and Silvertone is where it is). I contacted them and recommended they try one model with ladder bracing, they didn't even bother to write back... Not my company so I had low expectation that they would. Also, they are building in China probably using a shared factory and going ladder braced would no doubt drive the price up. Perhaps they aren't idiots and actually have some sound business reasons for not doing it. Thankfully, the vintage Harmony's are still at affordable prices. Especially if you don't mind one with a few battle scars. http://www.silvertoneclassic.com/guitars/model-600/
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Wayne J-45 song of the day archive https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis..._Zmxz51NAwG1UJ My music https://soundcloud.com/waynedeats76 https://www.facebook.com/waynedeatsmusic My guitars Gibson, Martin, Blueridge, Alvarez, Takamine Last edited by Rmz76; 10-13-2016 at 07:57 PM.
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