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  #16  
Old 01-01-2022, 12:48 PM
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jcjenkins3 jcjenkins3 is offline
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Default New Headstock Design

We have "Americanized", although some might say stolen, a new headstock design from our wonderful Italian cohorts, Simone and Andrea. We jokingly call them our Italian division. They collaborate with us on many things, including researching tone wood science (please look at their Abies Project), and guitar building. Last year they built a wonderful guitar for another of our Italian friends, Carlo Conti, using the Big Hoss body shape. It was a mutual experiment to see how falcate bracing worked in a Big Hoss. I must say it was quite successful. The guitar sounds wonderful in the hands of a great player like Carlo. In the process, they developed a new headstock design that made a lot of sense to us with respect to where the wood was relieved for the strings to pass from the nut to the slot head tuners. We altered it a little bit. This is our version in the rough - not sanded, fingerboard not sanded, and only placed on to show its final position, also no truss rod cover. The truss rod cover will be set into the head plate and held in place with magnets.
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  #17  
Old 01-01-2022, 06:23 PM
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Love it, nice addition.
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  #18  
Old 01-02-2022, 04:00 PM
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Hey Chris, I hope you are doing well! I just saw this build thread (I'm not joining the AGF as often as I used to, and should, nowadays - little kids and a new job ). This one looks great. I've always admired your unique design elements, and the new headstock fits in nicely.

I absolutely love my Saddle Pal in Cedar and Koa - best guitar I've ever owned. A friend of mine, a great guitar player and singer-songwriter from Sweden, Fredrik Kinbom, visited me a few days ago and was very impressed when he played it. His recent collaboration with German composer Hans-Jörn Brandenburg is worth checking out: https://www.musicradar.com/news/fred...p-steel-guitar. He called me up the next day to know more about the guitar.

It is interesting that you are using falcate braces now. Are you planning to remplace the X brace in the future, or will this be a second option?

Anyway, greetings to all, and Happy New Year!!!

Last edited by Ernesto; 01-03-2022 at 03:55 AM.
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  #19  
Old 01-03-2022, 01:09 PM
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Default Happy New Year Felix!

It is great to hear from you Felix. I can't help but smile whenI think of your Saddle Pal. Love that guitar, in every way. This is the first falcate braced guitar. You might call it an experiment. We have been so happy with our X braced guitars, I find myself wondering at times why the experiment. One just never knows. Undoubtedly it will sound differently. Better? Worse? Who knows, but different. It will probably be an option if the experiment comes out as we hope it will. Some will prefer the X brace sound, some the falcate. The falcate bracing may be capable of different things, we will see. Don't be a stranger. Are you backing Germany? I will be coming to Italy in March present an adjustable playing action seminar.
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  #20  
Old 01-03-2022, 01:16 PM
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Default Happy New Year Felix!

It is great to hear from you Felix. I can't help but smile whenI think of your Saddle Pal. Love that guitar, in every way. This is the first falcate braced guitar. You might call it an experiment. We have been so happy with our X braced guitars, I find myself wondering at times why the experiment. One just never knows. Undoubtedly it will sound differently. Better? Worse? Who knows, but different. It will probably be an option if the experiment comes out as we hope it will. Some will prefer the X brace sound, some the falcate. The falcate bracing may be capable of different things, we will see. Don't be a stranger. Are you backing Germany? I will be coming to Italy in March present an adjustable playing action seminar.
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  #21  
Old 01-03-2022, 03:22 PM
gstring gstring is offline
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Default Welcome

"And please be patient, we are still in the process of figuring out how to do this. We may ask for your tips and help"

I am not an expert on guitar building, but from what I can see of your work I am not sure this statement is true " lol lol lol

daniel
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  #22  
Old 01-03-2022, 10:29 PM
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Default Clarification

G String,
I don't claim to be an expert on anything. However, I am of the age where that won't hold me back. When I was in veterinary school, a professor once told me,"You must be over 65 years old, and at least 500 miles from home to be considered an expert." Anyway, while I learn everyday, I have been at the guitar building a long time. I was referring to how to get content on the AGF in my post! Ha. ha.
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  #23  
Old 01-03-2022, 10:44 PM
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Welcome on board. I really enjoyed seeing and trying your instruments at B.I.G. this year!
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  #24  
Old 01-04-2022, 03:08 PM
Ernesto Ernesto is offline
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What you say about falcate and x-bracing sounds interesting, Chris. Maybe it will be possible one day to directly compare two guitars with the same body dimensions and similar woods, one with falcate, the other with x-bracing. I don't think this has ever been done before. I'm looking forward to hearing your descriptions of how this one sounds once it's finished.

Yes, I'm back in Germany. Not too far from Italy -interesting project, the adjustable neck seminar- at least for someone coming from Texas, or Chile

Last edited by Ernesto; 01-04-2022 at 03:15 PM.
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  #25  
Old 01-16-2022, 11:03 AM
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Default Top Braced!

It took us a while, but the top's falcate bracing is all applied. we took our time because we wanted to be very careful with the voicing. Voicing this type of bracing is very different from X bracing. Shellac has been applied to seal the inside of top. The bridge plate is Brazilian rosewood. The braces are three pieces of Engelmann Spruce laminated together. We have found that, like the top, it is equally important to carefully evaluate the density and Young's modulus of the brace wood.
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  #26  
Old 01-16-2022, 09:40 PM
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Hey Chris, will you be bringing a falcate-braced guitar to one of the LINT meetings? I would welcome the chance to hear how it works for you.
Your work here looks elegant!

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  #27  
Old 01-17-2022, 07:43 AM
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Steve, I am anxious to hear it myself. I feel the sound will be different than if this same top were X braced, based on the early voicing process. It is very stiff longitudinally, not so much cross grain.
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  #28  
Old 01-17-2022, 08:33 PM
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Hi Chris and Jeremy! I hadn't noticed this thread, until now. It's great you are showing us a peek under the hood of your workshop. Welcome! I'm looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.
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  #29  
Old 01-17-2022, 11:17 PM
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Dan,
I'm glad you found it. After BIG, we felt we wanted to join the Forum. So many great folks here, like yourself. How are you getting along with your Gitjo?
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  #30  
Old 01-18-2022, 06:52 AM
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The falcate bracing looks really interesting. It’s a great idea to note the top thicknesses as you have. The photo is now almost a blueprint for future reference. I assume that it will have a pinless bridge? Thanks for sharing the process. Dave
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