verhoevenc wrote:
I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that most area in the upper bout is relatively dead and doesn't play the much of a role (in terms of the top that is.... the upper bout IS an air volume). Like while watching the Somogyi videos, his top carving jig clamps the upper bout cause he doesn't even care about it's vibrations when tuning. More over, look at all the stuff we hang from soundholes... pickups, controls, tornavozs, etc. If that area HAD to be freed up to vibrate more, then you'd expect that hanging ANYTHING around the soundhole would have absolutely detrimental effects, and I can contest that it does not.
Chris
Chris
Well - the upper bout is relatively dead on most instruments because it is braced to the hilt to act as a buffer zone/barrier to stop the neck/fingerboard extension from imploding into the guitar body under string tension. As Monty Python would say - "A statement of the bleeding obvious". Put in some flying buttress braces that take the neck load into the sides, have the neck free-floating over the body and brace the upper bout for sound then there is a Lazarus effect - not dead anymore
Most things "hung" from the soundhole usually connect it from side to side so you could argue this helps sound transmission there.
Freeing the upper bout is about sound subtleties but small things can have a big impact. You get more of the overall top responding - which I suspect adds to the lower bout responsiveness, and the upper bout adds in to the harmonic complexities of the instrument in my humble - and limited - experience - I've only made 30 or so like this.