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Ok, so I'm just finishing up my second guitar and it occurs to me I don't really know how a guitar works in terms of stresses and sound dynamics. I braced my two guitars with scalloped x-bracing but I really don't know why and why it works.

Seems to me that I need to know more about how these things work to logically move forward and grow as a builder.

Just wondered if anyone has some suggestions on where I might find information.

Thanks
Neil

Check this for a nice primer to get you started. Dana Bourgeois' lecture and articles about voicing and wood choices, &C.

http://web.archive.org/web/200503061149 ... _print.htm

In some of my past studies, I ran across THIS SITE that may be of interest to you.

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Reguards,

Ken H

There's a lot of info out there, and a lot we don't yet know. It's most likely a problem that will never be 'solved' completely.

You can download a free copy of 'Acoustics for Violin and Guitar Makers' by Eric Jansson from:
http://www.speech.kth.se/music/acviguit4/

Get part1.pdf through part9.pdf; the seperate chapters of the book. He mostly concentrates on classical guitars, but the basic info applies just as well to steel strings. Some of the studies he cites are old, and we've learned a lot since then, but it's a good start.

After that, keep your eye out for books on acoustics. "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics', by Arthur Benade, is good, and less mathematical than some. It's out in a Dover edition, so it's not too expensive. If you like partial differential equations, then try 'The Physics of Musical Instruments' by Fletcher and Rossing, from Springer-Verlag press.

Get in touch with Tim White (tpwhiteco@aol.com is the last e-mail addy I have for him) and get the reprint of the 'Journal of Guitar Acoustics'. Th
e quality of the articles is variable, but there's a lot of good info in there. Again, it's a bit dated: it came out in the '70s.

One more modern paper that has a lot to say is Howard Wright's thesis, from 1996 iirc, 'The Acoustics and Pschycoacoustics of the Guitar'. Go to the University of Wales Cardiff web site to download that.

By the time you've worked your way through those, and a few of the papers they cite, you'll be in good shape for starters. There's a ton of stuff around, but it can be hard to get hold of.

I'm taking a University statistics course right now and I learned a new word today that I though fit guitar making and Alan's above quoted statement very well:

Stochastic: This means there is a random element in it which precludes fully explaining all variation with 100% accuracy.

Wood moves in a chaotic mannor which can not be defined to 100% accuracy.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Order out of Chaos, hey, that sounds like my shop. Or my garage.

Thanks Rod for the new word. I can't pronounce it....

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Ah yes; 'stochastic noise'. It's been found that adding some noise at an inaudible level to a sound that is itself below the threshold of hearing can boost the energy of the sound enough to make it audible. In a related development, I've heard of triels of vibrator soles in shoes. One reason elderly folks fall is that they lose sensation in the feet as circulation becomes less good. A little 'buzz' in the shoes helps lift the touch sensation to a useable level.