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Hello all

I have only played X braced guitars until recently when I acquired a ladder braced guitar. The sound is quite different. More bass for the x braced martin at least for the two I was comparing. I have never played a falcate braced guitar and don't have access to one. So, can anyone give a basic sound comparison of x braced vs ladder vs falcate?

Thanks
Kevin

Hi Kevin,
We have built over a hundred falcate braces guitars in our school now (and just as many X-braced). Just like with X-braced guitars, the sound varies across shapes and materials. The main difference of comparing falcate and X is that the value of every note up and down the fretboard is more consistent with falcate. Generally the guitars are also louder.

We have found that small - medium body guitars benefit the most from falcate whereas large dreadnoughts like a J45 shape can produce almost too much sound and can end up being a little muddy.

That being said, the acoustic basses we’ve made with falcate are so good that play as loud as any acoustic guitar and don’t need amplification in a jam session!

The main comment we get, particularly for the smaller body shapes, is how much louder they are and how rich a sound they have. If you turned away while a parlour was being played you’d swear it was a dreadnought.

Of course, all of this is also affected by the soundboard material, it’s inherent stiffness and the volume of air etc.

Hope this helps.

Martin


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Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au

Rye Bear makes a falcate super parlour that is like what Martin said, so dang good it sounds like a dread, just incredible…

thanks Martin

This is what I was looking for. I was afraid the falcate might not have the bass an x brace might have.

If executed properly, the falcate design should have more bass than an x braced guitar. The whole point of the falcate design is to increase monopole mobility…