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I've went through a few different patterns, and have been getting closer
and
closer to the tone I'm looking for.

Here is a original pattern on the 5th ever Mayes guitar...

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IMG]

Here is one about 5 years later:


IMG]

And here most recently.. I've taken a big leap forward to what I'm looking
for. Before they were traditionally voiced for the most part, but now I'm
coming into my own.. but of course more has changed than just the
pattern. This newest style is covered in my Advanced voicing video for
the most part. The older style in my original voicing videos.


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_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

wow.. so much for the picture upload feature on my post.....

But now you all see my revolutionary "blue question mark" bracing pattern.

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

John:

That is really interesting shape you have there.  A little square top with a small red x in it.  Nice clean work.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I'm noticing a lot of curved bridgeplates. Any advantage?

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Hey, great thread Hesh. This is the 3rd acoustic I'm making, and am going round and round on the bracing. Do you think I should cut the finger braces short of the kerfed lining? Also, I'm thinking about getting rid of the lower tone bar, because it's so close to the tailblock. On the next one, I'll probably run the tone bars on an angle, like everybody else does. Alan.

I'll show mine again

_________________
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

The writing? or the Ping?

That's just True Guitars, my signature, #5-OM

_________________
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

Thankyou Hesh.

Well, my regret is that I didn't install a small finger brace on the bass side of the X brace....and am wondering if I should glue a precarved one in JUST to fill that vulnerable area of spruce.

Might be a bit late now the box is closed...although lolly sticks DO come in handy for glueing those loose braces you may find on those factory made acoustics!!

OK it’s not an acoustic but..
This is my attempt at making an electric 12 string that has “some” acoustical sound.
Not realy a brace pattern per say, but two hefty struts carry the string load through the body but leave the lower bout free to move (a little). I carved pockets into the top in a spider pattern. I’m not sure if this will do much but it does look cool.
With all the posts on light instruments, this is the lightest electric I’ve made.
Sure hope it sounds good.



Wade

_________________
Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

here is a shot of my latest bracing pattern on a small L-00 sized guitar...
This guitar sounded really punchy, well rounded and vibey to me...(I was
shooting for a vintage gibsonesque tone)

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Latest shot.....

This is my SJ bracing, the X's and the tone bars are cedar. The lower X braces are let into the lining.



long

_________________
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Here's my latest.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Great thread Hesh, it is very inspirational and and there is a lot of food for thought here. Thanks for "spilling your guts", everybody!

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I was working on this one this afternoon and it ended up a bit dissapointing. Before I started carving, the tap tone was a dull thud and didn't really improve too much no matter what I tried.

It's Engelmann .011 with Adi braces, Maple bridge plate and the braces are about down to 'racing' spec so I'm not game to take any more off.

I'll throw it on the guitar it's intended for and see what happens. If it's no good I'll take it off and do another one.



Cheers

_________________

------------------------------------------------------
Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Thanks Hesh, I'll give that a go.

And if it doesn't work I can always say.

HESH MADE ME DO IT

Cheers

_________________

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

I'm pleased to report that Hesh's suggestion worked a treat.

Took 2mm height from each brace and triangulated them again and the top took on a whole new lease of life - nice high tap tone with a resonant bottom end rumble and a lot more sustain.

Talking to Hesh earlier today and he made mention of how the top changes when attached to sides which got me thinking (always dangerous) about a Dana Bourgeios article on voicing.

He states

[QUOTE=Dana Bourgeois]"I find, though, that tapping a braced top does not produce a clear enough tone to allow me to hear the results of making small changes in the shape of the braces. So this is another stage at which I consider the attempt to make more important judgments unreliable.

Next I glue the top to the rim. Then I can remove the top and sides from the mold and hold them up by the neck block. Now when I tap the top in the bridge area I get all kinds of response. To me, this is the point where it makes the most sense to finish shaping the braces, because now I can hear the results of even subtle changes that I might want to make." [/QUOTE]

Ervin Somogyi does someting similar by strapping his tops into a frame.

So, if this method gives you a clearer indication of what your carving/voicing is actually doing to the top
how do I build a jig to simulate the sides (and maybe the back) of a guitar and somehow clamp the top to it? (I still want to glue the backs on before the top to keep everything neat)

Is it possible to construct something that that would be universal? ie I don't want to be building a different box for every guitar shape I make.

Or would this be futile in that the different body shapes and depths would render this exercise
futile?

Fire away.

Cheers

_________________

------------------------------------------------------
Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

This is the bracing on my SJ. My first attempt at "parabolic" bracing.
Nothing fancy. Ended up sounding really nice though!







Sorry for the bad camera phone quality.

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Here is my redwood/coco OOO
I have been playing around with different patterns

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I really wanted to see what John was trying to post, so I did some rooting around. Hope I got the sequence right. Safari on Macs and the forum software don't play well together sometimes. Firefox works better.

[QUOTE=John Mayes] I've went through a few different patterns, and have been getting closer
and
closer to the tone I'm looking for.

Here is a original pattern on the 5th ever Mayes guitar...




Here is one about 5 years later:




And here most recently.. I've taken a big leap forward to what I'm looking
for. Before they were traditionally voiced for the most part, but now I'm
coming into my own.. but of course more has changed than just the
pattern. This newest style is covered in my Advanced voicing video for
the most part. The older style in my original voicing videos.

_________________
now known around here as Pat Foster
_________________
http://www.patfosterguitars.com

edit: Looks like I took out the tail of the quote statement in the post above. It was a quote of John Mayes' post.

_________________
now known around here as Pat Foster
_________________
http://www.patfosterguitars.com