Official Luthiers Forum!

Andy,

Thanks. I bet you could find a good local player that would love to test drive your guitars and you could record that. I think it helps being able to hear as well as see guitars - even though it's not the same as "in the flesh" it gives a pretty good idea. I record with a good condensor microphone and keep the EQ flat with no effects to get the "as heard" sound as close as possible.

Charliewood,

Yes they all have lots of character. Looking forward to seeing and maybe hearing yours when it is done.

Lex,

I wouldn't say very little bass otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep the ragtime alternating bass going. To me it seems the "right amount" for the guitar and via the side soundport the bass actually surprises me how strong it is. The guitar certainly has big mid-range focus and I am starting to hear the "growl" and "honk" that is there in spades on the old boy.

There is plenty of longitudinal stiffness already in the Euro spruce top and not such a huge mass in the centre - the bridge plate although almost the whole width of the top is a thin piece of spruce. I too thought that the lateral bracing would isolate the active sound areas but I don't think this is the case - the upper bout area is pretty active too when I play. I use a free floating neck and the cf buttress braces to bring this area in to play as much as I can.

Best thing is to make one yourself and see what happens. They are great fun!!

I think these sort of guitars were the ones the early greats used a lot as they were cheap (around $5) easily available via the Sears catalogue etc and pretty expendible - if they exploded or got destroyed in a bar-room fight you just got another one.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010