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Martin’s OM X-bracing plan
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Author:  James Orr [ Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:07 am ]
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Hi everyone

Does anyone know where I can get the bracing layout of an actual Martin
OM? I'd like to get my hands on it to study a bit from the original.
Angles and placement. Thanks for any leads!
Author:  Don Williams [ Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:47 am ]
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John Hall has plans. So does Stew Mac I think. GAL almost certainly would.
Author:  James Orr [ Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:52 am ]
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Thanks Don. I just want to be sure I get one that is as close to what
Martin's using as possible rather than an interpretation of it.
Author:  James Orr [ Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:19 am ]
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Thanks, Todd. That's exactly what I was hoping for. In this case, I just
have the desire to look at the Martin to see the basis for most of the
bracing patterns out there. MichaelP did the OLF OM plans, and Michael
is an excellent builder and illustrator. The finger braces look a bite more
acute than the Martin, so I'm not sure if anything else is varied.
Author:  Michael Dale Payne [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:34 am ]
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The location of the top bracing on the OLF OM is is a direct descendant of the bracing pattern that was drawn on the top provided with a Martin OM-14 kit I bought direct from Martin and built years ago, but only in reference to brace locations. I lighten up the bracing some.

Martin has re-designed there A-Frame bracing several times since the 40's I believe the OLF OM plans reflect the current design, but I could be wrong there.
Author:  Kevin Gallagher [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:25 pm ]
Post subject: 
   Martin's "A" frame bracing a the neck block was designed and
implemented for the very first time in the early 90s. I was there to be a
part of that design team.

   The "X" bracing has been around for decades, but the "A" portion is
brand new.

   You can call Gail at GMC (Guitarmaker's Connection) at Martin and she
will trace the actual OM pattern placement onto a poster for you. That
way, you'll know that you're getting what is, in fact, the Martin pattern
and not a close facsimile.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars
Author:  Dave White [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:47 pm ]
Post subject: 
[QUOTE=Kevin Gallagher]    Martin's "A" frame bracing a the neck block was designed and
implemented for the very first time in the early 90s. I was there to be a
part of that design team.

   The "X" bracing has been around for decades, but the "A" portion is
brand new.

[/QUOTE]

Kevin,

It's fascinating to know that you were part of the Martin design team that "birthed" the Martin A brace. I'd love to know more about how the concept evolved and took shape.

Part of my interest lies in UK guitar making "folklore". I have heard that Roger Bucknall of Fylde guitars and George Lowden have been using "A" frame upper bout braces that are set into the neckblock since the early 1970's in their instruments. I say "heard" as I haven't spoken directly to either of these great builders about it.

So many guitar "innovations" are developed in isolation but when you look around in either time or geography, the same innovations are occuring without any direct knowledge or contact between the people involved - Morphic Resonance I think you would call it and a fascinating example of human evolution.

Pardon my rambling . . .
Author:  Colin S [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:21 am ]
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Dave, I had one of Rodger's guitars in the late 70s and it did have the A frame at the neck block, and I believe George beat him to it as well.

It's the same with the X- brace, Eustaquio Torralba made guitars that effectively used an X brace and a single upper harminic bar in the 1860s. Martin's design evolved to carry out the same function, so took a similar form, X-brace and single upper harmonic bar. One type of co-evolution.

It's the same in evolutionary biology where animals from different genera say, sharks and dolphins evolve the same general shape because they are adapting to the the same enviornment.

Very little is truly new, most things and designs are simply evotionary steps in a developing continuum. People talk about things being a quantum leap, well a quantum is a very small amount!

Colin

Author:  Kevin Gallagher [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:31 am ]
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   The evolution in guitar design is a pretty far stretch from the theory of
evolution in nature, but there has been an evolution of sorts, nonetheless.

   In most cases where a design shows up that was used by another...or
several other builders...in the past, the new innovator was directly
influenced by those original designs. This continues to happen today with
very well known ideas of one builder showing up on the guitars of others
within weeks of their introduction. There are those exceptions where a
new idea comes from nothing less than creative innovation, but most
come from copying an idea in an effort to build off of it as a foundation
for growth.

   I've seen some "X" braced guitars that were built long before old C.F.
Martin ever laid his hands and tools to wood and I'd seen several "A"
braced guitars before the idea ever hit Nazareth, but both ideas have
become widely credited to Martin simply because of theirhigh level of
visibility.

   The Martin theory behind the "X" brace was not only to take advantage
of the structural support offered by the long legs of the "X" braces, but
also to transport vibration to the nodal portions of the vibrating top or to
transduce those areas into active conributors to the tone of the guitars.

   The "A" bracing or hybrid design takes advantage of the longitudinal
strength of those quartersawn braces as they're applied in a more paralel
configuration in relationship to the top's grain and the tension generated
and applied by the strings.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars


Author:  James Orr [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 3:47 am ]
Post subject: 
Hey, thanks for the conversation, guys! Michael, sorry about the incorrect
reference there.

I'd like to create a few facimiles of tops based on what I know about
them. When we talk about bracing, it seems to come down to making the
top as resonant as possible, which isn't a bad thing. That's also how Rob
Schenk talked about it in an interview he did in the latest issue of
Fingerstyle Guitar. It seems like there's another side to it though. Some
guitars have lots of note to note separation, some have an interesting
character in the overtones, etc. Some of that has to come from
positioning. I've noticed that guitars with lots of separation tend not to
have parallel lower face braces. The lower of the two seems to be pointed
a little more towards the lower bout than the top---but that's as far as
that assessment goes on my side and I have no idea if it does anything to
the tone at all.

I'm really interested in simply gathering information about guitars I like to
see if I notice any patterns in the build AND the character of the guitar.   
Author:  James Orr [ Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:45 am ]
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Gail is going to send me a reject top with the bracing pattern traced on.
Thanks, Kevin. It will be interesting to see what they send.
Author:  Kevin Gallagher [ Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:15 am ]
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James,
No thanks necessary. Gail is a great lady and she will go the extra mile
to make you happy and to get the right parts into your hands.

I pop in there every now and thn to say hello and to flip through woods
and things of interest that may be on hand. I take the Martin tour once or
twice a month and snap a few hundred photos of everything new under
the roof and usually get to slide in to sit with the R&D guys for a little
discussion on design and tooing and finish...or whatever happens to be
the hot topic of the day.

The Martin plant is still one of the finest guitar building facilities on the
planet...and most of what makes it so cool are the great people working
there. From Chris Martin down, they are a friendly bunch.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher
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