|
Dave,
Having built more than 450 guitars, I have a reasonable idea of what
voicing is and the effects that even the most subtle variations in brace
mass and location have on a top's ability to work efficiently. I know you
don't know me, but i was really trying to be as articulate as I could be.
Our goals are identical as we voice our tops in an effort to minimize
damping, but since a certain level of damping is inevitable, we need to
learn to minimize its negative effects and turn it into a positive force as
much as possible.
Your guitars and my guitars and those of any other builder, for that
matter, have a certain amount of necessary mass in place when
considering the plates and bracing and with that mass come specific and
unavoidable damping effects. My point, put as simply as possible was
that we have the opportunity to determine how those damping effects
become evident in our tops. We can, through experience and care, use
them to our benefit as we direct vibration to the least activated portions
of the top instead of just following the examples set by our favorite
builders on the guitars that we've enjoyed most from them or by
duplicating what we read in a book.
I can inderstand your having a little chuckle with my choice of words
being what it was in that post. Sorry that I wasn't more clear in my
explanation of my approach and philosophy on the matter. Hopefully, i
can explain more clearly what I meant without being too funny.
It's inevitable that there is going to be mass present as we brace a top
since those braces have mass and are glued to the top in our effort to
make them become a tone producing system of components with
sufficient rigidity and integrity to withstand the forces of a set of strings
pulling on them...hopefully for a lifetime.
With that obvious mass is going to come a culprit that we all try to
eliminate as much as possible which is the damping effect that mass has
on that wonderfully resonant unbraced top plate that just rings for
seconds on end. As we reduce mass and its subsequent weight by
shaving braces and scalloping or tapering, we reduce the damping effects
of the braces on the top assembly relative to the distribution of the
remaining mass.
The important and very obvious thing to remember and realize, though,
is that we can't eliminate ALL of the mass, which is the only way to
eliminate ALL of the damping so we have to be careful and considerate in
two respects.
First, that we don't compromise the integrity of the top by removing
too much mass in our efforts to achieve the perfect level of resonance
and...
Secondly, that we consider the distribution of the mass that remains in
an amount that provides adequate rigidity to provide integrity and
longevity.
While mass can be significantly reduced through tapering, scalloping
and profiling of the braces according to the preferred approach of a
particular builder, improper distibution of the remaining mass can isolate
areas of the top, even when the bracing is extremely light and of very
small dimensions creating dead spots or inactive nodes in the top.
As the peeks or points on braces are considered for both height and
location, the builder who has experienced the effects of their placement
being varied from one guitar to another for dozens or more guitars can
refer to past results to achieve consistency and to attain a better tone and
response characteristic set as their instrument numbers increase.
Experience is always the best teacher when we try different locations or
profiles for our braces...no matter what builders are being used as
references or models.
I get more than a good chuckle from builders who come across as
being able to haphazardly place and shape braces and dismiss the
techinique of voicing and its importance. Great guitars don't happen by
accident. Those builders have been proven wrong by the results of
thousands of builders producing even more thousands of guitars of much
higher quality than theirs' while employing voicing through a myriad of
techniques. Voicing works and is essential to coaxing a top to respond as
close to its tonal and dynamic potential as possible.
Many builders have identically duplicated the brace placement and
scalloping of a pre war Martin with hopes of achieving the same tone and
response only to be perplexed and disappointed when all is said and
done. There is something to be said about the illusive and cryptic
techiniques used by experienced builders while voicing their tops and the
guys who applied their expertise and experience to the tops of those
great old Martins were no exception. They were all different and for the
obvious reason that their accumulated components presented unique and
individual tonal capabilities that justified attention that was equally
unique and individual.
Some voicing methods may seem strange and almost rediculous to
some, but those builders who use them have arrived at them through
years of trial and error and, in some cases, hundreds of handbuilt guitars
that have been closely measured and documented in every aspect in an
effort to learn and grow in the craft.
As far as when the first uses of scalloping showed up in lutherie...I
have no idea, but many of the great violin builders were adamant about
the careful distribution of the mass of both the top and back plates as
they carved them to achieve great response to vibration throughout the
entire plate while maintaining strength. Some would suspend their tops
and backs between passes of the carving planes to check and document
the balance in order to be sure that weight, which is of course the
evidence of mass, was distributed to their liking and to arrive at the
desired tonal destination..
All of the finest classic guitar builders of old utilized a form of mass
and weight reduction and distribution similar to that of the violin builders
as they tapered and carved their lattice, ladder and fan bracing while
carefully monitoring not only the effect of changes to the mass of
individual braces in the overall resonance and response of the top, but
also the changes brought about by the changes made to the mass and its
distribution across the entire bracing pattern.
We commonly see broad variations in brace placement and dimensions
as well as profile and mass relief on guitars made by the same builder
well before the advent of steel strung instruments. It's also widely
understood that small nodes that may otherwise be muted or "dead" in a
great guitar's top can be activated and seemingly brought to life through
careful and very subtle changes made to particular portions of the
bracing inside of that top. Each note played on each string activates a
small node of the top and some notes can be brought into better balance
with others through careful changes made by an experienced craftsman
to their braces. It's not that the builder didn't get it right the first time,
but simply that changes that have occurred over the years to the wood
and and joints of the guitars have caused response changes to appear.
I've played a few guitars that were braced and voiced very nicely by the
original builder and then had opportunity to play them after a fairly well
known and heavily self touted "revoicing" guy got inside to "correct" the
voicing and I have to say that I considered eah of them destroyed by the
revoicing process. Each one had been brought to a place where they were
no longer balanced and were very bottom heavy and even boomy. The
clarity of the highs was lost in a symphony of boominess and it was a
shame to hear. The builder has the best shot at approaching the potential
of a pieces f wood tonally and is working in the best environment to make
it happen during the initial construction process.
So, whether you're scalloping, tapering, using parabolic profiles that are
wide and low or narrow and high or any other method of achieving the
tone and response that you consider to be closest to the potential of the
woods chosen for a particular guitar or player, you are....whether you
know it or care to admit it... simply distributing mass and directing the
vibration of the strings throughout the top while doing so.
I build an exceptionally light weight guitar by choice and mass is
present in your guitars to the same extent that it is in mine or any other
builder's and there's no way to refute or avoid that fact, but it's what we
do with that mass that determines where and how its damping effects will
show themselves. There will be damping in every guitar, but our care in
controlling it and making it work for us is something that can make the
difference between a great guitar and one that stuns every discerning
player who hears it with its incredible sustain and response.
This is just a subject that can be discussed without end and will
present as many different approaches and opinions as luthiers who will
chime in about it. The end needs to be one that is reached by each
builder individually as they build to their own specs and closely document
and refer to the results that come with radical and subtle changes to their
designs, construction and techniques in an effort to grow in the craft and
to be able to more accurately achieve what it is they're hearing in their
head as a guitar's potential.
I look forward to getting back to work and trying a few new design and
construction ideas that i've been throwing around here. It's been a tough
time off for me and I'm ready to work. I'm really hoping to come across a
few things that will help me to achieve some tonal goals i've had for
several years now. Lots of research into obscure and widely overlooked
violin building techniques have played a huge role in my new found desire
to apply some radical methods that I'll share once they've proven
themselves to be beneficial or not in our genre of instruments.
Believe me, I get a chuckle out alot of what I say, but we need to be
able to laugh at ourselves sometimes...right?
Thanks for reading,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega GuitarsKevin Gallagher39088.5273842593
|
Login
Register
FAQ
