Official Luthiers Forum!

Todd,

Nice fix!! Well you will follow set plans

How's the sound developing - you were getting some good feedback from the players last post I read. I had a few slide players at the Cheltenham Show play the Weiss and they just loved the woody mellow sound compared to the Dobro's etc they were used to. I suspect there is a big latent market there waiting to explode - I wish!!

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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

good looking guitar and bridge too !

I had the same issue on one of my early Weissenborns. I actually had an ebony bridge break at the saddle on me before it went out to the customer so at least I saved myself a bit of embarassment.

I put the saddle back now about 1/5".

I've got another one here which still has its original bridge with only a 1/8" or so spacing as you said, but it's survived thanks to a very low saddle.

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Richard
http://www.guitarmaker.com

Good job Todd!
The Weiss looks Great !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Todd Stock wrote; "There are a couple of folks here on the OLF building
Weissenborns for their first guitar, so I hope I can save them from this
particular mistake."

Thanks Todd for the heads up Todd. It sure will helps us newbie Weiss.
builders.

Hey thanks Todd for that vital info. I am a first up builder having a go at producing a weiss. I need all the help I can get!!!

Cheers

Alan

Hey Todd;
When you decided to raise your bridge height, did you add a bit more height to the bracing to compensate for the increased leverage of the higher bridge?
I kept my Weiss bridge as low as possible so I could lighten up the top braces a bit.
A lot of the original Weissenbornes had problems with top distortion, so I kind of re-invented the bracing. After 2 years, the top still looks very good, but I want to go higher on the next bridge. It'd be interesting to see how Weiss bracing is developing in the new "low mass is good" world.
The bracing on the GAL plans I used seemed very high mass & structurally ineffective. Is anyone else playing with the bracing on these great instruments?
I will be using Lutz for the top on my next Weiss. Any comments on that would be helpful too!

Dan,

As you probably know I am a bit eccentric and not a traditionalist and approached building the Weisses as any of my other instruments. I used my usual 13' top brace radius and 10' back brace radiusing, Lutz spruce for the top and back braces (6-7mm wide by around 12-14mm at the highest capped X brace point), "triabolic" shaped - triangles and then tapered, narrow top X brace angle (about 78 degrees), sound hole re-enforcement plate, and "voicing" the top to give clear ringing sustain everywhere. On the back I did my normal X/ladder hybrid. My main focus was on the forward from soundhole area to counteract the string pull with no neck block and I evolved the interlocking X/ladder bracing here plus some criss-cross carbon fibre in the hollow neck area. Weight wise they are a little bit heavier than Todd's - about 3lb 9oz.

I didn't take many detailed pictures of the bracing but here's my Red Kite:





And Martha's slightly deeper bodied version:



The strings on both have largely been 0.015", 0.018", 0.024", 0.032", 0.042" and 0,053", but I recently put on a set of D'Addario Resonator strings: 0.016", 0.018", 0.026", 0.035", 0.045" and 0.056".

I just did some measurements tonight. On my Red Kite the strings are 5/16" above the fretboard at the nut and 5/8" above the soundboard at the bridge. Martha's is 1/32" higher at both points. Here are some pictures of the bridge geometry as of tonight (not very good ones I'm afraid). Mine is coming up to 9 months old and Martha's 7 months so it's early days but they seem fine and stable to me:

My Red Kite:



and Martha's:

_________________
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

Thanks Guys!
Interesting approach Dave. Sure looks like it will spread the load while keeping the bracing as light as possible.
I did bracing similar to Todd's on my first... My X was much more open to try bring out the bass response when tuned down to C. It seems to have worked well. The owner loves it & keeps it tuned in C most of the time.
I'm considering an X / lattice hybrid for the next one. I have built a few "flat top" zooks using this system & the tops are really stable & responsive while staying nice & light. Coupled with the Lutz top I'm hoping for a BIG sound, with lots of bass... And the stiffness needed to maintain its shape with a higher bridge/saddle.
I think I WILL deepen the body by 1/2" or so.
I used fret wire for my saddle, per the plans. Do you guys feel that loudness would increase with a bone saddle? Or perhaps enhance the "woody" sound?
It sure is cool to see how others approach the same problem using different solutions.
I guess I'm just gonna have to figure out how to shrink my pics easily, so I can post some!

Edit... I should have said my X is more open than Dave's... It's quite similar to Todd's. I used fairly tall tone bars a la standard Martin bracing, instead of the ladder braces.

Beautiful bridge design.
                  James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee