Official Luthiers Forum!

Terry...I've built 2 so far...I love them. As with most Antes plans, these are also over-braced. I significantly lightened rhem up and they are just fine and sounding even better after 3 years.

One is a Walnut/Redwood. The other is Cherry/Sitka. They each have their own personalities.

I'll post pics later.

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

Terry-
I've built a couple as well. Like JJ, I didn't pay too much attention to the bracing specs in the plans, as there were plenty of comments online that Antes bracing was on the heavy side.
I had a new gun and went a bit overboard with the lacquer thickness, so I'm sure they'd sound better with FP (or thin lacquer) on the tops.
I'd also make the bridges a bit smaller next time.
However, I'm pleased with how they turned out.

Parlour guitars

Cheers

John

I've got the plans and made some molds for the body, but I've not got
around to completing one yet. I've got one in the works though.. A
Adirondack/Brazilian one.

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

Terry...Here are some links to the threads of my parlors. If you need more info or have questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cherry/Sitka Parlor

Walnut/Redwood Parlor Guitar

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

JJ,
do you remember how thick the redwood top you used ended up?

[QUOTE=vachterm] JJ,
do you remember how thick the redwood top you used ended up?[/QUOTE]

.115" in the center and ranging from .105" to .110" around the perimeter of the lower bout. If I had to characterize the stiffness of this top I'd say it was medium to stiff with a very lively tap tone. I found this redwood top to be dry and very light in weight.

BTW...I bought it from Don Williams.

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

[QUOTE=terken]
Also the plans call for a 24.5 scale. See any problem with a 24.9 adjusting the braces accordingly? (I suppose a 13 fret is an option too)
[/QUOTE]
Terry-
Mine are 25.4 scale and seem to work fine, so I wouldn't worry about moving to 24.9, as long as you adjust the bracing and bridgeplate positions accordingly.
You're only talking about a .2 inch movement of the bridge, not a major thing in my book.

Cheers
John

Terry-
The soundholes on mine measure 3.375" (3 3/8").
I used bolt-on necks and managed to work through the soundhole OK. but it might be worth your time to cut a few holes in some scrap and see how much clearance your hand needs. If you go for a bigger soundhole, you might want to keep the 'rosette' narrow- draw it out to see how it looks.

As far as the bracing/thickness goes, remember that the smaller soundboard dimensions mean that there's less 'span' to support, so you can adjust the bracing (lighter than a OOO) because of that. That said, I like to see some doming in the tops of my guitars, so my bracing is usually on the light side. I've got medium strings on mine, but may switch to lights at some point.

"Little' guitars with big sound are lots of fun...better than the converse for sure!

Cheers

John

Terry,

If you search the archives I believe that Al Carruth has talked about this some. Roger Siminoff uses soundhole size to complete the "tuning" of his chambers and talks about it his most recent two books. I think making a larger hole raises the resonance frequency while making it smaller lowers it. Makes sense that on a smaller guitar you might want to lower that frequency a bit to level things out.

Good Luck

Shane

_________________
Canada

I have Koa and Adirondack for this plan. I am looking for someone here who might supply a 12 fret neck for this project. Any ideas?

Thanks

Mark

 

_________________
Wisdom is justified by her children