Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all
I design most of my own bracing patterns and I am very happy with my L-
OO. (14 fret 24.9)
A customer wants a 12 fret version, so I am redesigning it from scratch.

Shifting bridge plate, X braces etc etc.
As far as the soundhole goes, would most of you shift it the same amount
lower. Leave it in the same position as the 14 fret model, or some happy
medium between.

Thanks
Andy

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Andy ,I`m not an expert by any means,but when I built a 000 12 fret I moved the sound hole forward about 3/8 of an inch.This was mainly due to the body shape being a little longer.I used the 24.9 scale, as you are doing ,and I liked the play- ability so much ,I`m currently building a cut-away OM style 12 fret with the same scale.
                    James

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Andy,the little woman called me for supper ,so I didn`t finish.Anyway on my current build I kept the same body shape as an OM,only in a cut-away.The 12fret 24.9 scale pushes the bridge back which I think creates a more powerful sounding guitar.On this guitar I moved the soundhole back about 1/2 inch more than what the plan called for, because of the bridge location.Of course I also moved the braces so they would intersect the back corners of the bridge.
                      James

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Andy-
When you say you are doing a complete re-design, are you lengthening the body?
I usually locate the sound hole to some extent based on the number of frets I want on the fb and where the fb end will fall in relation to the last fret. So if you want the same 'look' as on your 14fret design, you should probably move the soundhole down. To keep the same total # of frets, the soundhole would have to be moved a lot- about 1.35"- which is 'too much'(?), so you'll probably have to drop one or two frets off the board.
A few minutes with a slotted fingerboard (or drawing of one) will tell you what you need, I think.
And you know all this anyhow!
Cheers
John

John
I am NOT lengthening the body. Same mold, same scale length, just want to
change to a 12 fret.

Thanks. My feeling was to move the soundhole south for the same reasons
you mentioned.

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Interesting Todd
I was just laying it out and I compromised with 19 total frets to balance out
the soundhole!!!!!

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com