jessejames Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Usually electric builders when building a semihollow guitar will route out a huge chunk of the wood to accomplish the acoustic sound. This takes away from the tone of the guitar and does not allow the wood to ring out. Acoustic makes will brace the guitar in certain areas to produce certain sounds. I have integrated the best of both worlds, where I allow the guitar to have it's tone accentuated through veins I will be routing out in the guitar. I believe this will produce a nice full sound, lighter guitar, and the ability to ring out throughout the guitar. I have originated this idea and am the only one out there doing it (AFAIK) Enjoy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 New ideas are always interesting to see what the results are. Bracing is not specifically "meant" to produce certain tonality, it is there to stiffen a flexible top into a stronger (usually) dome shape. Certain bracing strategies help to voice the top but are primarily there to keep it in that non-flat shape. Unless you are working on something along the lines of an archtop you won't find any benefits unless I am misunderstanding what you are aiming for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Just exactly that, a different voicing. That is why there is so much going on around the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YetzerHarah Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 I'm not sold yet, but I'd like to see/hear/play it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 I thought bracing was to keep the top stiff because of bridge/string tension, regardless of the shape of the top. All my acoustics (flat tops) have bracing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 You should look up Somogyi's work on monocots and you'll get a better idea of what bracing is actually doing. Nothing here is mimicing how braces work at all. It may produce some different sound (who knows, but I have my doubts), but it won't be because what you're thinking it will be. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 As mentioned before more than once, bracing, however often referred to as tone shaping devices, are first and foremost there as a structural reinforcement of the top. As we cut a big hole in the area of the top were the strings execute the most force on the top we need to put a big X in there. If we move the hole, as many modern makers are starting to do, to an area of the top that is more or less dead acoustically (part of the top or the rims) that will make the structural part of the bracing less important and the builder are liberated to use bracings that maybe can somewhat change the way the top vibrate. Having said all that (sorry for the rant) I'm really curious to know more about your ideas as I don't really understand what you are doing different. Are you integrating the bracing pattern in to the main body wood by routing out the main mass of the body but leaving the "bracings" intact? Or are you starting with a thick top and tout out the wood so that the bracings are integrated/cut from the same piece as the top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 As I understood it Peter, he's doing the opposite of bracing, hence the name "Negative-X." Where he has those lines on the body he'll be routing air passages under the top. I believe he thinks this will give him both a more lush sound as well as keep the body relatively solid still (to either fit the ideal of Teuffel who thinks long in-disturbed fibers are the key to tone, or the LP group that thinks mass is). Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 interesting idea. I'm all for thinking outside of the box. However I still don't get the whole idea (probably just me being thick-headed). Are you going to use an acoustic top on it? or a hardwood top? Or leave the channels open? If I understand the last pic right, you will rout out a big chunk right under the bridge area. Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 I also does not agree with this statement. Usually electric builders when building a semihollow guitar will route out a huge chunk of the wood to accomplish the acoustic sound. This takes away from the tone of the guitar and does not allow the wood to ring out. Hollowing out a body doesn't "take away" from the tone of the guitar. It does change the tone, indeed. But most people claim that it add a new complexity to the tone. However that last part is just opinions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted July 6, 2013 Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 My dreadnaught guitar rings best on a C note. So the cavities do have effects. You actually tune a violin cavity when you carve it. There's a science to the arch of the top and back, as well as the height of the sides. If not tuned properly, annoying things like wolf notes, and dead notes happen. A properly tuned acoustic cavity in a violin can produce an instrument that fills a stadium with music without using any electronic amplification. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 6, 2013 Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 That can be true, but it's still not their primary purpose. That said, this doesn't matter, we're talking about a free moving top with bracing grafted onto it. He's discussing a rigidly glued down top with airways that pass underneath it which mimic the layout of braces. Apples, oranges. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted July 6, 2013 Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 I was responding more to Sweedish Luthier's post. But you are right, Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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