Ladder Braced Grand Concert, Build #7

[gilmoreguitars]

Joe
Nicely done!! I really like the tailpiece and bridge treatment on this guitar. Did you glue the bridge in place or is it actually a floating bridge like on an archtop. I am also curious how it sounds.
Dude ...you are getting really good at this!!!
David

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks David, a true floating bridge, sure is great for setting intonation!

Joe

[Haans]

Hanns the longitudinal braces were laid down first and then I notched the ladders over them. The ladders we're pretty tall on the first go around so there was plenty of material I didn't think I needed to half-lap them but they got carved down quite a bit. I will half-lap them next time or do the tunnels like you did.

Thanks guys,
Joe

Joe, I think that's is the right way to go about it...notch the ladders. Those longitudinal braces are really tone bars and transfer the energy (think mandolins and archtop guitars) along the top. I have not liked the idea of cutting into them. One way to get around tall ladders is to scallop them and have the peaks over the tone bars. I just took it a step farther and kept the transverse bracing from interacting with the tone bars.
Something to chew on...

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks for the feedback Hanns. I've seen the tone bars on archtops but never really understood how they worked.
Glad I was on the right track, just a gut feeling, I didn't want to cut into those. Sometimes I get lucky!

Anyway I'm real pleased with how this one sounds so will be exploring this bracing further.

Thanks,
Joe

[D_H_G GUITARS]

Joe just catching up on alot of these posts here and man you keep turning out winners here. Your talents are just amazing. I like your builds and I realy enjoy your common sense aproach to building.
Keep up your great builds I like them!

Thxs
Hugh

[Colin S]

Joe, one thing you might like to consider on the next one would be to use open ladder braces, similar to the open harmonic bars on a Torres classical. I do this with the A brace on my steel strings where they pass through the UTB, and of course on my Torres classicals. That way any waves passing down the tone bars do so uninterrupted. Here's a couple of pics, my Torres top and a OOO redwood steel string to show you what I mean.





Colin

[Joe Sustaire]

That makes sense Colin. Hanns is doing that on his 12 string build. When I braced this one I didn't even realize that they were "tone bars", I was just looking to counteract the potato chip curl that is common with ladder bracing. But they sure do appear to improve the tone quality, the last ladder braced one I built has a harshness to the tone that doesn't compare well to our x brace acclimated ears. This one though sounds better to me than the x braces I have built.

Thanks for the feedback, it sounds like a good next step to me,
Joe

[Dennis Leahy]

I got a big kick when John How (on the OLF) gave you three thumbs up on this beauty.

Dennis