Grand Concert for Freegift, Builder Swap

[Edward Taylor]

Once again, Joe, you have created an instrument from 1942 using your artistic eye to build it in contemporary time. Where do you hide your time machine?

I'm pretty sure its disguised as that old phone booth. It was a phone booth right? I cant find that thread... Joe must have gone back in time and erased it.

Agree with all of the above, great looking guitar!!!

[Eben]

Joe, if and when I grow up, I'd love to have a decent smidgen of your aesthetic!

BEAUTIFUL!

E

[Joe Sustaire]

Okay guys, you've got me blushing now!

And yes Grant this is where I've learned most of what I've learned, I cruise the other forums also looking for wisdom, but this is where you get to see the great builders break it down for you! So much to learn and so many mistakes to make!

And Steve I'm truly not ignoring your questions, talking about sound does get into the wine description territory real quick. Sounds good, but what the hell does it mean?

I decided the neck was a bit too chunky so I've gone back into it and carved it down to where it fits the hand a bit better, I hope. So it's been out of play while I'm refinishing it. I'll try to get a better idea of the sound when I get it back into play. From what I've found so far it's got a nicely balanced mid-rangy tone, not dark or light, and it doesn't sound tight too me. It's not as loud as the ladder braced re-top I did on my Ditson recently, so it's not a banjo killer. I got to hear a friend play it the other day, flat-pick, and we were outside and it sounded really good listening across from it. I think I already mentioned how the sound-port does help the sound wrap around you from a player's perspective. So, yes I will do some more exploration of this bracing pattern.

And I like the internal bracing of the neck block, hopefully it will keep the geometry in place. And it sure looks interesting peeking thru the sound-hole and port-hole. And yes Steve this kind of kerfing sure does stiffen the rims so seems like that's got to help.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments everyone!

Joe

ps. Edward stumbled upon the secret, it is the old phone booth!

[Garry Hallam]

Well keep on blushing Joe, You are fast becoming one of the stand out builders
Well Done

Garry

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks Garry, but you better be more cautious in handing out the praise. Because the sound on this one has still been bothering me. Not bad, but it just doesn't hold up in an A/B comparison to my #7 build which is the same body size, GC, but has a few differences. Mahogany b&s versus walnut, floating bridge and tailpiece versus pin bridge, and the bracing is a bit different also.

#7



And this one with the shot below showing the height of the bracing.


Now #7 is maybe the best sounding one I've built and in comparing the bracing I've decided that it's just over-braced given that the tops are the same size. Four braces below the soundhole as opposed to two. So sometimes you just have to back your ears and dive in!




And that's what I took off the four braces below the soundhole with the little plane and then smoothed up with a sanding block.

And now it sounds like I believe it should, not the same as #7, too many other differences, but it's in the same ballpark and will hold it's own. What a relief! Now it's a guitar I can be proud of.

In a recent email with Scott van Linge, I asked him if he ever got the sound right on a new build without having to go in and adjust things, and he said no, he always has to fine tune them. Some of us have to do a little more. Working up the guts to do it is the hard part!

Joe

[Dennis Leahy]

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that plane in your hand?

I'm guessing the shavings came mainly off the braces fore and aft of the bridge plate?

Really glad to hear you're now pleased with the sound!

Dennis

[Garry Hallam]

See Joe, you have it perfected now. Me, I would probably just kept on grumbling that it wasn't right! for fear of making it worse

Garry

[Joe Sustaire]

Yeah Dennis, those were probably the ones that helped it open up the most. I also took the last one down a bit but there wasn't much more I could do there, and I decided the one by the soundhole was taller than was needed also since their is a crossgrain patch around the soundhole. Doubt that it added much but who knows.

Yeah the risk of making it worse is the worry Garry, but hey I got to thinking, it's Dean's guitar anyway, not like I'd have to live with it!

Joe