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Posts: 169
Joined: Apr. 5 2005
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Bracing - Fine Tuning
Hi everyone,
I've been playing blanca I completed buiding a year or so ago and have be gradually tweaking certain elements such as a nicer bridge, some inlay on the the peg ends, fret work etc. I'm not sure I've settled on the best nut/saddle heights yet but was that's another topic.
What I have been considering is something I've seen allussions to here and there refering to 'tuning' or balancing the top by sanding the fan braces while the guitar is strung up to concert pitch. Has anyone played with this? I'm willing to have a go based on what I've read but I'm not sure of the best method to get in at the braces. Maybe make a little tool the can 'elbow' in there with and inspection mirror. Thoughts?
I wouldn't recommend it. IF you have a real flaw in the sound then perhaps it might be worth a try but really first you have to ask yourself, what are you trying to do? If it's just a general "make it better" well you could very easily make it worse, no matter what you do. As it is your first guitar I would just build another rather than mess too much with this one.
There is a well known American builder who advocates sanding braces as "fine tuning" and says it's the secret to the Spanish sound. I disagree and think it's a pretty ridiculous theory. He's a fine maker, don't get me wrong, but this business of retro sanding braces is a good way of ruining a guitar. I am all for fine tuning as it were but you will have better luck and can control things so much better if you work on the top graduation from the outside. Which is what I do up till the point of french polishing.
I took of some height of the braces on my first guitar after I finished it because I found it to be to stiff. Result: Nothing. It did not change. The guitar is with my father, and is playing nicely. It opened up slowly, and is a bit on the stiff side, but it sounds very nice.
I agree with Aaron that it would be a better idea to build one more. You´ll learn a lot.
Final tuning is something which is very personal. From the intelectual and tecnological attitude (Smirnoff: Luthiers handbook) to the tap tap, now its right feeling. Some only fine tune the soundboard, before assembling and others continue the tuning all the way to the end, like Aaron says. This is I find to be a very good idea, because all guitars react differently to assembly, bridge and fingerboard. . Remember that you can only remove wood, meaning making the taptone lower. I personally sand the top below the bridge a little bit if I find that the taptone is to high. On the other hand I want to add, that in my opinion, there´s no "correct" pithch of a guitars taptone. The harmony of all the components, and the harmony within each component is a mch more important factor, like that the differnt tap tones of the soundboard work together.
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