Soundboard doming at sound hole

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Vince

Posts: 141
Joined: Oct. 21 2012
From: Germany

Soundboard doming at sound hole

recently I have a maple blanca from Francisco Barba in my shop.
This was a wonderful lightly build guitar with very nice trebles.

The soundboard doming was 2 mm a the bridge (under string tensions).
The string high at the bridge was 7 mm and the string high at the sound hole 7-8mm.
There was a remarkable dome in the lower harmonic bar. First it looks a little strange (like a bump in the rosette) but the playability was great it feels very comfortable especially for golpes.

What do you think? Is he using just a wider ( elliptical ) dome in his Solera or a raised domed lower bout like in Bogdanovich's book?

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Vince
http://www.gitarrenbau-held.de/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 22 2015 13:50:44

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Soundboard doming at sound hole (in reply to Vince)

Don't know what Barba does but we've been using an elliptical solera for years. The arch in the top starts at the 12th fret and ends at the end block with the highest point under the bridge.

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John Shelton - www.sheltonfarrettaguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 22 2015 14:22:51

Armando

Posts: 302
Joined: May 27 2005
From: Zürich, Switzerland

RE: Soundboard doming at sound hole (in reply to Vince)

Never seen a Barba Solera but i recently got my hands on a Barba Flamenca blanca from 1976. That guitar sounded very nice and was very comfordable to play. This guitar had a 3mm doming behind the bridge. One of my guitar teachers also had an older Barba that also had the same kind of doming behind the bridge. I wasn't able at the time to measure the thickness of the struts, but i assume he have built with very light struts and the string torque raised the top over the years. That soundboard had a negative dome in front of the bridge. I don't know what he is doing to make the guitar sound well with that much doming. I once tried to build a replica and it sounded quite horrible. My worst guitar i've ever built. I know that Barba worked with more than one bracing pattern over the decades. He also used to assemble his guitars not in the usual manner with the soundboard facing downwards but the other way around, attaching the soundboard at last. Today his Sons are running the workshop and they might have changed a couple of things. I have visited the workshop this year and one of his sons showcased one of their flamenca blancas recently finished. He showcased the assimetrical building approach they seem to follow now.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 31 2019 18:54:00

Fawkes

Posts: 102
Joined: Feb. 11 2015

RE: Soundboard doming at sound hole (in reply to Armando)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Armando
He showcased the assimetrical building approach they seem to follow now.

(Four years later) How were they asymmetric?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 7 2023 20:23:13

Echi

Posts: 1131
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: Soundboard doming at sound hole (in reply to Vince)

The S shaped top doming is often the Outcome of a thin top under the string tension.
It’s the opinion of many (and mine as well) that plantilla (the shape), the overall geometry and the choice of the actual piece of wood contributes more to the tone than the bracing itself.
Barba is known to assemble the guitar like the violin makers do, so with a mold in the inside of the instrument and the top glued to the body at the end of the process, just before the fretboard.
I’ve been surprised to read in the Santos plan drawn by Richard Bruné that Santos could have assembled his guitars in the same way.
Nobody knows for sure but someone debates about it.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 8 2023 8:50:33