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Interesting the Monteray I used did not look like yours Andy but exactly like pictures found on LMI's site, which is where I sourced my set from. Here you may be able to pic up the horizontal grain lines I mean, or look at LMI's site.
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This is my first Monterrey guitar but the wood seems great, quite close to Mediterranean cypress except for the smell. It has very similar properties in bending, springback, taptone etc. which leads me to believe that it will be acoustically similar to Mediterranean. Canadian Cypress/Alaska Yellow cedar is different from the others IMO.. it seems to have qualities somewhere between Spruce and a true cypress, and gives a slighty more raspy, percussive edge to the sound. Very flamenco actually but possibly not as refined. Of course this is just that little 10% or so of the sound (debatable), the rest being mostly determined by the top construction.
I just got the rosette I ordered, but im kinda busy finishing a customer guitar and have some repairs to do, so the blanca is on hold untill I can put all my time into it..
how do you guys feel about humidity vs building acoustic guitars? I was taught to preferably build acoustic guitars under a low humidity level... say around a steady 40%. This has to do with controlling the dome of a guitar top, theoretically a domed top build at a low humidity level will become a higher dome once the humidity goed up to say 70%... right?
atleast thats what I have been tought, I trust my master, he has over 20 years of experience in guitar bulding and received a master degree in classical guitar building.
But im still curious about your opinions and experiences, so when you guys build a flamenco guitar, do you increase the doming when the guitar is being build in the summertime and a lower dome in the wintertime? any thoughts on that
reason im asking is.. its currently around 70% in my workshop, and building under this humidity level kinda goes agains my instinct. Also humidity levels go from 35% up to 80% from winter to summer time in my country.
I don't change my doming depending on the season, but I do keep humidity mostly controlled and also consider where the guitar is going to end up and brace/assemble it in appropriate humidity. It's pretty hard to control humidity completely but I settle for about 40% in the winter and 50% in the summer.
Humidity control is not only about controlling doming, it is also about crack control. During the operations which lock top and back and prevent them freely expanding and contracting, you do not want the moisture content of the wood to be high or you are setting it up for future cracking problems. These critical operations include bracing and gluing to rims. Plenty of other things you can do when the rh is high.
so I guess I'll have to wait with glueing the top brzcing, I braced the back a while ago when humidity was at around 50%. I guess ill go on with preparing the sides and the neck and hope winter comes soon.
and I guess you would also need to seal your shop?, so no cracks under doors, etc for the de-humidifier to work properly?
Assuming you're not building in a barn it's probably not that critical since you should leave the dehumidifier on all the time; however I wouldn't leave any windows open.
Can you do this with a regular domestic de-humidifier?
Yes something costing around 300/400 euro will do the job, but its best to get one with a built in 'humidistat', so you can set it at 50% and forget about it.
I can't realy deceide wether i want to build with a dome, or a flat top, if i want to make a flat top and create a dome in the bridge.. or a drop off behind the bridge..
I guess all those options could make a great instrument, but I realy can't deceide, so ANY input will be highly appreciated.
Both methods work, go with your gut feeling it has more to do with guitar building then science ever has. I suggest you make a decision so you can plan ahead, proper neck angle in your setup is directly affected by the amount of doming used.
Nice work Gimar. My solera is dished out to create a dome centered on the bridge (25 foot radius), but I also extend the edge of the dished part up to the soundhole and curve the lower harmonic bar slightly. Then I curve the bottom of the bridge a little bit more, to a 20 foot radius. This pulls up a kind of "cylinder" running along the grain, which I think adds a little extra stiffness in front of the bridge and discourages any dipping of the top there. The other purpose of a dome as you probably know is to prevent cracks, as the dome can fall slightly in low humidity instead of allowing the wood to crack (theoretically). The only thing I would probably NOT do is brace the top totally flat and then try to pull it up into a radical arch with the bridge, because it seems like that would create kind of a "crease" at the ends of the bridge wings. Everything else is fair game I would say but whatever you do it has to be factored in with the other elements of your top bracing, thicknessing, etc.
finished the fretboard and made a rough start with shaping the heel.
Im kinda bummed out by the weather, It started rasining last few days, wich means 70% humidity blaagh, it was around 50% last 2 weeks.... I hope I can get he bracing glued before next winter lol
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Nice clean work. I like it. I've used this bracing quite a bit. How tall/wide are your braces? I usually glue on the soundhole reinforcements before I glue the upper harmonic bar, and then my patch under the fingerboard. Easier to get everything tight that way but I'm sure you'll be fine.
If it's worth anything re: the tuning discussion, Brune noted on his drawing of Sabicas' Barbero that the soundbox gave off a strong 'G' resonance when he tapped the top. That guitar had that strange sectioned bridge patch, which adds some mass in the center of the top but not very much stiffness, which would tend to lower the main top resonance. I've had the best results on guitars with the design shown above when the top tapped between G and G#.