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When I look at a bracing pattern the first thing I check is how well it couples to the bridge. Then I look at how it's supporting the area between the bridge and soundhole and then how it's behaving structurally in general.
I don't know why people focus so heavily on bracing patterns. I find all the X-ray pictures that tend to show up on threads a bit tedious. Not because they aren't relevant but because they are giving far too much credence to one single aspect of what makes a guitar work.
I mean, ask yourself, why do people ascribe certain sonic characteristics to a maker? Do the instruments actually have a commonality? If so, why? Santos famously experimented with bracing, so did Bellido, so did many others over the space of their careers. On the other hand, Torres appeared to adopt a fairly consistent approach. As did others. To me, this suggests the bracing pattern isn't the overarching ingredient in determining the defining characteristic of a maker's work. On the other hand, could it be a maker's instruments actually have lots of different characteristics and it's just the label that biases the listener? If that is the case, what does that tell us about patterns?
If you want to copy a maker, I think start with their plantilla. Then try to understand how they approached the top, side and back thicknesses. Then adjust the bracing to the wood of the top. I think it all matters. But I think the bracing pattern itself, as long as it's intelligently executed, matters far less than it's often given credit for.
Moya’s guitar had no purfling, just rosewood binding. Everything was very reductive, not decorated in any way, as if Bellido was paring it down to essentials to cut time and cost to build. Moya probably got a deep discount.
I agree on brace plan for flamenco up until Daniel Friederich mature design and the things that came after. Those are not suited to flamenco. I can elaborate
I agree on brace plan for flamenco up until Daniel Friederich mature design and the things that came after. Those are not suited to flamenco. I can elaborate
If you have the time and inclination, that'd be great. I think you shared some thoughts on his work a few years back (maybe more), and it was interesting reading. There was a maker on Delcamp who made a couple of copies and I think he was surprised at how well they turned out. If I'm remembering correctly, for the first I think he was concerned about the amount of wood in general and thought he might have been interpreting the info wrong, but was pleasantly surprised by the result.
The new Vicente Carrillo passion flamenco are in fact with lattice bracing: extremely powerful guitars in the Conde style. I once used to own a Pedro Maldonado Jr with lattice bracing and it wasn't bad at all.
We call that ‘Flattice’. The contraction of fan and lattice.
I think of true ‘lattice’ construction as a Smallman with balsa and carbon fiber. Those fan braced guitars with lateral braces work more or less like normal Kite Fan arrangements but with more cross grain support. I’ve made variations on that myself for classicals. And I’m About to start on one after this weekend.
I agree on brace plan for flamenco up until Daniel Friederich mature design and the things that came after. Those are not suited to flamenco. I can elaborate
If you have the time and inclination, that'd be great. I think you shared some thoughts on his work a few years back (maybe more), and it was interesting reading. There was a maker on Delcamp who made a couple of copies and I think he was surprised at how well they turned out. If I'm remembering correctly, for the first I think he was concerned about the amount of wood in general and thought he might have been interpreting the info wrong, but was pleasantly surprised by the result.
Hell Camp gives me indigestion. I’m banned for life. When I realized it was an addiction to be unhappy at how it’s run, and the weirdness of how there’s no support for classical guitar ensembles I took it upon myself to engage in a kamikaze mission and either die for the guitar emperor or destroy their battleship. They choose the Crimes Against Guitar Forums defense and gave me an ultimatum. Reform or be banished.
Banzai, I dove as hard as I could and was picked off by a moderator.
Moya’s guitar had no purfling, just rosewood binding. Everything was very reductive, not decorated in any way, as if Bellido was paring it down to essentials to cut time and cost to build. Moya probably got a deep discount.
I knew it was a long shot. The one I owned had all the decorations. I wouldn't have chosen the pomegrante on the headstock. But it was all beautifully made and still retained an earthy elegance. It wasn't frilly. It sounded exceptionally good.
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