|
estebanana -> RE: More Cowbell (Mar. 31 2014 23:43:32)
|
If I were you Burdo I would email Brune' and ask him myself. He's very approachable and would give you a succinct answer. He's very generous if you don't take up a lot of his valuable time. There are lots of things that look major that might not mean too much, and then are are little aspects of building which might change things enormously. But a good way to research is to go ask the person who did the drawings and studied the original instrument.
If you make that Barbero bridge, which is really an archetype for most flamenco bridges, just pick one side or the other a try to make your bridge symmetrical. Make two or three with wood that feels different in flex and weight. Weight them all, flex them all and then remember what it feels like, write down the weight.
The question I would put to Brune' is: How flexible and how dense does he reckon that bridge was? He might say a few things and then add in that what you're looking for is XYZ...
The bridge is important, but here's the thing don't obsess over it too much, just do it. The important thing is to get it done, to record and remember the qualities of the bridge and then use that as your bench mark.
In other words you have a constant model to keep referring to, the Barbero plan, you keep a tactile memory and a write down some stats on the top and bridge. How the top flexes back and forth, what the main air resonance is of the top- Hitting F# for that model is really good, G is ok up from G and up it gets too finicky and overtones show to much presence. Keep those things on paper and in your mind and hands in relation to how heavy the bridge is and how much flex the bridge has where the wings and tie block meet.
The fit of the bridge to the arch is important too, at least to me. Get a sharp scraper and fir the underside of the bridge to the belly very carefully. Then before you close the guitar make a very accurate caul which fits under the bridge around the bracing and use a plane to make a convex arch on top of the caul so it fits the inside arch of the top. You want the bridge to pretty much fit the top, but you can push the top up into the bridge a little bit.
That particular guitar will be good if you work for an F#, but still retain a strong top, and make a nice light, but slightly flexible bridge. A bridge that is between 18 and 22 grams will work. But don't go upwards of 20 if you can help it.
And if you can ask Brune' for tips on how to make it work. You are right following the the plan because you don't have an in person teacher and that Barbero format will make a good guitar if you do the plan pretty much as it is. It will give you a base camp to explore from. People who learned from teachers like I did can often get dogmatic because My teacher did this or that and there's a defensive posture inherent in the stance towards making a copy. The reasons you see are; I'm too proud to copy! or I'm too good to copy, I'm too original to copy, or I'm past that stage in my work when I need to copy.
Picasso copied Velaquez' pictures and made variations on them when he was in his 80's.
Van Gogh copied Japanese wood block prints, Ezra Pound studied Dante' and copied some of his formats.
You can go to the Prado and see Chinese art students who have traveled there to make copies of Murrillo. If you copy you will learn. There's no such thing as a 'copycat' there are only dogmatic dogs and good guitar makers. Sometimes the two are not mutually exclusive, but who wants to hear them bark?
But the important thing is to get it done. Too much thinking leads to "Analysis Paralysis"- Move at a pace that feels right, but don't get overwhelmed second guessing yourself.
|
|
|
|
