Armando -> RE: BRACING / STRUT PATTERNS (Jan. 3 2006 15:33:20)
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I would like to know if there are many variations of strut patterns, and in particular for flamenco guitars. If so, which is best? Hi JBASHORUN Welcome in the club. I have recently finished my second flamenca blanca as well. Pictures and videoclips will be availlable soon on my website. Let me give you some comments. The seven fan bracing pattern with the two lateral closing braces as by Torres is in fact the standard pattern applied on guitars built in the traditional spanish style. I wouldn't say that this pattern is only suitable for classical guitars. The top sevillan Luthier Francisco Barba uses a similiar pattern for his flamenco guitars too and the result is excellent. Many of the old school spanish luthiers applied their own bracing pattern which many of them developped during their lifetime to an individual design. Professional luthiers do not consider the bracing pattern as something which is to be separated from the whole. They always use a specific bracing pattern as part of a whole system. I think it's important to get the so called "big picture" of guitarconstruction. The bracing pattern is to my opinion not the most important factor in the guitarmaking process allthough it has an influence but it's just one of many, many more. José Ramirez wrote in his book "things about the guitar" that he spent a lot of time in his earlier years in order to experiment with new and innovative bracing patterns. The result was disappointing though, as non of the new bracing patterns did result in a better tone than any of the guitars with a traditional bracing pattern. His conclusion was, that there must be other factors who could more dramatically improve the sound of a guitar than the just the bracing pattern. However there are some rules that really seem to change the voicing of the instrument. It's the so called focal point of the fan bracing. A focal point around the 8,9,10th fret will most likely make the sound of guitar more open and somewhat warmer while a focal point around the 11th and 12th fret results in a brighter tone with more trebles. A focal point in the upper frets (11+) will increase the lateral stiffness of the soundboard which may result in a stronger treble response. But as already mentioned the focal point is also only one part of the "big picture". Today there are mainly two bracing patterns considered to be superior for flamenco guitars. It's the 1933 pattern by Santos Hernandez and the 1951 pattern by Marcelo Barbero. The correct thicknessing of the soundboard, the correct thicknessing and shaping of the braces is easily ignored by newstarting luthiers, but this factors may be even more important than the bracing pattern. All this factors depend on the soundboard material that you have on hand when starting to build. Therfor it is actually a mistake to build a guitar exactly to the specs indicated on a blue print. The reason is, that the luthier who built the originial instrument worked with different materials with different physical and acustical properties. This fact should not be left out. I wish you a successful building of your first guitar. Armando
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