estebanana -> RE: Santos Plans (Feb. 15 2017 4:32:33)
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The fan brace pattern in the 1951 Barbero drawing is also derived directly from Santos. I've seen a Santos with the back off for restoration and the bracing was verbatim the '51 Barbero. I have the plantilla of that Santos and it can be built with the '51 Barbero fan patterns and Voila! Santos. Lenador has one that I built that way, and a few other Foro members also. It also does not mean it's a Santos copy, you would have to have a Santos in your possession in order to make a fine copy. From plans you're going to get a Santos derived instrument or an in the style of Santos guitar, which is about as good as you can do. To really copy one is another thing. I call my work Santos influenced, he's the main maker and lineage I follow, but they are my guitars based on his principles. Not copies, but extensions of that school of thought. It's also been said that '51 bracing is too difficult for beginners, I disagree. The caveat is, don't make the top too thin on the first one. The space between the tip of the bridge wing and the edge of the lower bout needs to be robust, but carefully thinned. If you make the top too thick you still get a good guitar, but it will be not be a top that has been thinned to the edge of risk. A very stiff top works well with that design because it can take the thinning it requires to make that design get edgy. If you think of fan systems as chess openings, you're not going to master one with one game. None of the fan systems can be understood with one guitar, so you go into it knowing the basic strengths and pitfalls of each design. The 51's main issue is don't make the top really thin until you get a feel for the bridge and top flex or deflection after the box is put together.
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