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RobF -> RE: Santos Hernandez struts (Aug. 10 2020 15:05:08)
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From what I’ve seen, I have the impression that Santos worked more from base principles and braced each top according to its individual characteristics. He didn’t use one fixed plan and, while he did employ a number of recognizable strategies, the patterns he used appear to be mutable and are perhaps best seen as being guidelines.
I’ve followed various Santos plans when building and have selected them based on my feelings about the woods but, in a sense, I think that’s missing the point. If anything, one of the great lessons to be learned from Santos is to not rigidly adhere to a plan, but to try to understand the principles behind it. For starters, it’s good to study the relationship between the bridge and the bracing and try to get a sense of the coupling. Then, for example, question why he slanted the lower transverse bar at times; some say it is to stiffen the top in the treble area, but was it that or was he reducing the area to allow the opposite, in other words, so he could loosen that part of the top so the strings could drive it more efficiently? I don’t know. The point is to study the plans and build with them, but with an eye towards increasing your own understanding. Think structure, as well as sound. That’s really important.
I’ve yet to come across explanations of bracing that were definitive. In that sense I agree with Ramirez III, where he felt there was no one magical bracing plan, instead he approached the problem as a systemic whole.
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