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tuning a guitar top
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Andy Culpepper
Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA
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 RE: tuning a guitar top (in reply to Gimar Yestra)
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My advice would be to gather as much information as possible at every point in the process. Glue on the fan braces, tap/flex. Carve them, tap/flex. Glue on the cutoffs, tap/flex, etc.
You may not know if you are hearing and feeling what you're supposed to, but at least it will feed your intuition for future guitars.
As far as "tuning" a top, my own personal opinion is that your thumbs are more important than your ears at this stage. After the top is assembled I flex it at various places, long grain and cross grain, and work towards a target stiffness by perhaps shaving or tapering down certain braces differently. Mostly what I change is the braces at the edge, i.e. outer fans or cutoffs. You pretty much know that you need a certain amount of long-grain stiffness to resist the string pull, so I mostly fiddle with the cross-grain stiffness.
Then when the guitar is assembled I take down the top thickness until I think it's right.
I would urge you to glue the bridge on before you finish so you can play the guitar "in the white". That's where I do most of my voicing because you have access to top thickness taper, bridge wings, and even braces through the soundhole. And more importantly, you can actually hear the sound of the guitar!
Hope that helped.
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Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com
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Date Aug. 16 2011 22:33:20
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Gimar Yestra
Posts: 298
Joined: Jan. 19 2011
From: The Netherlands
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RE: tuning a guitar top (in reply to Gimar Yestra)
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my questiong wasn't realy about HOW to tune a top, I know how to tune a steelstring top.
but i'd like to share my toughts on tuning a top from steelstring and archtop guitar making experience... I'm by no means an expert, so dont read the below as being the thruth, this is just my interpetation and this works for me sofar :-)
also i might want to add that I was trained by a master luthier, eventhough never building acoustics while being an appretice, i was always interested by tap tuning and acoustic guitar making, so my master told me alot of his ways etc.... I just never seen him build a flamenco :D
Tap tones can be a guideline, but don't give a guarantee for a good guitar.
Ive inspected some flamenco guitars (1 gerundino blanca, 1 Eliasson blanca and 1 Eliasson negra) all 3 guitars had a top pitch of around F# /G the backs were +- 2 semi tones up in pitch (so around G#/A).
Ive also read articles wich pretty much gave the same guideline.
You can tell the pitch by tapping the top or back, and finding the same note on the fretboard (make sure all strings are tuned lol).
if you have a high mass on the top (overbraced) you will hear a high pitch, lower mass will produce a lower pitched tap tone.. so there is the guideline wich gives you and idea of how much mass there is on the top.
find some cheapass guitar and tap the top and back and find out what pitches they are, you will most likely find them to be rather high pitched, then there is the whole top and back thickness/stiffness issue, wich is mostly experience I think.
the real thing is WHERE you take away wood, obviously you want the whole top to be able to vibrate, so around the edges the braces are made thinner to allow for more flexability. but these things are mostly experience aswell.
curious to hear some other toughts.
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www.yestragitaarbouw.nl
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Date Aug. 17 2011 13:46:58
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Gimar Yestra
Posts: 298
Joined: Jan. 19 2011
From: The Netherlands
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RE: tuning a guitar top (in reply to Gimar Yestra)
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thank for your input SEden. Im not strictly using the pitches and what my top HAS to be, likei say in my previous post, i use it as an indicator, this is my first flamenco guitar, so i have no clue where to go and where to end.
I just shaped and finished the braces today (just finished actually), im recharging some batteries and then I'll take some pictures and post them in my build thread.
I have to say it was a bit different to tune my flamenco top compared to the steelstrings Ive build.
Steelstring tops give more indication imo of what to expect by just tapping, loud snappy tap (gives an idea about the attack and high end), sustain, the lowend can be heard very well and the overall balance between trebble and bass
For (in this case) my first flamenco top it all sounded kind of liveless, wich makes sence because its such a thin top and light bracing etc.
The top is now slightly under F# and I made the back to match 2 semitones higher in pitch. So I can keep these pitches in mind for a future build.
I also might add that I made the top 2mm thick, back 2.2mm thick.
well see how this turns out.
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www.yestragitaarbouw.nl
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Date Aug. 17 2011 16:55:27
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