Hi Garrett, thanks for the great video, very interesting as always! I have one question left: what are the target values of flexibility and frequency you use for solid top? Thank you

@GarrettLeeLuthier

5 ай бұрын

This is a great question which I neglected to address in the video. Refering to the 0:59:31 mark in the video, you want to strive for a similar resonance if your objective is consistency of sound regardless of the material. Depending on your materials, then you want to adjust your flexibility to achieve that resonance. For a solid top, I recommend a resonance on the higher side of the range shown, approximately 165 Hz, because that is typically the range that the solid material wants to land in, but which also makes a very nice sounding guitar. The deflection that achieves this is typically on the stiffer side of the ranges shown, namely 0.090 in. for the with-grain and 0.055 in. for the cross-grain. The reason for the higher stiffness in the solid top is given at the end of Ep. 14. If you start with a stiffer solid top plate as in Ep. 13 (compared to a double top in Ep. 14), the extra stiffness will naturally carry over into the bracing process. Thank you for asking.

@dukhovich

5 ай бұрын

@@GarrettLeeLuthier Thank you a lot, Garrett 👍

Hi Garrett, this is very exiting, you are giving really exact principles for guitar building, especially forming the tone. Thank you so much for this excellent job.

Thank you so much. Gentle, complete and hugely informative. Kind regards Ruaidhri Dublin

I second all of the wonderful positive comments. You have given this old guy new energy! One of two or three extra free variables after the guitar top is closed up would be the mass/density of the bridge (the second being the type and thickness of wood finish, and the third being the strings and their type and tension). Have you ever tried to quantify the effect of the bridge mass on sound volume, or perhaps the effect on the power spectrum?

@GarrettLeeLuthier

2 ай бұрын

That's correct. We'll address the effect of the bridge in Ep. 19.

FANTASTIC series, Gareth! Thank you so much!

Thank you for sharing. 🙏🏽

Incredible - thanks for sharing!

Awesome content - thanks for going through so thoroughly!

Excellent Garrett!! Thank you so much!🤩

Your videos are simply amazing! Thank you for these insights and sharing your experience!

I was waiting for this video! Building the top along with the vids:) thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us! 😊

Bravo ! Thanks to share your knowledge. Beautiful and amazing video !

Your videos are a goldmine of tips and techniques! Thanks so much!

Excellent job, Garrett, as usual. I think your luthier vids are reaching a depth that I've yet to see anywhere else. So thank you for that!

Great series Gary! Keep up the great work 🙂

@GarrettLeeLuthier

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the encouragement, Kris! I will try my best.

I’m a huge fan Garrett. Excellent videos. Thanks for doing it!

Thank you for these videos. I'm going to start my first guitar build and your breakdown of the steps, with the metrics and rationale, is hugely confidence inspiring.

Hi Mr Lee. I'd just wanna thank you for your contents. I'm in my way to make my first guitar and I'm an engineer, so your approach to lutherie looks natural to me. Can't wait for your next video.

It is interesting that this is not a 'right-handed' or 'left-handed' top. It seems to be mostly symmetric with mirror symmetry about its center line. Some makers have pronounced handedness in their bracing.

Just one minor suggestion: could you lower the volume of clips of routers or other loud tools? When they suddenly appear, it's really non-friendly to the ears... other than that great videos! I appreciate your calculated and methodical way.

Hi Garrett, I really appreciate all of your videos. I was wondering your opinion on how much the age of the wood matters for a sound board (or even the back and sides). All things being equal with your precise flexibility measurements and bracing techniques, what difference would an aged piece of wood make in sound quality? Thanks!

Hi Garrett, perhaps you can answer a question i've asked many, but not gotten any answer to. It's also not addressed in the dozen or so guitar building books i have. When building with a plantilla, the dome shape of the top and the neck-angle are nicely preset, so proper bridge/saddle height and correct action are guaranteed. With the top placed upside-down on the plantilla and the neck position fixed, sides are slid into the mold. The sides have 90° angles on the thin ends, but the top is angled slightly due to the doming. How on earth do you make them fit nicely? The there is the kerfed lining, that is also at 90°. I expect there to be a wedge-shaped gap, which cannot just be filled with glue because it would have no structural integrity. To make it even more complicated, the upper bout has no doming at all. How is it done?

@GarrettLeeLuthier

2 ай бұрын

There are two issues you are addressing. The first is where the domed top meets the sides and lining. In order to get the best fit, the sides with its lining are often "bowl sanded" with sandpaper attached to a radius dish of the same curvature of the braced soundboard. This is a fairly standard technique in modern building where the entire side assembly is made independent of the neck, or at least before the top is attached to the neck. In plantilla systems, the tentalones (or even lining) can be angled to comply to the dome or left at 90 and accept a small kink at the periphery. The second issue arises in the upper bout where the incoming neck is at a positive angle relative to the soundboard's plane (which can be domed or more commonly, left flat). In both cases, the underside of the fingerboard is faceted in the area between the 12th fret and the soundboard to comply with that angle. Finally, if the the lower bout is bowl sanded and the upper bout left flat, most builders sand a small transition zone of decreasing angles in the rim at the region of the waist.

Hello Garrett, just found your videos the other day and they've been wonderfully elucidative. I don't expect an answer, but in your GFA video you show some of the final stages of a guitar and I noticed the neck is separate. Is it bolted on? Also I noticed what look like pocket holes, and when you wee adjusting the neck I noticed the tool you were using and turning was perpendicular to the fretboard, is this some sort of truss rod system I am unaware of?

@GarrettLeeLuthier

5 ай бұрын

I'm glad you're finding the videos helpful. The neck is adjustable and you can see it here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/k598xqSLnq6Toag.html

Another remarkable video. I am learning so much. I can't wait to apply these concepts to my next build. I am completing my 14th guitar now. It is a lattice brace. You have said that you don't build lattice braced guitars, but mentioned that builders capitalize on this bracing pattern by thinning the top. Do you know APPROXIMATELY how thin they go? I normally use 2.5 mm for spruce in the Hauser fan bracing (thinned out to 2.1 or son on the edges). THis guitar is 2.2 mm in the center and thinned to 2.0 on the edges. I have not done final sanding, so if lattice braced guitars are around 1.5, I could be more aggressive on the final sanding. IF ONLY I HAD MEASURES DEFLECTION!! Anyway, sorry for the long question. Thanks so much for these videos!

@studieauxman

5 ай бұрын

By the way, this is Michael Fontenot. I messaged you a coule of times directly.

@GarrettLeeLuthier

5 ай бұрын

Michael, The Smallman and Sons tops that I have measured were about 1.2 mm thick, but you'll find a range of thicknesses used by makers depending on the nature of the lattice and the materials used, such as balsa vs. spruce or cedar, and whether capped with carbon fiber and epoxy. You'll likely find everything from the Australian-style thickness all the way up to that of a standard solid top. It's hard to generalize, but the one thing you can say is that the assembly must work as a system and in the context of the chasis.

@studieauxman

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Gary, That gives me a sense of what to do.

Is it possible to buy the plan for this plate?

@GarrettLeeLuthier

5 ай бұрын

I'm sorry, there are no plans.

Quando la tavola sarà montata sul corpo chitarra con il manico , tastiera e ponte...TUTTO cambia...TUTTO cambia