The same result happens with the voice of the instrument. Should You Seal The Inside Of Your Guitar? Jazz guitar players sometimes want a stiffer and faster response that is quick and short. On violins we used to use skin banjo heads and thin them down and cut out a little piece which we then superglued over the bridge top to prevent the high e string from digging down into the bridge. I often get asked “What is the difference between an archtop bridge with a full base and a bridge that has two individual feet?”  It is impossible to say that one bridge is better than the other. It's all there in high definition video The curved squirrel tail plane is exactly what you want for an awful lot of the finish carving on a 335 type guitar, which does not have a very aggressively curved arch. As the bridge gets shorter it becomes more stable (A taller bridge tends to be excited more easily) So, on a nit-picky level, and more importantly on a tonal approach, you may find you need to shape the saddle a little more to achieve the same tone as you had prior to the bridge adjustment. My advice to aspiring archtop makers, whose intention is to sell guitars and make a living at it, is to consider marketability when choosing your bracing pattern. I'm not on a production schedule and I'd a lot rather listen to my plane make shavings than listen to my Saf-T-Planer throw chips all over me. When selecting wood for bracing stock, a good rule of thumb is to use the same criteria used when selecting wood for the guitar’s top. If you got the work done, let me know what you did and what you think. After a few years of that, I was convinced that when carefully executed, that almost any pattern would work. GET 4 FREE Video Lessons From the exclusive Luthier's EDGE Video Library & More Just Enter Your Info Below To Get Started! Fingerstyle or electric players can usually play clearly with a fairly low action, while swing or gypsy players may need more string height to avoid fret buzz. As vaudeville and banjos went out of style, the archtop’s projection and short sustain allowed it to hold its own in the rhythm section and provide a sophisticated drive under screaming swing-era brass and saxes (before guitars were amplified). (Chronic procrastinators may wish to try a Teflon wrapped string like the Elixir, which is longer lasting but are not as brilliant tonally.) All else being equal (and it never is), the above concise summation is a pretty good reference when buying or making an acoustic archtop guitar. Same concept here. But there are also many other possibilities. A rchtop guitars are a relatively recent addition to my work. My teacher had some nice arching planes that she got through Saconni, and one of the other students had a few sets of copies made up. Extra weight or a bad fit between the base of the bridge and the top surface will result in a great loss of volume and resonance. It's not a terribly costly or time-consuming process, and is essential to optimizing the full acoustic potential and playability of your instrument. With a well fit bridge bottom you will notice everything getting better with more clarity and sustain. Think about a classical or steel string bone saddle. Please, let me know if you have any questions at all and thanks for the inquiry! It is an old guitar not of great quality but I want to try to restore. Quarter-sawn stock will allow the maker to sculpt the braces optimally narrow and/or low profiled to maximize their function acoustically and structurally. The base of bridge to the top of the saddle would be about 3/4″ Is there any problem with doing this. I need to cut the bridge height to a much shorter size. You should feel just a small bit of resistance as you slide it back and forth in the gap. Thanks for the comment! Without Bob’s generosity and courage to share his hard-won secrets and teach the rest of us how to make an archtop guitar through his book, I don’t know if I would be here writing this to you today, and I will forever be grateful to him for it. It often brings a more lively feel and sensitivity to the instruments voice. In his article he shares with us valuable insights from his 47+ years of experience on how to choose the right bracing patterns, woods, and more for acoustic archtop guitars. Select an image, or start at the beginning, and navigate left and right to see this exciting process. I've used a course 36 grit sanding disk on an angle grinder with success, it seems to me it's much safer than the Lancelot and it removes wood in a hurry. A toothed iron is a rel help in removing material in a hurry, particularly on curly maple. For now I’m convinced that an experienced maker with good instincts can intuitively locate and fit braces in almost any pattern and achieve the desired results. I have to say, your Amanti bridges seem a really good design to me. However, if you are experiencing unusual problems in pressing the strings to the fingerboard, or finding particular difficulty in playing chords up the neck, the clearance of the strings over the fretboard (or "action") of your guitar may be higher than it needs to be. That's just me, but I highly recommend the experience. Having the whole surface planted makes the bridge stiffer. I recently acquired an archtop guitar with a 2-foot ebony Stewmac bridge that is NOT correctly contoured for the top. You can view and learn more about his guitars by visiting his website: tbguitars.com, Your email address will not be published. (Luthier Glue Guide), How To Fit Guitar Braces For Archtop Guitars, How To Make Guitar Purfling: Part 1 - The Art Of Lutherie, Luthier Book: Making Master Guitars - The Art Of Lutherie. The goal is more sustain through the whole range of the instrument, particularly the high strings. There are many variables that can affect the outcome; one of course is wood selection. For the everyday player finding or choosing a bridge can be a complicated choice. For some reason I stopped getting the notifications. So, I'm trying to figure out what tools use. The stock bridge for this (which I don’t have) was a 1-foot design, and slightly wider. In the end, the bottom of the bridge should be made as if it were “born” there. A proper setup strikes a balance between a string adjustment that is low enough to play comfortably all the way up the neck, and one that is high enough to avoid string buzz when the instrument is strummed vigorously. I do not offer these bridges for separate sale because I fit and shaped each bridge individually for every instrument. Thanks again for the great question. But it doesn’t end here. Seems to be a reasonable technique. There is no question about the popularity and acceptance of both parallel and X bracing. Jim, your suggestion is the same technique that is in Robbie O'Brien's online class on a les paul type guitar top. Again, I apologize if this response is so late that it is no longer useful. Go for it! This task is an art; you are in control of refining and bringing the voice of an instrument to a good place. Board index » Luthiers Forum Rooms » Guitar Building Forum, Users browsing this forum: banjopicks, Clay S. and 12 guests.

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