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AVAILABLE GUITARS
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Common Questions
- 1. What issues should I be considering when thinking about commissioning a custom acoustic guitar from you?
- Commissioning a custom guitar should be an enjoyable and collaborative endeavor between you and I. The process varies for each person, some people know exactly what they want while others can be overwhelmed by the many choices that need to be made. There are a few specific details which are by far the most often discussed as we start the process of designing your custom guitar.In most cases the first thing to address is how the guitar will sound and play. If the guitar is to be more of a presentation piece then in some circumstances the aesthetics may be your primary concern but in most cases the sound and feel of the guitar are the primary consideration.
Talking about the tone of a guitar can be problematic as there is not a universally accepted standard for describing the attributes of a guitar’s sound. Most people use the same words (i.e, warm, balanced, clear, rich) but they can mean very different things to different people. It is important to have a good idea of what you are after and to be prepared to work a bit to make sure that we understand each other clearly in regards to the attributes you are looking to maximize in your guitar. It is very helpful if there is a guitar that you like and that we can discuss and listen to together. Also, it is best (although not always possible) to be able to play one or more examples of my guitars before or during the preliminary stages of planning your new guitar. Coming to an agreement about what your finished guitar will sound like is an important first step and will help to shape many of the other decisions we will make as the design process continues.
As important as how the guitar will sound and play is where it will be played and how dedicated you will be in caring for the instrument. You may want a lightly built guitar strictly for playing in a climate controlled environment like a dedicated music room or a recording studio. You may also want a guitar that will hold up to being taken on the road and treated like a working instrument. The differences in how guitars built for those different purposes is very important to its long term health and sound. The decisions stemming from these discussions will enable me to be able to recommend the best combination of materials, finishes, and construction techniques to be able to shape your custom guitar to fit your needs and lifestyle.
As with the sound, the feel of a guitar can also be difficult to talk about. It is again helpful to be as specific as possible about details such as how the neck sits in your hand, how wide the string spacing is, how deep the guitar is as it sits on your lap and how your arm lays over the top and where it sits in relation to the bridge. Taking measurements off of guitars you are very comfortable playing is helpful in this case but it can be just as important to give detailed descriptions of what you are looking for. Sometimes for me the non-specific descriptions are very informative, I feel that the more you can say about it the better. In certain cases I may have very strong feelings about certain aspects of the finished instrument that are not exactly the same as yours. I would never try to force anything but I would urge you to keep an open mind about situations like this. It can be a bit difficult at first to play something that is not what you are used to but many times I find people do adapt rather quickly to a new style or feel and can come to prefer it over time.
Once these issues have been discussed I will be able to make suggestions as to body shape and wood choices (see below for more information on this). The body shape and the wood for the top (the soundboard) are the most important choices in producing the sound. After these the wood for the back, sides, bridge and neck are next and I think of these choices as providing “color” to the main sound produced by the soundboard. Once the body size has been chosen I will choose the wood for the top based on our tone discussions and then I will be able to present you with options for the rest of the wood. If possible it is very valuable for you to be able to visit the shop and see and hear the differences in the wood firsthand. For those interested it can be fascinating to hear the tone in the raw wood and how that will translate when used on a guitar. After the initial choices for the top, back, sides, and neck are made the other wood choices are primarily aesthetic. My background is in visual arts and I really enjoy the process of helping choosing the accent woods and making the finished guitar work as a unified and beautiful visual statement. Working together to make these final choices is one of my favorite parts of the initial process.
I prefer to make the decisions about body size and top wood very early in the process but many times the other choices can span months. Often there are guitars in my queue that will be similar to what you want and we will plan for you to be able to play that guitar and see, hear and feel it to help you make a specific decision on a detail like neck size, back and side wood, or a certain feature like a cutaway or a buttressed bracing system. If a situation like that is possible it is one of the most helpful things in making an educated and confident decision. Either way, I like all of the decisions to be made at least a month or two before actual construction begins on your instrument. During construction I will send photos of the progress I am making over the 1-3 months it can take to completely assemble and finish your guitar. Again, if you are able there are certain aspects of the building process that can be fun to see and I welcome you to the shop to view them if you are able.
Once all of the work is over then the real fun begins as you take possession of your new custom built guitar. You should expect gradual change in the feel and tone of the guitar over the first few months as it settles in, or “plays in” as it is affectionately known. This will not be any major change, most people describe it as the guitar giving in to being played, the sound will come easier from the strings and the tone will warm slightly. I feel like the guitar in some ways is molding itself to you as the specific way you play is affecting the changes and I think this is a special thing. I hope you do too.
- Commissioning a custom guitar should be an enjoyable and collaborative endeavor between you and I. The process varies for each person, some people know exactly what they want while others can be overwhelmed by the many choices that need to be made. There are a few specific details which are by far the most often discussed as we start the process of designing your custom guitar.In most cases the first thing to address is how the guitar will sound and play. If the guitar is to be more of a presentation piece then in some circumstances the aesthetics may be your primary concern but in most cases the sound and feel of the guitar are the primary consideration.
- 2. How will wood choices affect the sound of my guitar?
- Choosing the wood to be used on an acoustic guitar often feels like the most important decision as to how the guitar will sound when completed. I would argue that the body shape and construction techniques are equally as important but there is no doubt that the wood does make a very real contribution towards the final sound.
The Soundboard
I feel that the wood for the soundboard is the most important piece of wood on the guitar. It is the plate that is directly excited by the bridge and it is the main producer of sound. Traditionally, the soundboard for Western stringed instruments has been a softwood and for guitars it is most often a species of spruce. These softwood species (spruce, pine, fir, larch, some “cedars”, and some cypresses) all share an excellent stiffness to weight ratio. What this means is that they are remarkably strong while also being very lightweight. For the soundboard of a guitar, this is a perfect combination. The stiffness is important structurally as the strings on even a lightly strung steel string guitar can exert over 100 lbs. of pull on the top wood which in many cases is under 1/8 of an inch thick. The soundboard needs to be able to withstand those forces and remain very stable as any slight movement can greatly affect the action of the guitar making it either unplayable or very difficult to play. The lightness is an added benefit. The lighter the soundboard, the easier it is to get it moving, or vibrating. Imagine the difference between a large thick gong and similar sized cymbal made of sheet metal. A light tap on the gong may elicit almost no response, it is simply too massive for that small tap to register a response. The sheet metal cymbal however will likely be moved and will make a sound from that same touch. It is similar with the wood for the guitar top. The lighter it is the more responsive the instrument will be. It is not as simple though that lighter is inherently better. Think of those same cymbals except think this time of a huge full swing with a mallet upon them. The gong will register a beautiful deep and lasting resonance while the sheet metal cymbal may simply make an unmusical crashing sound. The lighter material is more sensitive to the smallest touch but can easily be overwhelmed by a strong attack. The heavier material, while having a slower attack can offer a depth, volume, and richness of tone that the lighter material cannot always match. This is the same issue we are working with when choosing the specific top wood for a custom guitar. The difference is not nearly as pronounced as the one I described but the end result is similar. For each guitar, there is an optimal ratio to provide the best response for its intended purpose and, referencing our discussions of sound, feel, and end use, it is my job to best choose and work the correct piece to bring the desired sound to fruition.
There are more things to consider than simply how stiff and heavy the top wood will be. All spruce is stiff along the grain, meaning that when you flex it from end to end the long way it will resist bending very well. The differences in cross grain stiffness though can be large. In most cases I prefer to work with spruce that has as well as an excellent strength to weight ratio an excellent long grain to cross grain stiffness. This means that the wood will be very stiff in both directions. A visual help in sensing the possibility for this in a finished guitar is the amount of “silk” visible in the top wood. This “silk” is a series of subtle rays visible at a 90 degree angle to main grain lines. Generally they shimmer in the light and do appear to be like the cross grained patterns in real silk. What they are really are the wood’s medullary rays. These are rays that grow from the center of the tree outward. When the wood is cut perfectly on the quarter (meaning that the grain lines on the end of the piece are exactly 90 degrees, like this IIIIIIIIIIIIIII) then they are exposed and show on the finished piece. I find that the cross grain stiffness of spruce is at its highest for each individual piece where this silking is present. Spruce can be stiff without this visual marker, it is not a prerequisite for it, but consistent silking across the entire piece does equate with a uniform stiffness across the board, something I desire in my tops. It is important to note that great guitars are built with all kinds of spruce, some of the treasured old Martin guitars were built with spruce that was not perfectly quartered at any point across its width. For my building style, however, I highly prize this cut for its uniformity of strength and its visual beauty.
Along with the stiffness and weight of the soundboard the raw musicality is another crucial aspect to consider. I have many ways of measuring the stiffness and of course the weight can be measured easily. The musicality is more intuitive. Some samples of top wood just seem to sing on their own. I have heard of cutters going through the wood lot and banging on the ends of large logs with a mallet. Some whole logs would resonate and some would not. The great story about the Lucky Strike redwood log was that it would resonate loudly when it was being cut as it lay suspended over a ravine. I pay close attention to the data I get from my scientific measurements but it must be balanced with what I hear in the wood as I tap it, strike it, and even simply run my finger along it. This information is equally as important in determining the potential of the wood. You may find many different opinions online about the different species of spruce and what kind of guitars they make but all of this should be read with the understanding that any of these species can, in the right circumstances, mimic the generalized attributes of any of the others. I feel that in choosing the correct wood for the soundboard each piece needs to be judged on an individual basis. That said, I do feel that many of the generalizations do hold true. Red spruce is usually stiffer and heavier and some of the European spruces are usually very light and resonant.
Industry pricing for the different spruce species is based primarily on cosmetic issues and does not always relate to its attributes as a sound producer however the examples that I stock offer both excellent tonal attributes and clean and clear visual beauty. There can be a cost differential within species also. Red spruce can be very costly, especially in the higher visual grades as large clean looking trees are very hard to come by. Some of the spruces from Europe are similarly expensive as their harvest is more strictly controlled and there are large import taxes levied. Below I will briefly offer some information and my perceptions of the general characteristics of the top woods I use most on my guitars.
Sitka spruce is the industry standard on most factory made instruments. The trees grow very large and generally very straight so the yield and visual quality is very high. Sitka topped guitars generally have a great balance to them but can sometimes lack the complexity of the other spruces. This can be a good thing instead of a detriment as for particular guitars the complexity can get in the way of the desired fundamental tone. Sitka spruce is available in beautiful, clean, and large examples. It generally finishes a bit darker than the other spruces and can sometimes have a slight pinkish hue to it.
Lutz spruce is a hybrid spruce that grows in small pockets in British Columbia. As I understand it, there are only 2 people cutting this wood for instrument tops. I have handled many of these tops and find it to be absolutely excellent wood. I find some examples to be more like Sitka and some to be more like European, or Englemann. It is always very stiff and lively wood and I think of it as the most versatile option. Its characterstics to me sit between all of the other spruces (as does Sitka) but still offers some complexity to the sound. Speaking generally, if I were to be making a guitar that would be used for all kinds of music this is the wood I would look to first.
European spruce has by far the largest variation of all of the spruces. While the species is technically the same, Picea Abies, the harvesting and growing conditions can vary greatly and this has a huge affect on the conditions of the wood. The wood that I regularly source comes from 2 different places. I get some of it from Switzerland and some from the Carpathian mountains in Eastern Europe. The Swiss spruce is amazing wood. It is very light, very stiff and even grained. They harvest it according to an ancient moon calendar (widely ridiculed but the wood speaks for itself) and the quality is truly excellent. It is known for the even and sweet sound it produces and is considered by many of the veteran guitar builders working today to be the benchmark by which the other spruce species are judged. It can be braced to respond to different styles but I prefer to use it to its advantage to favor a very responsive and sensitive sound. The other European spruce that I stock, Carpathian spruce, is as light and stiff as the Swiss but has a softer texture, more like Englemann (a softer spruce from the Northern Rocky mountain ranges). Guitars from this wood exhibit excellent responsive elements but do not lack for headroom like some of the other softer woods. In general they favor the lower frequencies and the treble is not always as brilliant as the harder spruces but I have had excellent results with this wood, especially paired with a harder wood for the back and sides.
The final wood I stock is Red Spruce from the Adirondack mountain ranges and into northern New England. It is the most local to these parts and is the wood that was used by Martin in their golden pre-war era. What is available now is mostly second growth wood as it was heavily logged up to and during the war years. The quality of this wood is excellent although perfect aesthetic examples are a little rare. It is the most powerful of the spruces as it is dense and very stiff and can yield a very powerful guitar. It the right circumstances it can be thinned successfully to make a powerful, yet responsive guitar also. It slightly favors the fundamental tone over the more complex overtones that Swiss spruce can offer but it is not a simple sound at all. I have good relationships with local cutters who source and cut this wood and very much enjoy building with it.
The Back and Sides
The wood for the back and sides of the guitar encompasses the most options, as virtually any wood can be used successfully. There are a few classic favorites though that have become so because of their excellent working abilities, tone, and beauty. I am very picky about the quality of wood that I use and I have an excellent stockpile of many of these woods in the shop. As with the soundboards, there are many generalizations as to the kind of guitar these woods will produce. In my opinion though, they are accurate only when paired with the correct soundboard. The back and side wood alone cannot make an excellent guitar. It needs to work with the wood already chosen for the top for the guitar to reach its full potential. The classic example of Red Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood is a good one as the qualities of those two woods work very well together and blend to give a beautifully full and complete sound. I will offer my thoughts on some of the more common woods below but bear in mind that the attributes I give to them are attainable only in harmony with a correctly chosen soundboard.
Mahogany is one of the classic guitar woods as it has long been inexpensive and available as very high quality stock. It is one of the most stable woods in the world which is very important when dealing with the thin plates and close tolerances we utilize in guitar making. It imparts a unique and warm tone to a guitar and excels in guitars used for strumming although it is not limited to only that purpose. It can give a guitar very nice punch, especially in the midrange, but can also sometimes be so present that any slight mistake in playing or technique is amplified and made obvious. Overall, the wood favors the fundamental tone and usually is not full of rich reverb type overtones and high end sparkle that some of the rosewood are known for. Mahogany pairs well with any of the top woods and although inexpensive I feel it makes absolutely excellent guitars.
Most Koa wood resembles mahogany very closely in tone but the wood can vary much more in density and that can alter the sound to in some cases lean more towards a rosewood sound. The classic Koa sound is very warm in the low end with a nice sparkle to the trebles. Koa is by far one of the most beautiful woods as the colors can range from pale yellow to deep purples and exhibit the whole spectrum in a single piece as well as intense figure. A close cousin to Koa is a wood known as Australian Blackwood. Visually it is often indistinguishable from Koa but tends a little more towards the red color spectrum. The wood is also usually a little harder and has a bit more clarity than either Mahogany or Koa. I would describe the treble notes as being a little more clean sounding rather than the warmer trebles of the softer Koa or Mahogany. I like to use a harder spruce when dealing with the less dense Koa wood. The harder examples though, as well as the Australian Blackwood, pair well with all of the spruces and can offer a nice variety of color (in more ways than one!) options to the choice for soundboard.
Maple is another traditional option and can produce a guitar with a strident tone, somewhat lacking in warmth and sustain. It excels in carved top instruments but produces a flat top guitar with a very unaffected tone. It is used to its advantage for strumming guitars that are played on stage as its lack of upper register complexity reduces feedback when used through a PA system. It works very well for certain types of jazz guitars also where the complex chords cannot be muddied by those same overtones. There are a few different sub species of maple and they differ in hardness primarily with the Eastern varieties tending to be the hardest. They are the ones I prefer to use, I especially love the look of birdseye maple which occurs primarily only in the Eastern hard maples. I prefer to make smaller guitars out of it as the birdseye figuring shows best on a the less stable flatsawn cut of the wood. I also prefer to use a softer spruce when working with maple as it can even out some of the high end trillness that can be present on maple guitars.
The rosewood family is the most popular for high end fine instruments. I think of them as having the ability to deliver the widest spectrum of tone in a single guitar. Paired with European spruce or Lutz spruce especially you can have a guitar that encompasses the most complete range of sound in a single instrument. There are many types of rosewoods though, and each offer something slightly different.
The different species of rosewood used on guitars are generally all based against Brazilian Rosewood, as are most woods in guitar making. It is generally thought to exhibit the ideal characteristics for guitar wood. It is usually not overly dense, it has extremely low internal damping (damping can be thought of as the amount of sound lost as it travels through the wood) and it is very stiff in all directions. I think of the sound of a Brazilian rosewood guitar as very noble as the treble notes are rich, clear and pure (but not harsh) and the bass notes do not lose clarity while still seeming deep and warm. On the treble notes you can get a pronounced reverb type quality to the sound which can give an extra complexity to those notes. The note separation is also excellent within chords and when played in single runs. The wood is, however, on the International Endangered species watch list and is protected like ivory. Legal sets are available but very expensive. Visually, It can vary greatly in terms of figure and color. The classic Martin style rosewood is a dark brick red color with very tight straight grain. It can range from pumpkin orange to black and can exhibit virtually any color in the spectrum, even green. It pairs well with all wood choices but especially with the Swiss, the European style Lutz, and with Red Spruce.
East Indian Rosewood replaced Brazilian as the main wood of guitar factories once Brazilian became hard to import. It is noticeably rougher grained and less hard than Brazilian rosewood and can sometimes feels more like a very dense walnut than a rosewood. That said, it does makes excellent sounding guitars. Compared to Brazilian the treble notes are not as crisp and the bass generally is as deep but has less clarity. This rosewood varies quite a bit in terms of growing conditions and I only use the higher grade wood that is more rosewood-like. Compared to Mahogany it is slightly more crisp in the upper register but without the punch that mahogany has can seem a bit “darker”. It shouldn’t be thought of as a poor choice, however. It does have its own specific sound which is warm and rich. Denser examples will exhibit more overtones as compared to mahogany. East Indian Rosewood’s classic pairing is with Sitka Spruce and that combination does work very well. The Sitka-like Lutz is another excellent choice.
Madagascar Rosewood is a catch all term for many different species that grow on that island. The wood can vary from being light and somewhat rough textured to being dense and almost exactly like Brazilian rosewood. Of all of these species there is one (Dalbergia baronii) in particular that comes very close in terms of look to replicating classic Brazilian Rosewood. Soundwise, the tone varies with the density. All of the wood exhibits very strong and beautifully clear treble notes. Some of the less dense examples produce slightly treble balanced guitars but the more dense sets give an excellent balanced sound with great separation between notes. The wood can vary greatly depending on the specific piece but almost all of it makes extraordinary instruments. I prefer to pair it with the European spruces and the European like Lutz samples. Guitars made with these combinations have wonderful and rich treble registers and excellent note separation.
Cocobolo rosewood is another wood that like Brazilian can vary greatly in color and grain. It is the most oily of all the rosewoods and great care needs to be taken when working with it to ensure correct bonding. It can cause allergic reactions in many people when being worked but even people who are sensitive to it can handle a finished instrument made from it. This wood is a popular alternative to Brazilian however it is more dense and can have an even harder surface. Tonally it can seem very bright and if care is not taken it can be almost harsh in the higher registers. When paired with a softer spruce, such as certain examples of spruce from the Carpathian mountains, it can have a beautifully clear and rich sound.
Although not as oily as Cocobolo, African Blackwood is another very dense rosewood. This wood comes from Southern Africa and is the preferred wood for woodwind instruments. It appears almost completely black at first but under finish can show deep brown and purple colors. It produces a similar noble quality as Brazilian does in guitars, extremely even and clean along the entire register yet rich at the same time. The trees are very small and twisted so while the wood is not rare, large clean pieces are very rare. African Blackwood pairs well with any of the spruces.
Honduran and Amazon rosewood are to my ear the most resonant rosewoods, tapping a board can sound like tapping glass. Honduran rosewood is what marimba bars are made from. Being so intensely resonant it favors the higher spectrum of sound and has clarity to spare. Paired with Red Spruce it has the potential to be the most powerful and cutting of combinations as its reflective nature can give it amazing volume. Amazon rosewood is as dense as Honduran but slightly less glass like in practice. Except for being slightly more dense it is almost exactly like real Brazilian and shares its ability to deliver a rich tonal palette and excellent volume and note separation. Both species pair well with Red Spruce but also work well with any of the other spruces.
Besides these classic examples there are many other woods commonly used for guitars. Ziricote is a wood from the Yucatan and while not a rosewood it does show the classic rosewood grain figure that resembles a landscape on its side. Its colors are in the olive grey green to brown spectrum and it is a heavy dense wood. It does not have the treble richness of some of the rosewoods but it has an excellent bass tone and is even throughout, a very important factor. It can be brittle to work with and more care is needed to ensure a properly humidified environment for guitars made of this wood than for most others. I find it to be similar in sound to Maccassar Ebony, a more resonant species of ebony that can exhibit beautiful swaths of caramel browns and muted golds instead of the more homogenous blackness of the pure ebonies. Both Ziricote and Maccassar ebony share an excellent bass note and sound clean throughout the register but do not have the extra sparkle some of the glassier woods have. Both are also very dense and make a heavier guitar. They can be paired successfully with any of the spruces.
Myrtle wood from the West Coast is another wood that has been popular recently. It usually is a golden color, sometimes having hints of green or brown in its tone and other times having beautiful black lines that can fade back into the gold colors. Most examples used for guitars also have strong figuring. Tonally, the wood is very light weight and makes a responsive guitar that has a very clean sound. Some people compare it to Maple but I find that the surface of Myrtle is softer than the harder eastern maples and it doesn’t have the harshness some Maple guitars can have. I would describe it as an unaffected sound as it lacks some of the color that other woods, especially the rosewoods, can add to the guitars sound. I see that as a benefit in this case and for a guitar where a direct and clear baseline is required it makes a superb guitar. I like working with it for baritone guitars and it can pair well with any of the spruces.
As with the top wood, the cut of the wood for the back and sides is an important issue to consider. The hardwoods generally have a more uniform stiffness which is not affected as much as the softwoods as to how they are cut but the stability of the plate can be greatly affected. In all woods, the most stable cut is the quartersawn cut, where looking at the end grain all of the lines look like this IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. When available, this is the ideal cut to use as thin plates are much more prone to movement and checking than larger pieces. The quartersawn piece has a huge advantage in how it moves with seasonal changes. Non-quartersawn wood can be used successfully (and is quite a bit) but whenever possible I suggest the higher grade cut. It will not completely ensure against a stability issue with your guitar but consider it the best form of insurance against that possibility.
- Choosing the wood to be used on an acoustic guitar often feels like the most important decision as to how the guitar will sound when completed. I would argue that the body shape and construction techniques are equally as important but there is no doubt that the wood does make a very real contribution towards the final sound.
- 3. How do you voice the guitar?
- I feel that a common perception in the guitar buying world is that voicing the guitar is simply the process of shaping the braces. While this is an extremely important part of the process it is but only one part. As discussed above, the voicing process begins with a thorough discussion of what is to be expected from the instrument. This lays the groundwork for a series of decisions to be made on specifically how the guitar is to be constructed, what it will be made from, and then how the top plate will be tuned in relation to the rest of the guitar.The body shape is very important in shaping the sound of the guitar. Things like the size of the body cavity and the relation of width to depth can make a large impact on how the guitar will work, especially in regards to depth of sound and volume. The internal construction methods also affect how the instrument will sound and play. Details like how the linings are constructed, how strong and/or large the blocks are and especially things like doubled sides and buttressed neck block bracing can all contribute to the focus of the guitar and to maintaining stability over the life of the instrument.
The weight of each part of the guitar is an area I pay close attention to. It may seem trivial to want to shave a gram here or there off of what seem like simply construction details but I feel it can make a difference to the finished product. Many times the bridges of my guitars end up at or just below 20 grams and shaving a few grams here and there can quickly approach that measurement. While I do feel that lighter is usually better it is not always the case, sometimes mass in the correct spot is exactly the right thing for the sound.
The plates of the guitar are discussed all the time in relation to tuning the sound and for good reason. All of the other decisions do affect the sound but shaping, bracing, and tuning the plates is the most direct way to really fine tune the tone. There are many aspects to this. You will notice on most guitars that the top and back plates are not actually flat but rather have a slight dome to them. Which dome you choose to use, where you choose to dome on the top and back, and how you choose to prepare the rims to accept these domed plates are all important decisions in determining how the top will respond when excited by the strings. Likewise, the actual strength of the plate is extremely important. Many times the top is not uniform in thickness as the edges are thinned while the center is left at full thickness to best resist distortion at the point of highest tension. The braces must work in concert with this tapered plate and create a uniform system that is strong enough to not deform under tension but responsive enough to be pleasing to play. This process is what most people refer to as tuning the plate and I find that each maker has their own unique approach, or even group of approaches that they become comfortable with over time and learn to trust to bring out all that is possible in the woods they have chosen to use.
My methods use a few different tools. The first, and most natural is simply flexing the plates and feeling for myself their inherent stiffness along and across the grain. This is done for the top and back plates as well as every single brace. I do trust my instincts in this but I also prefer to back them up by performing deflection tests. This allows me to have a little bit of quality assurance in regards to my initial instincts but more importantly it allows me to keep a database of numbers to refer to and it allows me to reference older data when making decisions on current instruments. Along with handling and flexing the wood I also tap it at every stage along the way and listen to how it responds and vibrates. 2 pieces of wood can exhibit the same strength data but can still sound remarkably different when tapped. Some wood will give an enormous sound and others may sound like wet paper. This is most true with different species of hardwoods but is also true for the soundboards, even within the same subspecies. This kind of data is harder to catalog than simple deflection results. The control setup for sound recording is much more sensitive to small environmental changes. This tapping is done at every stage but the most care is taken during the brace shaping operation. Controlled loosening of the plate by shaping the braces and thinning the top can radically change how the plate responds when tapped and the process of finding the correct balance can literally be heard as the response changes as you manipulate the underside of the soundboard.
Another tool that I use is referred to as Chladni tuning. It involves directing sine waves at the plates through a handheld speaker and observing the frequency at which that plate naturally wants to vibrate at. When excited, the plate will move enough to make whatever medium you have sprinkled on it (glitter, poppy seeds, etc…) “dance” around and gather along the nodal points where there is no vibration. The data is largely self referential but done enough times many patterns begin to emerge and you are able to “see” how your better instruments look under this fine tuning. In its complete form you are ideally able to make even more informed judgments from the beginning stages of the process as to which specific soundboards will work best on which body shape. I like to think of this kind of tuning as a more complete backup to flexing and tapping. The frequency that the plate is excited at tells you information as to how stiff your plate is and the shape that appears at that frequency tells you how well tuned the plate is at that specific frequency. In very simple terms it can be seen as a visual document of what you are doing when flexing and tapping, and one that is easily documented and able to be referenced later. As a quality control tool, I think it is invaluable. It is also very fun to watch the shapes seemingly appear out of nowhere on your guitar top. If you are able to visit during this process it can be very enjoyable to watch.
- I feel that a common perception in the guitar buying world is that voicing the guitar is simply the process of shaping the braces. While this is an extremely important part of the process it is but only one part. As discussed above, the voicing process begins with a thorough discussion of what is to be expected from the instrument. This lays the groundwork for a series of decisions to be made on specifically how the guitar is to be constructed, what it will be made from, and then how the top plate will be tuned in relation to the rest of the guitar.The body shape is very important in shaping the sound of the guitar. Things like the size of the body cavity and the relation of width to depth can make a large impact on how the guitar will work, especially in regards to depth of sound and volume. The internal construction methods also affect how the instrument will sound and play. Details like how the linings are constructed, how strong and/or large the blocks are and especially things like doubled sides and buttressed neck block bracing can all contribute to the focus of the guitar and to maintaining stability over the life of the instrument.
GUITAR CARE
- 1. Cleaning the body
- Periodically your guitar will benefit from some surface cleaning. Certainly your guitar will benefit from a rub down after every playing session but if you are anything like me you may not remember to do this! A slight buffing (firm rubbing) with a very soft cloth should be safe on any finish your guitar may have. If needed you can very slightly wet the cloth if there is slight buildup you need to remove but be careful to never let any liquid sit for any period of time on the guitar’s surface. Once in a while you can use a little polish on the soft cloth to bring back the original shine of the finish. I recommend this excellent polish sold through Stewart McDonald. Here is the link: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Abrasives,_polishes,_buffers/Preservation_Polish.htmlDifferent finishes will behave slightly differently. Care for Lacquer and Polyester finishes is similar and the above information should hold true. A more fragile finish such as French Polish (thin shellac) requires more care and will show wear much more easily. If you choose to have your guitar french polished we will discuss in depth the care that needs to be taken to keep the finish sound. Ideally all finishes are applied in a very thin layer and may show telegraphing of some of the wood grain showing through. In most cases you will notice a sort of corduroy texture on the top as the grain lines of the spruce swell differently than the wood between them. This is normal and proof of a sonically superior thin finish. This can also occur on the back and sides, especially with highly figured curly woods.
- 2. Restringing your guitar (FB oiling and cleaning)
- Restringing your guitar correctly is very important for the sound and especially the wear on the bridge plate (the piece of hardwood the ball end of the strings pull against on the underside of the top). You will notice that the bridge pins on my guitars are not slotted. Rather, I have cut slots into the bridge to accomodate the strings. To seat a new set of strings push the ball through the hole and you will feel it catch in a slot under the bridge. This is what is holding the string in place, the pin is simply filling the hole needed to seat the ball. Once you have the ball end seated under the bridge, pull up on the string so it is reasonable taut and then press in the bridge pin. You should not need to force the pin into place, normal pressure should seat it into place in the bridge. It is fine to replace one string at a time or to change them all at once. Contrary to some opinion there is no problem to remove all of the strings at once. On the headstock end of the guitar I prefer to see the string wrapped around the tuner post 2 times and to have the string as it comes off of the nut be below the wrapped portion of the string.If you do remove all of the strings at once it is a good opportunity to address the fingerboard. At the very least it is good to give your fretboard a very thorough rubdown with a soft cloth when you have all of the strings removed. If there is a little bit of buildup or grime you can rub it down with a solvent such as Naptha. If you do this be sure to follow all of the safety instructions on the can. I am always sure to wear gloves when I use it. If your fingerboard is covered in noticeable grime buildup you may need to scrape some of this off. If you are up to this task I find a razor blade edge to be an excellent tool for this. After scraping the surface you can move directly to cleaning with solvent or you can give it a quick rub down with OOOO steel wool first to even out the sheen left from the scraping. The last thing to do before restringing is to recoat the surface with a light protective coat of finish. I prefer Howard’s feed-N-Wax for this. It should be readily available at your local hardware store. I put a dime size portion on a soft cloth, work it into the cloth, and then rub over the entire board. Leave it on for 5-10 minutes and then with another clean cloth rub over the entire surface very firmly to polish the surface and remove any excess oil and wax. If possible I like to wait until the next day to play the guitar after I have re-oiled the fretboard. You should not have to do this more than once a year.
- 3. Humidity Control
- Controlling the environment that your guitar is exposed to is absolutely necessary to its long term health. Everything responds to changes in temperature and humidity and your guitar, with its thin layers of wood and the extreme tension of the strings on those thin layers, is more susceptible than most things. I build my guitars at a temperature of 65-80 degrees farenheit and a relative humidity within 1-2% of 40% at those temperatures. If your guitar is going to live in a permanently more humid environment than we may adjust the level that it is constructed at to reflect that. It is that specific relative humidity (that at which it was constructed) at which the guitar will remain the most stable. I consider 40% to be the best compromise between the humidity swings you may encounter. Here in the Northeast we can have situations anywhere between single digits (A heated room in winter) to above 90% (extremely humid summer days). While 40% is ideal I would consider anything between 30-55% to be considered “safe”. At humidity levels below 30 there is a serious risk of the wood cracking and the lower it gets the more extreme those risks become. The worst thing for an instrument is to be exposed to a rapid gain or loss of humidity. This may occur if it comes from a controlled room and is put next to a heater in winter. A situation like that is a recipe for disaster. Other than cracking the risks for low humidity are for the action to lower substantially and for the fingerboard to shrink, exposing the fret ends over the edge of the board. On the other end of the humidity spectrum is the the risks involved with too high humidity. The most obvious symptom of this is the raising of your guitar’s action as the wood swells. At the extreme level of high humidity you can begin to compromise the glue joints that hold your instrument together. Long periods of high humidity can also permanently distort the guitar as the wood will begin to set in its swelled shape. It is in your best interest to be very mindful of the environments you put your expensive guitar in. When you cannot control the outside environment it is best to use something like a small humidifier inside of your guitar. One example of these is:http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Accessories/Humidifier/Planet_Waves_Acoustic_Guitar_Humidifier.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=3944
In the summer months an air conditioned room will generally be a somewhat safe place as the air conditioning lowers the moisture content in the air but it is always best to have a hygrometer and know for sure. I would recommend purchasing this hygrometer to measure the environment where you store your guitar:
The dangers of temperature are more limited to the extremes although the humidity levels will shift with the temperature. Extreme high temperatures are dangerous for the risk that they put upon the glue joints in your guitar. Some of the glues will begin to soften over 100 degrees and the force of the strings will accelerate the pulling apart of joints when the glue is compromised. A common example of too high temperature is leaving the guitar in its case in the trunk of your car. The sun will heat the trunk and the guitar will for all purposes begin to bake in its case. The main danger of too low temperatures is damage to the finish. Polyester can deal well with lower temperatures but lacquer finishes will generally check and crack when subjected to freezing temperatures.
- Controlling the environment that your guitar is exposed to is absolutely necessary to its long term health. Everything responds to changes in temperature and humidity and your guitar, with its thin layers of wood and the extreme tension of the strings on those thin layers, is more susceptible than most things. I build my guitars at a temperature of 65-80 degrees farenheit and a relative humidity within 1-2% of 40% at those temperatures. If your guitar is going to live in a permanently more humid environment than we may adjust the level that it is constructed at to reflect that. It is that specific relative humidity (that at which it was constructed) at which the guitar will remain the most stable. I consider 40% to be the best compromise between the humidity swings you may encounter. Here in the Northeast we can have situations anywhere between single digits (A heated room in winter) to above 90% (extremely humid summer days). While 40% is ideal I would consider anything between 30-55% to be considered “safe”. At humidity levels below 30 there is a serious risk of the wood cracking and the lower it gets the more extreme those risks become. The worst thing for an instrument is to be exposed to a rapid gain or loss of humidity. This may occur if it comes from a controlled room and is put next to a heater in winter. A situation like that is a recipe for disaster. Other than cracking the risks for low humidity are for the action to lower substantially and for the fingerboard to shrink, exposing the fret ends over the edge of the board. On the other end of the humidity spectrum is the the risks involved with too high humidity. The most obvious symptom of this is the raising of your guitar’s action as the wood swells. At the extreme level of high humidity you can begin to compromise the glue joints that hold your instrument together. Long periods of high humidity can also permanently distort the guitar as the wood will begin to set in its swelled shape. It is in your best interest to be very mindful of the environments you put your expensive guitar in. When you cannot control the outside environment it is best to use something like a small humidifier inside of your guitar. One example of these is:http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Accessories/Humidifier/Planet_Waves_Acoustic_Guitar_Humidifier.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=3944
- 4. Proper string gauges
- Coming soon…
- 5. Traveling with your guitar
- Coming soon…
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