Howe Orme I Doing? (Still Larson About)
Mar 14, 2017 8:53:32 GMT
ocarolan, leoroberts, and 1 more like this
Post by R the F on Mar 14, 2017 8:53:32 GMT
Stuttering progress... but I have managed to load up the neck with reinforcements: two-way 355mm truss-rod - Touchstone seem to be permanently out of stock so got it elsewhere - and my cheapo glued-up carbon-fibre reinforcements as used in the last one, "The Next One"
The CF reinforcements stop just before the holes where the 'vertical' CF rods enter the heel so as to give access for these rods to go in. Besides, the neck reinforcement isn't needed beyond this point since the neck has swelled out into a heel and has sufficient strength without help. The combination of the adjustable neck (which has to have room to pivot around the neck-body join) with the corrugated body (which pushes the neck up further above the plane of the soundboard than is usual), however, make it difficult to provide much thickness (= rigidity) to the neck extension over the body. I will, therefore, be trying to reinforce this bit of fingerboard extension with carbon fibre when I come to making the fingerboard.
Up at the other end of the neck I've found some wood to provide a flashy headstock veneer... Yes; you've guessed: it's laburnum!
and here's what the cut pieces look like:
A little over the top but, well, it's natural so it must be good.
Anyone paying attention will have noticed that the heel I was attaching last time I posted has disappeared. I must admit to spending several sessions trying to get my diagonal holes lined up properly to take the round carbon fibre rods and I even bought an extra-long 6mm drill bit to do a final clearance of any irregularities. I think it's all ready to go together now... but more of that after the event.
You may also remember something about a funny shaped box I was making in the dim and distant. The truth is that I have been listening to various bits of advice from a couple of well-informed sources - ah yes, I have my sources - and have decided to move the braces and, while I'm at it, to use Spruce instead of Douglas Fir. Quite a departure for me - Mr It's-all-made-from-doors; well, this time it isn't all made from doors and I've even bought a whole bunch of Alpine Spruce soundboards from a proper supplier! Okay, so they're third grade; I had to save money somehow, didn't I? Watch this space (or, at least, my next build thread) to see them in use. Anyway, back to the bracing; here are pictures of the original plan and the new version:
There is, of course, a basic similarity but close examination will reveal that the major braces have moved round the clock-face to some extent and, quite obviously, a number of "tone-bars" and "finger-braces" have been added. These are their conventional names though, I would have thought, they all have the potential to affect the tone and they all resemble fingers to some extent. Here I am more interested in tone than in fingers and one of my sources has recently pointed out to me the blindingly obvious: it helps the soundboard to vibrate at a variety of different frequencies if you divide it up into a variety of different sized patches. That's what everyone else has been doing all along - though I'm not entirely convinced they all actually knew why they were doing it. Anyway, you'll see I have a whole range of patch-sizes and it'll be interesting to see what this does for those high-frequency harmonics that add so much to the character of a guitar (if you're young enough to hear them - don't worry; I know some young people who can help me out...)
The spring weather has, unfortunately, brought the broken furniture out and it's beginning to pile up in the workshop so I'll have to clear some of that at the same time as building this guitar. Be patient.
The CF reinforcements stop just before the holes where the 'vertical' CF rods enter the heel so as to give access for these rods to go in. Besides, the neck reinforcement isn't needed beyond this point since the neck has swelled out into a heel and has sufficient strength without help. The combination of the adjustable neck (which has to have room to pivot around the neck-body join) with the corrugated body (which pushes the neck up further above the plane of the soundboard than is usual), however, make it difficult to provide much thickness (= rigidity) to the neck extension over the body. I will, therefore, be trying to reinforce this bit of fingerboard extension with carbon fibre when I come to making the fingerboard.
Up at the other end of the neck I've found some wood to provide a flashy headstock veneer... Yes; you've guessed: it's laburnum!
and here's what the cut pieces look like:
A little over the top but, well, it's natural so it must be good.
Anyone paying attention will have noticed that the heel I was attaching last time I posted has disappeared. I must admit to spending several sessions trying to get my diagonal holes lined up properly to take the round carbon fibre rods and I even bought an extra-long 6mm drill bit to do a final clearance of any irregularities. I think it's all ready to go together now... but more of that after the event.
You may also remember something about a funny shaped box I was making in the dim and distant. The truth is that I have been listening to various bits of advice from a couple of well-informed sources - ah yes, I have my sources - and have decided to move the braces and, while I'm at it, to use Spruce instead of Douglas Fir. Quite a departure for me - Mr It's-all-made-from-doors; well, this time it isn't all made from doors and I've even bought a whole bunch of Alpine Spruce soundboards from a proper supplier! Okay, so they're third grade; I had to save money somehow, didn't I? Watch this space (or, at least, my next build thread) to see them in use. Anyway, back to the bracing; here are pictures of the original plan and the new version:
There is, of course, a basic similarity but close examination will reveal that the major braces have moved round the clock-face to some extent and, quite obviously, a number of "tone-bars" and "finger-braces" have been added. These are their conventional names though, I would have thought, they all have the potential to affect the tone and they all resemble fingers to some extent. Here I am more interested in tone than in fingers and one of my sources has recently pointed out to me the blindingly obvious: it helps the soundboard to vibrate at a variety of different frequencies if you divide it up into a variety of different sized patches. That's what everyone else has been doing all along - though I'm not entirely convinced they all actually knew why they were doing it. Anyway, you'll see I have a whole range of patch-sizes and it'll be interesting to see what this does for those high-frequency harmonics that add so much to the character of a guitar (if you're young enough to hear them - don't worry; I know some young people who can help me out...)
The spring weather has, unfortunately, brought the broken furniture out and it's beginning to pile up in the workshop so I'll have to clear some of that at the same time as building this guitar. Be patient.
Jo whoever he is.
