Official Luthiers Forum!

Here is yet another contest that I will limit to newer builders with 5 or fewer completed guitars under your belt.

To win this Ervin Somogyi DVD which is the lecture that he gave at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in 2009 simply be the very first one to answer the following questions correctly and post your answers in this thread.

The weiner.... will win this DVD and I will flip for shipping too. Please US entrants only, void where prohibited.....

Good luck to all!

QUESTION 1: In respect to guitar building voicing refers to?

a) Letting the guitar tell you what it wants to be...
b) Listening carefully to the guitar to isolate issues...
c) Manipulating the materials, top, braces, etc. sometimes by tapping and listening to achieve a desired sound...

QUESTION 2: Which of the following is NOT a bracing style?

a) X-braced
b) Ladder braced
c) Fan braced
d) Concentric bracing

QUESTION 3: Which of the following materials may be used for braces somewhere in a guitar?

1) Adirondack spruce
2) Sitka spruce
3) Mahogany
4) All of the above

QUESTION 4: Regarding bridge pins non-slotted pins often 3 degree are used by some builders and vintage guitars because?

1) Plastic sucks
2) They sound better
3) They are prettier
4) Non-slotted pins push the string ball more completely onto the surface of the bridge plate greatly reducing the wear that results from the string ball being in contact with the edge of the holes in the bridge plate which happens with slotted pins. It's not unusual to see pre-war guitars with non-slotted pins and very little if any wear on the bridge plate. Possible tonal benefits are subjective but the benefits to prolonging the life of a bridge plate are clear to see when examining vintage guitars with non-slotted pins.

QUESTION 5: Brace shaving refers to?

a) When an adolescent brace reaches puberty and wants to get rid of the fuzz on their face....
b) Using a brace ripped out of a guitar to shave oneself....
c) Strategically altering the shape and mass of existing braces, often in a completed guitar working though the sound hole, in an effort that may or may not be successful to manipulate the resulting sound, tone, response of the guitar.

QUESTION 6: The popsicle brace in guitar so equipped is there to?

a) Prevent or help to prevent cracks along side the fret board
b) An important contributor to the tone of the instrument
c) What we do with left over bracing material when nothing good is on TV

Good Luck everyone!

Never mind.. note to self... RTFM

_________________
Jim Womack

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. "
Will Rogers

1.C
2.D
3.4
4.4
5.C
6.A

Happy Holidays!

this is a tough one hesh 1 c, 2 d, 3-4, 4-4, 5 c, 6c,

And we have a weiner!!!! Yukon wins!!!

Yukon please PM me your shipping information and I will get this in the mail to you next week!

Congrats, very well done!

Yukon took mine so i'll change one... c d 4 4 c a

HA! I read his wrong and changed it right! Good job Yuki!

In the words of Yukon Cornelius. Wahoo! Thanks Hesh.

You are very welcome Yukon and thanks too to everyone who took the quiz!

Hesh, just as I got out of the gym . I realized that the term
:popsicle: threw me off. I always think of it as a brace. congrats to yukon.

How come the guy who won is a Professional??? Just saying

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Rod,

While I've been a full-time repairman here in Boston for twelve years, I've only built three instruments to completion and two of those were at Roberto Venn. I hope to start building regularly in 2014.

Yukon