There was a lot of competition up at the Grass Valley festival. They had a luthiers pavilion and some of the builders included Howard Klepper (incredible craftmanship, Bruce Sexar, and Todd Clinesmith. Todd was very generous with his time answering my questions and we had a great night jamming with a guy named Marty and a bottle of Tequila.
The thing I noticed was that all the reso builders are going for an incredibly basey sound. To me it is almost over kill. The sound is based on the Dreadnought guitar, which again is a powerful sound that emphasizes the bass end.
My guitars are more balanced having richer highs and mids. But in the bluegrass world this is considered the old time Dobro sound and less desirable. Todd suggested I use a larger body cavity either depth or width.
I am also going to experiment with a longer scale length. So far I have tried 630 mm and 650 mm. I am now going to 660 mm which is about 26". I believe this will increase bass response.
I am trying a dreadnought body shape, less waist and wide body, and also messing around with body depth. I will post my progress and show my bracing which is more similar to Dusina's bracing but includes an x.
