Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello All; I am Robert Williams and I live in West Texas. I have played steel string guitars since '74 and classical since '90. I own a Taylor 710 CE and a Washburn classical. I purchased an LMI serviced classical kit and Roy Courtnall's book. From what I have read on the net for the kind of sound that I want, I chose a western red cedar top. Also I chose wrc for the braces, struts, bridge pad, and kerfing for the top to rib joint. My reasoning of all cedar under the top was hopefully the same qualities of expanding and shinking with changes in the woods environment, age, and etc. My first priority is good tone quality, then a reasonable amount of volume from this instrument. I have read and am still reading the archives and everything else I can find especially tuning/thicknessing the top. Still learning the lingo too.
The kit plan is for the '37 Hausser.

What are your thoughts on all cedar under the sound board for both tone and strength? I like hard tension on classical strings. Will cedar hold up to these?

Thanks for your time. I am very excited about this build.

Robert   Robert Williams39011.4583333333

Welcome to the forum, Robert. I haven't used cedar at all, yet, so really can't help with that. I do know that for bracing, it won't be as strong (in the same sizes) as spruce.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Hi Robert, welcome to the forum! Your wood combinations will be great for that guitar. I also build classicals, and as a matter of fact, every single guitar I've built has been from the 1937 Brune plan. I currently have 3 guitars on the bench, all with different wood combinations. A cedar top will usually sound much fuller, quicker while a spruce top will take considerably longer to open up. Cedar will have no problem at all holding up if built properly.

One of the things I notice with many people's first guitars is that they are overbuilt. It takes some time and experience to learn that balance of how thin to go on wood, and where the line is between structural integrity and good tone. In general, I have found that you want to build as light as possible without sacrificing integrity. Lighter will usually help increase volume. My first guitar was built like a tank--it was much too heavy. It was very hard to get good volume with the light tension of nylon strings and the overbuilt guitar. It just wasn't enough to get the box moving. If you have any specific questions about building the '37 Hauser, feel free to ask. I've been in your exact shoes. FYI, I'm down to under a 3 year wait on an authentic Hauser III--I can't wait to compare an original to some of my guitars.

Good luck!

John

Welcome to the OLF Robert there is a wealth of info available here and some great folks willing to share. I am no expert but I am sure others besides John will tune in soon.

Good luck with your build.

Cheers

Kim

Welcome, Robert. I'm another one who knows nothing about using all
cedar, but just wanted to say hi.

Mike

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Welcome to the OLF Robert. I'm sure you will enjoy this
forum! It is the best and friendliest you can find.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

HI Robert,

Welcome to the OLF and congrats on your purchase of a kit from LMI. Your choice of WRC for top material and brace wood will give you a nice sounding guitar. I have done many guitars using WRC for the top and a nine brace system a la Fleta design. They turn out quite nice. I belive the LMI/hauser plans called for a spruce top so you will need to re-think the bracing dimensions and top thickness a bit.    
Good Luck!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone, OLF seems like a very nice place!

John; Thanks for your words on over building. Makes sense that if you take to much off you can't get it back on therfore being conservative. I'm sure I'll be bugging you guys when comes time for thinning the body. I'll bet your looking forward to the Hauser III, I know I would be.

Robbie; Thanks for the nice DVD. I'm still getting my arms around the big picture but will start soon. Would you increase the cross sectional area of the Hauser shape struts and bars to more like the Fleta's cross sectional areas or would you just put a complete Fleta bracing system under the soundboard? Other paths?

Thanks everyone.

Robert

Hi Robert, welcome to the OLF, as you can see already, people here are very welcoming and friendly and will assist you along all the way whenever you need answers!

Good luck with your build my friend and please share pics when you can!

Serge

Robert,
I would use the Fleta nine fan design but I have had good results with it over the years so I am biased. There are very nice cedar tops out there that use other designs as well.
Good luck with whatever design you decide to use.

Robbie mentioned it earlier but you will want to keep the WRC top a bit thicker than a spruce top...I dont have my Hauser plans to see what it calls for but WRC needs to be thicker compared to Spruce.

The main thing is to make sure you dont go too thin under the bridge area if you are using high tension strings.

Welcome Robert! Good to have you on the OLF.

Thanks again for the warm welcome. I will study the Fleta bracing system and try to apply it to the Hauser top. I would think since the Hauser is a little smaller than the Fleta I should reduce in cross section the nine fan system a bit to compensate. Thanks again.

Robert