Official Luthiers Forum!

Those of you who have used the Carpathian Spruce, where are you ending up thickness wise?

Thanks
LanceLanceK38446.6772222222

_________________
Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Lance,
I would shoot Steve an email and ask what he knows about that. The last one that I sanded I sanded to a desired stiffness....turned out about .102. BTW did it arrive?

I think that .075 is about right.








heh heh heh.....Don Williams38446.6979976852

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

.109 was my last one. It isn't together yet, but the box taps like a drum.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I'm marching to a different drum. I am using Carpathian at .130" in the center and tapering to .095". Very minimal bracing though.

_________________
tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Tim,
That makes sense to me, what are you using for bracewood? Adi?

I think it depends on the body style and the flex of the top. Tim McKnight has the right approach, you can always sand the top down to voice it if it's still thick enough.

Seriously, (this time) it sounds like a great time to start measuring flex in tops before you brace them. The stiffer the top, the thinner you will want to go. I think for me it's all about the flex of the top. Some people thin the whole plate evenly, others leave the middle a bit fat and judiciously thin the perimeter. Either way, you want to look at measuring the flex.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don:
I have a deflection jig and measure my tops but this only provides [me] with a starting point. I measure mine after the soundhole and rosette are done. You can measure pre or post soundhole but stay consistent to learn what your numbers are telling you.

Brian:
I use Sitka 95% of the time. I have used Addi and also some Carpathian brace stock from Steve. I also measure my brace deflection and sort according to stiffnness, tone and weight. I like to use Sitka over Addi because it is lighter and if sorted carefully is just as stiff as the Addi I have used. I also use Engleman for finger braces, again to save weight.

_________________
tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Thanks Tim!! Can you tell me more about the deflection jig?

Brian:
I got the basis for my top deflection jig here http://www.lint.org/index2.html

As for my brace deflection jig:
I just made a wooden female recpetacle to hold one end of the brace about 3" deep. It is about 8" high and I clamp this to my bench. Insert a brace in the female hole, parallel with the bench top and I then hang a weight on the end of the brace (an old cast iron motor pulley weighing about a pound) and then measure how much the brace bows under the weight. My tool to measure it is just a 6" scale taped to a block of wood in the verticle direction. Measure the brace in both directions as it is often stiffer in one direction. Mark the deflection measurement on the brace [with an arrow indictainig the direction of the bow] then sort the braces according to the measurements. I find that the stiffest braces are often equally stiff in both directions.

Next sort them by weight and by tone. I drop them from a fixed distance on my table saw top [24"] and rate the tone as either high or low and sort accordingly.

_________________
tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Tim you need to take some pictures of your brace measuring jig and add them to forum.

_________________
Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Don,
I use deflection as well for my tops so where the wood comes from doesn't mean much to me ( from that aspect anyway...it is very important for other reasons of course). As far as the braces go I work them different each time. I don't currently check for deflection on the brace as that is going to change. But I think TIM is right knowing your starting point would be very helpful. Good one Tim.
Hey Tim, did you go to Somogyi's class this time? He's big on deflection testing.

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Tim, Thanks for the details on how you rate your brace wood. You've got me wondering though on how the tone rating plays into the overall scheme of things. Let's say you've got a stiff, light brace but it has a low tone, how does this effect your use of it as opposed to a stiff, light brace with a high tone rating?

TIA,

Roy

I found the carp to be very light, and agree with Tim, I left mine around .130 or .125
I also used carp bracing, which I loved working with, I hav`nt finished the guitar yet so I have no comment yet about the tone.

Roy:
It's all dependant on what the customer wants. If they want a bright sound then I would pair a bright sounding brace set with a bright sounding top and vice versa. Remember it's the sum of the parts that contributes to the whole package. You could also combine opposites for more balance.Tim McKnight38450.6384259259

_________________
tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

OK here's what I do. I have a new galvanized garbage can that I place about 16" from the concrete wall in my shop. I throw the braces at the wall 2 feet above the garbage can. The ones that land in the can "Ring" I keep those. The ones that land on the concrete floor "Thud" I throw out. Just kidding.Bobc38450.3383912037

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

That is very helpful Tim, Thank you!

Thanks Tim. More food for thought.