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Well, after some considerable thinking about forces, deflection, stiffness, etc., I determined that all the guitar needed was a cross brace added just under the soundhole and it should then be able to work with the SS tension okay. I made a fairly sturdy brace (about 5/16" thick, 3/4" tall), lasered out some of the material in a pattern that matches the back braces, then carefully trimmed the ends and sanded the dome curve on to the gluing surface to get a nice tight fit all round, then glued it in. It wasn't too hard to clamp since it was right by the soundhole. Unfortunately, I didn't think to snap a picture of the glue-up, but got a couple of the brace in place. In this first picture, you can just see the brace with its laser-cut holes through the soundhole:



I shoved my iPhone inside the guitar and snapped away to see if I would be able to capture any good shots of the brace....I got lucky and found this shot among the many duff ones! The light from the workshop shined through the honeycombed soundboard to show off that feature nicely also:


I left the brace clamped up over night, then gave it another 24 hours to rest/cure before re-stringing the guitar with a new set of Addario PB Lights. There was palpable tension in the air (pun intended) as I wound the strings up to tension/frequency! Would it hold, or would the soundboard dish still?

The fix was solid! The soundboard didn't move one tiny bit yay! . Success at last!! Well, that was a couple days ago.....I didn't want to jinx the fix by announcing success too early....so I left it until tonight to see if there was any sign of movement. None, I'm happy to report! So, here are some more photos of it, complete, strung up to tension, and ready to play:

















I'll take some studio quality photos with a proper camera and lighting set up sometime later this week. I have a fantastic guitar player lined up to video/sound record also! Stay tuned!!

Cheers for now,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

you da man !!! Its a beautiful guitar . Amazing work Dave !

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Stellar!


Posted using two tin cans and some string.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I'm glad the brace worked! This has been an awesome build and I now have some serious laser cutter envy

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Cool I hope that works out for you. It's a big risk to experiment like that, lots of time and energy goes into it.

I'm glad the brace worked out. I was totally bummed when it wasn't able to hold its shape! I can't wait to hear it.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Thanks everybody! I'm very pleased with how this experiment has turned out. It has given me the feedback that I needed on the triple top pattern/thickness/bracing, the mini (thin) heel, the laser-cut bracing, the minimal headstock, the carbon fiber buttress rods, the smooth bevel and how not to bind it, and much more.....next one I make should benefit greatly.

I am hoping my super-duper guitar playing friend will have time to come on over to my music studio this week to record....stay tuned.

Now it's time for me to get on with building my spray room. I'll post a thread on that build in the main forum pages.

Later,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Oh, well, I didn't really need a brace carving chisel anyway.
Very nicely done!

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I don't "need" one either Rodger - I cut my braces with a laser now - but it'd sure LOVE to have one of Phillip's creations in my workshop! If I don't win it (and there's some tough competition out there, so my chances are slim!) I'll most likely order one anyway....

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I managed to get my pal Jorge Rivera Espinoza to find time (before he disappears for 3 weeks vacay) to play my ESJ-2 guitar so I could video/record it for the challenge.
Unfortunately, there wasn't time to get him into my music studio to use the high-quality mics etc., so I took a portable recording setup to work and recorded him in a quiet conference room.
The sound quality came out surprisingly well considering! So, here is my submission for the challenge, enjoy!



Don't forget to vote early and often, and for me, of course

I'll take some high(er) quality photos sometime soon and add them to my build thread - probably use them as a weak excuse to bump it

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Sweeettt ! Awsome sound ! Great work .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Thought I'd better post the other pics and video in my build thread also:



















Finally, a full bandwidth streaming flash HD video of some more of Jorge playing my ESJ2:

HD video (Flash) - more of the ESJ2 being played by Jorge

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

OT - Photographing Guitars:

I wasn't too happy with the wide shots showing the whole guitar. I took the photos on my Olympus E3, mostly with a 50mm/F2.0 lens.
I tried to keep the F-stop as small as possible (2.8 to 3.5 to keep the depth of focus short), but I guess I had too much light, so the back-drop is fully in focus on most of my shots.
The back-drop is out of focus on all the close up shots - not sure why - can anyone explain this to me, and suggest how to get the back-drop more out of focus in the wide shots?

Also, how do you guys keep the wrinkles out of your photo back-drop cloth?
I guess I could roll it up, but it would be inordinately long...not easy to store.
I have some paper back-drops (large rolls) also - black, grey, white - might try them on the next build.

Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Hey Dave,
I don't know how I missed following your entry. I just found it today.....what a stunner! Incredible daring do. I really like the bevel, and love those braces. Congratulations and well done