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One of my customers showed me his Taylor nylon stringed guitar today, and it had a bad case of top scalloping between the fan braces just below the bridge. I suggested that he humidify the guitar for a week and then call me if the probblem has not improved.
Any more suggestions from you nylon string guys?

Thanks

AlA Peebels38906.7701388889

Cumon guys. any suggestions?

Al

I think that what you suggested is the best first line of offense on the problem. Hopefully it will sponge up some much needed moisture and pop back into shape. If not, things get a bit more involved. I am building my first Classical right now, so those guys could probably give you some added advice. I am sure folks will start logging on later tonight.

Good Luck

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Thanks Mike. The guitar is definately under warranty, so I'm not going to touch it, I'm just trying to help the customer avoid the shipping expense, and time without the guitar.
By the way Taylor has an interesting variation to the classical style bridge. They use two holes instead of one for each string. String goes in one hole and back foreward through the other. Loops over the top, twist the loop between the holes and stick the loose end through the loop. Appears to be more secure than the standard method.

Al

I wouldn't know what to do with this Al, i hope the classical folks will show up soon, Russell, Ronn, Shawn, Michael, where are you guys?

Joshua French uses a bridge with 3 hole per string.

http://www.frenchguitars.com/features.html

where does the guiar live and under what sort of conditions does it live?

how much of a dip is there between the braces?

Al, any chance of a picture of the problem? Would also be interesting to
to know how thin the top is in the lower bout area, how many fan braces
there are and dimensions of same.

Its in a music store in southern Illinois. our RH runs very high this time of year, but in an air conditioned environment it can get very low. I haven't noticed low humidity related problems in his other guitars, but I haven't looked for them either. He is closed tomorrow, so I'll investigate further next week.
I think Taylor has photos of their bracing on their website, I'll look into the top thickness wnen I'm over there again next week.
AlA Peebels38906.891712963

Hey Al,

I just got back in town, and am reading the OLF again, or else I would have chimed in sooner.

I agree with Mike. Wait till the top's been rehumidified. But I'm puzzled that this should occur. I live in hot&humid Houston, which pretty much requires that the A/C is running at least 6 months out of the year. But the A/C systems we have do an excellent job of keeping the in-house humidity in the 45-50% range, which is dang near perfect. And I'm thinking that, assuming this store is air-conditioned, that the RH inside it won't be significantly different from this. So I'm wondering if this particular Taylor may have been assembled with woods that hadn't been properly seasoned perhaps?

Regarding the 18-hole bridge that Joshua builds and also 12-hole bridges:

Here's my honest opinion on this matter. I think it is a fad. People who prefer the 12-hole bridge claim that it improves the break angle over the saddle, thus increasing the downforce on the saddle and supposedly improving the sound. With a 1-hole-per-string bridge, the string is looped under itself between the saddle and the tie block, which slightly reduces the break angle, since the loop pulls up on the string when it is tuned to pitch. A two-hole-per-string bridge eliminates the need to loop under the string. Instead the loop is passed back through the second hole, and the string is tied off at the rear of the tie block. An aesthetic here is there is only a single "wrap" of string across the tie block, instead of two. With a three-hole-per-string bridge, the need to pass the string over the tie block at all has been eliminated. It's just passed through the holes as it is looped.

I have built a couple of guitars with three-hole-per-string bridges and several guitars with two-hole-per-string bridges. I don't like either, to be honest. With a two-holer, it takes about twice as long to change strings as with a one holer. Plus, it takes the strings longer to seat and stop stretching because of the tight turns they have to take. And with a three-holer bridge, you can multiply all this. It takes even longer to change strings, and longer for them to fully get seated (sometimes the basses never get fully seated) because of the extra hole the string has to pass through. Also, since the wood iteself, and not the tie block inlay (which is usually something hard, like bone) is having to resist the string tension, I have noticed that the wood tends to get torn somewhat by the strings. They start digging into it after a while between the string holes. What I've done to mitigate this somewhat is to install a plate of ebony or bone -- or in one case, fossilized mammoth ivory -- on the back side of the bridge where the string holes are, to eliminate the tendency to dig into the wood at the back of the bridge.

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38907.737349537

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Thanks Michael. I'm not going to get too concerned about this one because it's still under warantee. the particular way that the top scalloped between the braces just caught my interest I'd never seen that before, but then again I'm not a classic builder.

Al

i tend to agree with michael, there is only an extremely small liklihood that the guitar is too dry.

before any humidification is done the rh in the shop environment should be determined.

Great point Michael, I have been puzzled as well since reading that this was in a store. Unseasoned wood, that makes more sense.

Mike
White Oak, Texas