Gore style SS Guitar with Falcate braces. New Video.

[John Parchem]

Thanks guys, The guitar is fun to play.

Ken, thank you for providing the forum. Being able to build in a community of like minded guitars building enthusiasts is a large part of my guitar building experience.

I am on to my next project.

[Kevin in California]

John, I think it sounds awesome. It is slightly "gypsy" sounding, but rich, not tinny. The perfect guitar for "Scarborough Fair"!
I appreciate the time you took to document this build.
It is a looker too. You keep doing great work. Thanks again for sharing.

Kevin

[John Link]

Kevin, it sounds that way to my ear too, from the recording. Don't know what it sounds like in person, of course.

I wonder if this is a consequence of the bracing. Parabolas are intrinsically rigid, and they are reinforced top and bottom with CF, as well as closely spaced. Thus the areas of free movement are relatively small, which favors treble.

The Gore book says his design unifies the monopole, which it looks like it should, and which favors volume, as John says his result shows. (Of course, gypsy guitars are also known for their volume.)

But the top does not look like it is very "floppy" which would enable greater bass, it simply has great ability to move in unison. Besides, treble notes "cut" better than bass, according to many who specialize in tuning tops. Somogyi says that accounts for the ability of typical ladder braced designs to push their sound way out in front. (He seems to assume 4 or more ladder braces, which is true of the typical gypsy top design.)

Theoretically, to change the gypsy sound one could remove one of the braces from each side to open up larger areas of freer movement. No doubt this would be tricky and might require several builds to settle specifics, but might increase the bass response without giving up the great drive from the monopole that Gore's design achieves.

It is quite a stimulating build. Offers a very different structure about which to speculate and potentially experiment.

[John Parchem]

Playing with one of my instructors, I put my freak hat on. I wish I could sing but it was fun playing in a guitar duet.

[Bobby M]

John,

Loved the duet! I felt like I was sitting in a listening room like the Bluebird Café in Nashville. Made me wish I had a tasty cold beer in my hand instead of my morning coffee and were I not in my office I would have applauded at the end. Great stuff!

In your earlier video when you were describing the woods used you got to the b/s description and said "Don't ask". I think aesthetically they are a great match and had you not pointed out they were of different woods I would not have known. Fantastic job!

Bobby

[John Parchem]

Playing around with Palmer tuning with this guitar. The bass really is powerful. I love how this guitar has held up through the years.