Gibson H bracing

Wood choice logic, brace shapes, braces patterns -- what and why for the "heart of the guitar"
Dave Bagwill
Posts: 5951
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:44 pm

Gibson H bracing

Post by Dave Bagwill » Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:45 pm

I've heard some very good old Gibsons, the L-0 in particular, that use the H bracing shown below. If I used it I'd be tempted to add a transverse ladder brace below the bridge, to support the top and help preserve the top radius down in that lower bout.
The H was a precursor of the X, but it intrigues me a bit.
Any experience with this bracing, or any comments on the pro/con? The L-0 was a killer blues guitar.
Attachments
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (72.95 KiB) Viewed 1927 times
-Under permanent construction

John Parchem
Posts: 2746
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:33 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: Gibson H bracing

Post by John Parchem » Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:41 pm

Interesting with the lower transvers brace it is a 2 brace fan.

Dave Bagwill
Posts: 5951
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:44 pm

Re: Gibson H bracing

Post by Dave Bagwill » Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:08 am

One of Mottola's instrument, below, has a very simple bracing (even simpler than the H, but they have some things in common) plan that can, according to him, yield a world-class tone in capable luthier's hands. It's based on the Tacoma instruments.
But the sound, also according to him, was designed to be a jazzy fingerstyle sound, which is not what I would be after. I like a little more 'ring' and more ladder-braced sound. Which is why I was thinking about the transverse brace.
I have built a Mottola braced instrument, just need to finish it up. An experiment.
Attachments
mottola.JPG
mottola.JPG (91.52 KiB) Viewed 1923 times
-Under permanent construction

John Parchem
Posts: 2746
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:33 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: Gibson H bracing

Post by John Parchem » Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:41 am

The Mottola guitar does not have the lateral brace under the sound hole so it is different than the Gibson. Maybe on the Gibson put in the lateral brace near the bridge and remove the tone bar.

Dave Bagwill
Posts: 5951
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:44 pm

Re: Gibson H bracing

Post by Dave Bagwill » Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:58 am

And here is the bracing supposedly used by Robert Johnson - L1
And a clip of one being played.
Clip:
Attachments
L1.JPG
L1.JPG (179.25 KiB) Viewed 1921 times
-Under permanent construction

John Parchem
Posts: 2746
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:33 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: Gibson H bracing

Post by John Parchem » Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:17 am

The L1 bracing is very different than the drawing in the first post. The bridge in the open L1 guitar does not even sit on the braces The bracing of the L1 looks pretty beefy except that there is a good sized unbraced area around the bridge. I wonder if effectively the inside unbraced area is the main contributor of the sound; a small sound board embedded in a full scale instrument. The guitar I hear has a really tight sound.

Herman
Posts: 1670
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:20 pm
Location: Arnhem area, the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Gibson H bracing

Post by Herman » Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:22 am

Looking at this, I can imagine where Taylor got its V-Class bracing. Completely new design!... ya,ya, sure!

The other thing is, they did cut the dovetail slot right to the bottom of the neck block. Plain easy!
Herman

Post Reply