Offset hole - brace question

[mdoolin]

Oh, the high e string. That's a different matter entirely. That high up you're out of the range of the main air resonance. It's more likely a strong resonance in the top, or in the neck. This will be more interesting to track down. One method might be to play that note repeatedly while pressing in different spots on the top. If you can find a spot that stops the warble, you've found the antinode of the top resonance (the place the top is moving the most). Then you could experiment with adding a brace, or possibly a small weight like a penny. Again, test with double-stick tape on the outside, and when you find something that works glue it on the inside.

If it's a neck resonance, you should be able to move it by adding weight to the headstock. Try clamping a capo to the head. If the warble goes away (or more likely moves to a different note) then you've found the culprit. Then you can simply leave your capo there all the time, or maybe put a fishing weight under the truss rod cover.

You still might play around with the soundhole, just for grins. It could be a coupling of a top resonance with the air resonance, and that might fix it after all. These things can be very mysterious, and the fixes can be surprising!

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks - I'm on it like a duck on a june bug - if that expression means diligently and with focus. :-)

[Dave Bagwill]

I'm still on this offset hole thing.
Here are 3 pix of bracing schemes.
One question I have is about the UTB and whether it is needed, since the soundhole has reinforcement on the underside of the top.

Any(or all) of these 3 that you think is just plain wrong with no chance of redemption?
This will be a very lightly braced instrument, about the size of an OM.

Appreciate your input.

[ken cierp]

Pin-less bridge?

[Dave Bagwill]

That's what I'm thinking.

[Woodyok]

Nobody has mentioned Tacoma guitars now owned buy Fender. I played one before, and it was OK but not revolutionary. Here is some info form Wikipedia.


Several of Tacoma's models feature an unusually shaped soundhole, called a paisley soundhole, on the left side of the upper bout. The purpose of this was to move the soundhole to a relatively low-stress part of the top, thereby increasing the strength of the top, reducing the amount of bracing needed, thereby making the top more resonant.

The group of Tacoma guitars that currently use the paisley soundhole are referred to as the Wing Series.


Voiced Bracing Support

Tacoma guitars utilize their Voiced Bracing Support system to various extents. The theory behind the system is to minimize bracing to what it needs to remain stable, such that the tone of the guitar is sacrificed as little as possible.

The full extent of this philosophy is applied to the Wing Series guitars, which use A-frame bracing instead of the more traditional X-frame bracing of conventional acoustics. A modification of the traditional X-frame bracing is used with their models with conventional sound holes. Two cross-braces are added to the outside of the X to improve the stability and rigidity of the sound hole while allowing the edges to be more flexible and resonant.

The braces are contoured such that they are thinner but wider near the edges of the top and thicker but narrower near the centre of the top.

[Dave Bagwill]

Very interesting, Woody, thanks.
I owned a couple of Tacomas - the RoadKing and Chief, if I remember rightly. The Chief was not a very good instrument; the road king however had a very nice, non-Martin sound - quicker attack and decay, 'dryer' if you know what I mean - it is a sound I particularly like. That's also the reason for my wanting to go with the A-frame bracing and offset hole.