Why would you need to voice or tap tune?

[Robert Hosmer]

I think the daughter idea is cool.

Unless she's tone deaf!

No, actually I think I've got a winner here. She's young, but very "musically inclined".
Her mother is an excellent singer, and things just continued down the line.
When my daughter started developing interest in "the music that accompanied the voice", I knew I was in trouble.
Trust me, it's expensive.

[ken cierp]

By the way, I do not view any of this as a method(s) to "make identical guitars"; rather, I want to be more consistent, knowing in general what to expect before investing time in a build based upon guesswork.

Your expectations are simple to accomplish -- really! You find an instument that you like and copy the measurements and wood types. There is no magic and this is not voicing or tap tuning -- the characteristics of the instrument that is completed will be similar to the model. Now if you are looking to make a guitar that is better then the next makers (to your ear, after all it is subjective) -- or even as good, you just won't know until perhaps years latter. There is simply no reason to believe you will be "wasting" time constructing a guitar using someone's established dimensioning forumla and there are many. And truly, shaving this brace or that brace is guess work and that may be the waste of time. Each and every guitar has it own persoanality just like each of us -- and that personality changes a bit over time.

Taking out the guess work is one of the tricks, if you will --- and Roger Siminoff has ways to accomplish that goal --- more to come!

[Dave Bagwill]

I suppose if you have ALL the specs of the instrument you want to copy, you can get close.
Same stiffness brace wood, braces shaped exactly like the model, same stiffness-weight ratio for the back top and sides, bridge plate exact, everything down to the last detail, it would sound something like the model. Nothing wrong with that.
Of course we never have the 'same' wood as the model so we need some way of equalizing the sound of, say, the braced top. It's that method that I am looking for. I've seen the high-tech approach in person, and it does work, but you need the equipment and a large data base behind you to analyze the data.
Lots more to come, I trust.

[ken cierp]

To my point above - constructing a formula guitar -- search the internet and try to find an amatuer/hobby guitar maker that was disappointed in the sound quality of their finished first instrument. On the contrary the comments are almost always something like this "Wow! me and my friends are blown away by how good my guitar sounds much better then anything at the local music store even the Martins" For sure the pride and ego are talking but there is no disappointment.

[ken cierp]

My point Dave is that you and Rob are after two different goals -- do you agree? OK -- here's a test what do you want your guitars to sound like? Can you really articulate that?

[Robert Hosmer]

Maybe.
I'm not tryin' to speak for Dave or anyone else, but I would like to think that everyone appreciates a deeper understanding of what we can and cannot expect out of the wood.

As for myself (actually my daughter and I), I would like to emulate a previous build which has been deemed "successful".
Her instructor loves the way it sounds, so how close can I get to that particular guitar?

Is that the reason people do this sort of experimentation- in order to get a separate piece of wood to perform in a similar fashion as the first that has already been deemed successful (the model)?
So I suppose the build which we are attempting to emulate is "the model"?

Not expectin' magic fairy dust or any other miracle; just tryin' to get ideas as to what can realistically be expected and what cannot.
For what can be expected, I wanna know how to get there.

Thanks,
Rob

[ken cierp]

What I did and will do in the future -- Take the guitar I want to emulate

Identify the wood types, measure the top and back thickness, Stick a light (these days LED's are best no heat) inside go into a darkened room copy the brace pattern this is called shadowing, use a mirror, calipers and short scale to pick off brace heights and scallop locations. Obviously, if the body is non-standard you can trace it. Use good quality matching materials. These are not my original ideas rather learned this from others.

Perhaps I under think it but it has worked well and as a matter of fact I personally could not emulate an instrument any other way.

I am most likely missing something but I don't know of any method/process to analyze the properties of the materials already used in a completed instrument. Short of tearing it apart?