Acoustic Guitar Construction

peter havriluk wrote:And where might Mr. Gore's website be located? Or its name? I'm curious. Thanks.

Not sure if I'm allowed to post a direct link to my site on this forum, but it's called Goreguitars, it's a COMpany and I'm based in AUstralia.

I have read both of the books cover to cover. Falcate and lattice bracing plus the more traditional bracing for both classical and steel string guitars are covered in the books. I found the design book an absolute treasure of information. If one follows the math or trusts that the math is correct, multiple system models of increasing complexity for a guitar box are presented allowing one to model the relative effect of the attributes of the top wood, braces, sound hole, size and what not on the response of the instrument. This more theoretical information is then use to intelligently discuss real world applications of that knowledge in terms of very practical design considerations. The design book can very well become the text book standard for guitar design.

The construction book is a very detailed construction book covering both steel string and classical guitar construction with the bracing methods mentioned above. Besides being a very detailed and practical construction book it has one of the best chapters on setup for good intonation that I have read. I do plan to build a falcate braced steel string at some point. My main fear now is dealing with adhesives and carbon fiber at the same time. I still have enough problems gluing a single bit of spruce on a top without making a mess.

I'm intrigued by the bolt on neck design. Two more traditional bolts and then two into the top part of the neck. Ken, I thought I saw something similar you were working on.

Tim was this the thread?

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=477

kencierp wrote:Tim was this the thread?

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=477

Exactly, thanks Ken.

Thanks for posting the clarification, Ken.

Ben-Had wrote:I'm intrigued by the bolt on neck design.

It's a bit more trouble to make, but has quite a few knock-on advantages:
1) You can get the neck on/off without messing with glue on the fretboard extension, which most "bolt-on" designs still require
2) You have serious wood under most of the fretboard extension, so you don't get the hump/hinge effect of the fretboard passing over the body joint
3) You can glue the fretted board onto the neck with such precision that you rarely need to dress any frets (which was a significant motivation for me going to this design).
4) If it's ever necessary to reset the neck it doesn't involve heat and steam

The down side (if you want to call it that) is that your woodwork needs to be quite precise to get a good fit and to get all the angles right before the fretboard goes on. But that goes with the territory, anyway.

Fortunately, I think we are now beyond people thinking there are any acoustic compromises, but just to be clear, there aren't.