Acoustic Guitar Construction

Something that baffles me is that many makers glue the back on the rim before the sound-board, to me this nullifies any opportunity for the builder to tweak (shave) the bracing. I do not claim to have any magic powers -- my assertion is that most will be able to detect if a top is stiff and sluggish by merely tapping it "after it has been glued to the rim". Dead spots -- usually thick bracing are easy to find by moving your tap point around the top. I believe these Sogomy videos give a clue to what you are trying to accomplish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRTRhwDp ... ure=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAEQKmyB5Nk

Interesting. I must make a deflection tester.

Very interesting...to me the key IS knowing when to stop...ya got to cut away enough BELOW the desired mass, to make up for what your going to ADD with the bridge, pins, pick-guard, inlay ,binding and what ever else you are going to add..it's got to be close enough that you can make up the difference with finial sanding the thickness at the rim to get back in the sweet spot...so it's a guessing game until you do it enough to become familiar with that "Perfect" subjective pitch or "Tap tone"...

Is this the right way of thinking? I know NOTHING about it...but it sounds good to me...(Pun intended :)

Ray :)

I just watched a youtube vid that showed a luthier attach the top and then attach the neck (bolt on it must have been) and THEN tap and shave the braces. His thinking, of course, is that with everything but the back on, he would have a better sense of what to do with the top before he closed the box.

Does this make sense? Actually, I suppose you could glue on the bridge as well as the top.

This seems to me to be an important question; maybe it's not; but I think I will try it.

I also know a luthier (Brian Burns) who tapes the back on securely and then does a resonance test of the box; he has a particular frequency he is looking for. He then can take off the back, make some adjustments to the bracing or whatever, re-tape the back and re-test. He builds classical and flamenco instruments but I don't see why the method would not work for SS as well.