Official Luthiers Forum!

I just wanted to share with the forum that I am working on two instruments at the same time right now. It is a great exercise in building, measuring, comparing and contrasting.
The measurements on thickness, weight and bracing are revealing fascinating things.

The tops are the only things on the bench right now. One is Sitka, one Redwood. And I'm trying to make things as equal as possible in an effort to fine tune the tone of my own builds.

Deflection testing put the Redwood at .125 and the Sitka at .104.

I beefed up the Redwood a bit as it seemed a bit flimsier than the Sitka but both have 1/4" bracing.

The Redwood came out at around 300grams and Sitka at 260g.

Most amazing is that the fundamental tap tones are dead on in tune with each other. This strikes me the most as a strong indicator that I'm doing something right. (I'm not really tap tuning so much as tapping and looking for dead spots to carve out of the bracing. But the tone that I hear has many similarities along with the expected differences.)

I expect that for some of you reading this, you've already yawned and hit the next button. For others you'll look at the data and think about things a bit.

The point I'd most like to share is that a year ago, I wouldn't have know a deflection testing method from a kitchen scale. I've learned so very very much from the great contributions of wonderful luthiers and novices alike. This place is invaluble to our craft.

Thanks to everyone who has helped along the way.

Dave