Official Luthiers Forum!

What is your favorite combo of body style, wood and bracing that you have built heard or played for a blues guitar. I know that this question is very subjective and filled with numerous variables but I wold like to find out if there is a general agreement.
Thanks for your replys,
bob

If I had to guess it would be adirondack or sitka and mahogany on a jumbo. Sounds about right?

Soooooooo many styles of blues but if we are talking acoustic delta blues I want a big body (dread or jumbo) with a strong bass but not too brassie. I like mahogany back and side with spruce top. Addie is good. Hard to say much about the bracing because of subjectiveness. I want med light gauge strings. and a moderatly wide neck 1.75" at the nut or a tad more

Look for an old smaller bodied ladder braced Harmony. Pretty authentic sound for Delta blues.
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

As the saying goes, your fingers produce the sound Mance Lipscomb, one of the all time great blues guitar players used an old cheap 000 styled Harmony guitar.

With that said, however, I do have some opinions (and we all must acknowledge that we have preferences, but at the end of the day, you can play blues on any guitar). My favorite blues type guitars):

- Oscar Schmidt Stella (OS guitars had many names) ladder braced guitar (preferably the Grand Concerts, but concerts are awesome too): I really like these (I own 2) guitars for all kinds of blues playing. However, where they are unparalleled in my opinion, is in bottle neck guitar. The bracing, the lack of a radius on fingerboard (so slide sits on all strings), and general funkiness of these guitars are perfect for slide guitar. A great many of the older blues guys from the 20's/30's played Stella guitars.

- Gibson L-00 type guitars: I love these for all kinds of fingerstyle blues - especially in the piedmont style. These are generally mahogany ( I say generally cause the nick lucas guitars, which are similar, but deeper bodied, came in other woods as well), and short scale. I think you can lump in Gibson L-00, L-0, Nick Lucas, and L-1 guitars into this category.

- Larson Brothers type Jumbo guitars: I find these to be great all around guitars for fingerstyle for all styles of blues. Mine was made by Franklin Guitars (Nick Kuckich) back in mid 80's. I am slowly building my version.

I think OM's also make a nice overall fingerstyle guitar, lending itself to blues playing. At the end of the day, put 10 guys in a room blind folded, have them play 10 different guitars, ask your question, and you will end up with a great variety of preferences.

My 2 cents

Glenn

Small bodied - L-OO. Traditional rough sawn bracing, Sitka or Red Spruce top, Mahog everywhere else.
Larger bodied - J-35, same specs as above.
Reso- Single cone metal or wood body.
Just my opinion.

-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

The only reason the old blues guys bought those cheap guitars was because that was what they could afford and those guitars would have to take a beating sometimes. Ever hear Charlie Parker beating on them like Rory Block does also? You can't beat a German Silver Tricone for tone on a metal body guitar. German Silver is the BRW of metals IMHO. I'd also take a steel body over a yellow brass body. I actually like a J45 for blues too.

I agree to some degree. The old stellas were also sought after because of their volume. In the pre-amplified times (and pre National), these were the loudest guitars going. As street Musicians, volume was the number 1 priority. Alot of the older blues guys, like Blind lemon jefferson, Blind Boy Fuller, etc actually made decent money (Blind Boy Jefferson actually had a chauffeur at one time).

Glenn

It's really difficult to build a new guitar for "blues". A guitar has to spend some time in a pawn shop to really play the blues

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

My best friend has a 1927 Gibson L0 that speaks Blues real well, when ever I play it I fingerpick some acoustic blues. I think a small body lightly braced guitar can work real well, but if you look around you will see acoustic blues guys playing all kinds of different styles and brands of guitars. Old Gibson or Kalamazoo guitars are very bluesy and they can sometimes be found reasonably prices. I also think acoustic blues sound better through a mic and not on board pickups.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Chas, and everyone else as well, can you really hear a difference from unsanded braces straight from the saw and finely sanded bracework? I've heard some builders say before that in trying to reproduce the old Gibson sound, that the finer they put them together the less they sounded like old Gibsons.

Never have explored this. I have explored ladder versus x bracing, but just wonder if rough sawn v. sanded really makes a difference you can hear?

Joe

Stratocaster! Just ask Eric, Jimi, and Stevie Ray. Well, you could ask one of them anyway.

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

Joe- Don't know if the actual saw marks have that much to do with it, but the shape of the brace is different too. Straight off a saw is a "knife brace", as opposed to the "parobolic" found in Martin type guitars.
I have a cheapo steel (not carbide) table saw blade that I use on my "Po-Boy's" that gives a very authentic "texture"
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

Thanks Chas.
Your "Po-Boy" looks like a very fun guitar!

Joe

Thanks everyone,great posts.
It seems the majority like either L-00 size or a large body Jumbo
Mahog, Sitka or addi seem to be heavy favorites.

I don't know if I've posted it here before, but I have an album called "Tone Poets." They took an old OM and and old mandolin around to a bunch of people and had them each record a piece. As I remember, they used all the same mics, recorders and other equipment and minimal electronic tweaking. It was interesting to heat how different the instruments sound from player to player. It made me feel better about the sound of my first guitar. I decided it must be awesome, I just play poorly.

I think it's worth checking out. 2 discs. One solos. One duets. mostly not blues.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

I use 2 for blues. Both are based on my L-OO shape.
For delta style with a slide I love the resonator

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Charlie Parker played guitar?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZEVFiBpVY
I thought Charlie Parker played Sax.
But I guess I was wrong again

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Old tin can dobro
Old 0-17 Martin hog ~ pre war.
Old Stella
but me being a bass player like an early 60's Jazz bass
with the frets removed and the slots filled with the bondo. Ya!


Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Say what you do, Do what you say.

No, no, no, no, no. Gotta be a tele ... Roy Buchanan, James Burton, Roy Nichols, Buck Owens, Don Rich, Keef, Luther Perkins, Arlen Roth, Redd Volkaert, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Albert Collins, Merle Haggard, Waylon, Steve Cropper, Jerry Donahue, Bill Frisell, Danny Gatton, Albert Lee, David Gilmour, and the kid from "Crossroads"!

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Yes, and that was what created the blues sound. I agree with the majority. Small bodied, L-00 or similar is what I think of when I think of acoustic blues.
Having said that, the blues, IMHO, is more about feel than tone. A good blues player could probably pick up pretty much any guitar and play it, and it would have that blues sound. MHO.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

One of my favorite blues guitar that I've played recently is the Martin D-15 or OM-15. Nothing fancy about em'. Mahogany top back and sides..No binding, perfling, or other real appointments to speak of. They have lots of thud and sound good all up the register. I believe they have Martin's A frame bracing. I also have to put a vote in for the J-45.

I agree with mitch. I had a Martin 000-15 that was great for blues. I think all mahogany would be my pick.

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma