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I have noticed a difference in the balance of the guitars I have built. What aspect of construction has the biggest influence on balance? What should I try to do to ensure good balance in my builds? Any comments are appreciated...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Is your guitar neck heavy? I've only ever had that issue with electric builds that honestly were not well thought out. Obviously in tat case use micro tuners for a start.

I'm still learning on this too... both getting a feel for where the balance point tends to come out, and figuring out where I want it to be in the first place. All of mine so far have been between the widest part of the upper bout and the top edge of the body. Seems to be a pretty good area.

I tend to prefer neck heavy over tail heavy, since I play with the guitar on my right leg. My picking arm resting over the edge holds it down, and fretting hand can also support a neck that wants to fall, but not so much if it's tipping away. On the other hand, if you play in classical position, tail heavy is better because it's supported by both legs and frees up both arms to do whatever they want, whereas neck heavy forces at least one arm to support the instrument in some way.

There's also the issue that if you hold the guitar so the neck is parallel with the ground, then the "perfect balance" center point would be exactly at the waist, whereas if you tilt the neck up, then the balance point needs to be farther up toward the headblock or it will be tail heavy.

As for the control of balance, everything plays in, but leverage is a big factor. The waist is the fulcrum, and the farther something is from there, the more influence it has. Weight of tuners is a big factor, because they're way out there on the end of the neck with maximum leverage. Likewise, the tailblock. Make it out of ebony and it will have a pretty big influence Headblock can vary quite a lot without making a big change, because it's very close to the center.

I try to guesstimate the weight of the neck and body based on their sizes, and incorporate that into my choice of woods and tuners.

You can also change it by body shape design, i.e. shifting the waist up or down.

But like I said, I'm still just getting a feel for it, so no scientific methods of calculating right where the balance point will be. The easiest way to fiddle with it on a completed guitar is changing the tuners.

With only 6 finished this is what I think so far.

Some shapes/sizes lend themselves to better balance. The 2 OM's I've done seem to close to that mark.

The better the wood the better the end result. without over building of course.

Some wood combos are better than others. My best- Lutz/Padauk OM, The one I like the least- Cedar/Maple L-00 I personally Like the balance on longer scale instruments. I may be wrong, but the basses seem fuller.

I'd like to hear what some of you old timers think because I'm still at the guesswork stage of building.

Cheers,
Danny

Are you talking about balance weight or balance tone?

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com