Official Luthiers Forum!

After building more than 40 guitars, we have come up with a pretty advanced X bracing system, but after all your suggestions we have now read the Gore Gilet design book and wonder about falcate bracing. Of course, it is not widely adopted, and it is hard to find any Real reviews about it.

Because it would mean a lot of changes and time investment, I am interested to hear whether people think it is generally far superior to a good x-braced guitar or that it is just a different flavor.

I have built both and, in my opinion, the falcate is just a different flavor. The falcate I built was very responsive and I like it but am staying with the x-braced system. Build one and see what you think - it is easy to get small quantities of the CF tow and cloth on ebay and the only other thing you need is epoxy.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

There is no better...

I might speculate that falcate is a try at the utmost in responsive, but to me, most of those "responsive" instruments are boom and sparkle, lacking something in the middle. Then again, I don't like to speculate. I"ll leave falcate to those that have used the system.

Two systems that have been around for eons are Larson laminated X bracing and ladder bracing. Having always thought Martin X a little muddy on the bottom end, the Larsons are much cleaner and clearer sounding, especially if you use laminated bracing on the back. Ladder braced guitars are even clearer sounding, but the bottom end is usually a little too clear for most folks...

I have built 6 falcate braced instruments using the processes from the Gore\Gilet book, 3 classical 2 steel strings and a 12 string guitar. I have also built a number of x-braced guitars. The falcate guitars are very balanced across the courses, the middle notes come out with rich clarity. All of my falcate guitars are very responsive, not just loud, the guitars voice turns on at very low volume. My classical guitar instructor owns one of my falcate classical guitars and he say it is the first guitar he has had that allows both a long crescendo but also a decrescendo without fear of loosing the voice. For example he showed on his mid 70 Kohno 30 how at a certain sound level the voice just drops off.

I have found that all of my falcate instruments have a recognizable voice for good or for bad depending on taste. The classical guitars sound somewhere in between a thin top lattice braced guitar and a fan braced guitar. Closer to fan braced. My steel string guitars sound a bit like classical guitars, clear notes and very even across and courses. In any case it is not a Martin sound. When I built a guitar for a bluegrass player I used an x-brace to achieve the sound (D28) he was looking for.

For me it almost feels like cheating as my guitar are better sounding and more consistent than I am a guitar builder; a huge step up from my x-braced or fan braced guitars. Processes from the Gore\Gilet books have given me consistency and control that would have taken building many more instruments to achieve. The processes from the book are applicable to any style of bracing. The carbon fiber in the falcate braces does provide a bit more consistency in the stiffness of the braces I make.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I/ve built falcate and regular bracing pattern ukes . The falcate ones have a different sound, which one may or my not like .personally I like both , they both seem to have their own voice and projection. Experiment an see if it appeals to you.

I have been building falcate ukes exclusively, they are simple and I am lazy, and I go along with Ernie. For me they tend to give a mellow tone which is preference. Even spruce mellows out.
Just my opinion.

Bob