Official Luthiers Forum!

The latest version (1.2) of "G" Thang guitar design web software has been released. "G" Thang is available for free use for most users. New features in this release include:

A new parameter Instrument > Fretboard > Relief, has been added.
A new parameter Instrument > Body > Top Plate and Bridge > Bridge height has been added.
A new parameter Instrument > Body > Top Plate and Bridge > Saddle exposure has been added.
A new card has been added to the Instrument > Body > Top Plate and Bridge form for the specification of the arching of the top plate. The card includes an arching type selection and parameters related to the selected arching type.
A new card has been added to the Instrument > Body > Back Plate form for the specification of the arching of the back plate.
"G" Thang now generates rib templates in a new view, to the right of the side view. The templates are based on rib taper and plate arching values, and can be used by those that want to trim ribs roughly to shape before they are bent.
A new statistic is generated, specifying the length of the garland (ribs / blocks / linings) subassembly.

Information about running "G" Thang and a link to run it are available here:

https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/gthang.htm

Complete documentation is available from "G" Thang's Help menu.

Please report any bugs to me via email at my website. Thanks.

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R.M. Mottola
LiutaioMottola.com

Author of the books Building the Steel String Acoustic Guitar and Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms.

I don't check in here very often. If you need to contact me the best bet is via email through the contact page on my site.

I started using the PC-based G-Thang program about 13 years ago and have used it to design all the bodies for my guitars, octave mandolins, and mandocellos. I'm a big fan of the program and the web-based version that R.M. has created has majorly enhanced an already very good stringed instrument design program.

An addition since the last web version I saw that I like a lot is the Ribs Template section that automatically generates them based on the dimensions you have specified for the body and the top and back radii. It can even generate side templates that account for whatever specific cutaway design you have specified. Very slick! I've made all my body templates with this program and now I can make the sides templates with it too instead of by the manual method of scribing around the inside of a body mold on a radius dish.

If you haven't played around with this program before, I highly recommend it if you have any inclination to design your own instrument bodies. I think it's intuitive to use and it's fun to be to try out lots of ideas, see the results very quickly, and zero in on a design you like. The User Manual that is under the Help tab is excellent. Really well written.

Thanks, R.M., for providing this to the community.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

+1, it is a great tool and useful in so many ways.

R.M., if you happen to see this, a feature request would be to allow setting the bridge pin spacing and the fretboard taper independently so as to able to see a number of different combinations. I just happened to need this recently when trying to see what a specific FB taper looked like with a specific pin spacing.

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