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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXGV31hOYhs

In the Godin guitar factory tour above at approx. 10:45 he describes their top technology and I was wondering if anyone builds like this? I tried it my last couple and really don't have much to compare it to but what's your feeling re: same?

I also wondered if putting a radius on the UTB with a flat top at the bridge whether or not that radius could/would form the needed angle for the fret board? In other words could that radius be engineered to raise the fret board angle at the upper bout just the right amount to create the proper angle for the fret board and the upper bout under the fret board? Or would one still need to sand that angle into the upper bout rim?

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Interesting take on guitar building, flat tops, radius sanders, etc. Made me wonder what happens if the worker has to go to the bathroom and forgets the rim and mold left in the dish sander - the birth of the thin line acoustic....

Godin actually builds (all of their brands) very decent instruments at the price points that they are offered.

What's interesting to me is that they remove the radius on the lower bout and impart the radius on the upper bout. This is the reverse of Martin. It's also interesting his explanation regarding the down side of radiused tops, less ability to move, less bass, etc. I would not expect him to offer that this method may be more problematic when it comes to cracking on the lower bout since the primary benefit of imparting a radius to the lower bout is that wood moves and if it can't move it cracks. As such a radiused top should be less prone to cracking but no mention of this.

Some builders will use a slight radius on the upper transverse brace and some also flatten under the fret board extension. It's believed by them and likely too that the slight radius is stronger. Others may use a straight UTB (upper transverse brace) and/or a carbon fiber augmented straight UTB.

Martin has been flattening the upper bout for decades and this is what I do too.

There is no right or wrong here in my view, different strokes kind of thing. Not sure that I would produce instruments with no radius on the lower bout though especially here in Michigan and with a plethora of guitars hanging in our shop with top cracks.... Nice weather....

Thanks for the reply Hesh. He does indeed say that the flat top is inherently weaker but they also have a very robust lower bout bracing system. Maybe that helps with stability? Certainly helps with warranty issues I'm sure.

I've read that several good builders build flat tops and wondered if anyone here did? I've got another build that I'm trying with a flat top to see what I can learn. I'll radius the UTB as well (it's laminated too) and see how that effects upper bout fret board geometry.

And I was wondering if the guitars hanging on the shop walls with cracks had flat or radiused tops? With of course no good method for bad weather swings.

Again thanks for the feedback.

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Hi Larry:

Our current shop residents are all instruments with some radius on the top, or.... I should say.... before they were permitted to dry out with no humidification "were" radiused tops.....

Our shop is located where a store with a 52 year life span once existed. As such we frequently are asked to recommend new instruments and in the price point that Godin sells they are a favorite for us to recommend. The former store also used to sell them so we have serviced hundreds of them and even see some that are getting pretty old these days and still singly sweetly.

Not sure who the current OLF crop of flat-top builders are but we used to have folks here that did it. I've done it too and the results were fine but these guitars also are currently in the hands of someone who knows that if they do not use the guitar humidifiers that I provided they may end up wearing them in a less than comfortable place....

Check out Huss and Dalton too (web site) IIRC they also offer a line of "traditional" built flat tops. Huss and Dalton is an excellent guitar producer and I used to have one of their very fine guitars. When I started building I gave away all of my Martins, Huss and Daltons, etc. forcing myself to play what I produced thinking that if I had to suffer enough with my own I would be motivated to get better. Not sure if it worked but these days the only acoustic guitar in my house that I didn't produce is a 77 Guild that I bought for myself when I returned from overseas one Christmas. It lives in the closet, if it is still there, have not seen in it some years now....

I wanted to add too that the few flat tops that I did build did have a greater bass response IMHO than what I build with radiused tops. One is a dread and may have too much bass but the flat top OM seems to have decent balance but not the strong mid range that my radiused topped OMs seem to have.

Very helpful again Hesh. Not sure I am capable of discerning tonal differences versus build technique quite yet as I am still experimenting with body shape and bracing so not sure which part is doing what. I'm committed on this guitar as the top is already braced flat and it really help to understand what the ramifications of a flat top might be.

I'm just about to radius the UTB and see how that effects the top geometry and fret board alignment.

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Thank You and Best To All