Problems With Traditional Acoustic Guitar Construction

[Paul Blair]

Great guitars have been built for centuries in a traditional manner
and some very beautiful instruments exist using this traditional
construction. Traditionalists however are overlooking some of the
inherent problems in the traditional construction of the steel string
acoustic guitars. Guitar building is being taught as it always has
been and it takes some real open thinkers to break out of that box and
address these inherent construction flaws.
What are the inherent flaws of the current acoustic guitar
construction? To see the flaws, let's look at the dynamics of the
acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar has a body that is braced on the
back but with little or no reinforcement or bracing of the sides. The
top of the guitar which acts as the sound board for the guitar is
braced to produce certain frequencies. The top of the guitar, besides
being the sound board, holds the shape that the sides are in and is
put under a great deal of stress when the tension of the strings are
added into the equation and the guitar is tuned to standard pitch. The
bridge, which is where the strings are anchored to the top of the
guitar, is pulled by the strings which then run up the neck to the nut
and tunings pegs. This string tension is not only pulling on the
bridge and top, but constantly pulling the neck of the guitar up and
forward at the point where the neck attaches to the top and body of
the guitar.
Several guitar builders have pioneered the introduction of an
alternate bracing system in the guitar that takes the stress off the
top of the guitar and leaves it free to act as a sounding board also
changing the dynamics of how the guitars structure is maintained.
So what happens to guitars made in the traditional manner? These
stresses are well known and cause the sinking in of the sound hole and
the bubbling up of the top around the bridge, that result in a very
high playing action over time. Not only that, as the top serves a
double function holding the shape of the guitar sides and acting as a
sound board, the one action inhibits the full function of the other.
This movement is often compensated for by filing down the saddle and/
or the bridge to lower the action until the bridge becomes too thin
and eventually cracks. This phenomenon necessitates the need for an
expensive neck reset to correct the problem, fifteen or twenty years
down the road.
Getting back to our innovative guitar builders and their patented
construction, well let's just say, it manages to take those stresses
off the guitar so that the guitar body, sides, and top wont move and
therefore will never need to have an expensive neck reset. The result
of this bracing system creates a guitar that has a great sound and
stays easy to play. I know because I own one of these magnificent
instruments. You won't find it built on an assembly line by hourly
employees. You won't even find them in most guitar stores. These
instruments are custom handmade guitars and there are currently only
two guitar builders or luthiers as they are called in their
profession, who currently use this bracing system. My guitar was built
by luthier Jim Sullivan.
These guitars are some of the most beautiful and well built guitars in
the world. Paul Yandell, a long time acquaintance and right hand man,
of Chet Atkins (Mister Guitar as Chet was known) for many years, made
the following statement, "Jim Sullivan is one of the best builders of
acoustic guitars around! The quality and sound are outstanding! Anyone
who is in the market for a great acoustic guitar should give Sullivan
Guitars a listen!"
The other guitar builder is Paul McGill. Paul is well known for his
classical and resonator guitars and has built guitars for some big
names. Jim Sullivan's guitars have the same quality but will run far
less money than many of his competitors. Either way, if you are
looking for a beautiful instrument with great sound, check out the
work of these innovative guitar builders from Tennessee. Search for
"handmade guitars" in the search engines.

A Complete Learning Method: http://guitarjamor.blogspot.com/#

[Paul Blair]