This is my second effort at a Grand Auditorium, or 0000, style guitar. This guitar
has a nice stiff, close grain, sitka spruce top. The back and sides are walnut. The
binding is curly maple with walnut/maple purfling stripes. The neck is a walnut/curly
maple lamination. I have used laminated necks for my electrics and decided to use
it for this guitar, even though it is somewhat
I have added a number of design features that are different (I think improvements)
compared to my first acoustic:
- The overall size is the same, but the shape is rounded out, particularly the lower
bout. I don’t expect that this has a significant acoustic affect, but that big round
bottom sure is sexy - don’t ya think?
- The neck is adjustable. The neck pitch and intonation can be adjusted via three set
screws in the neck block (only slight intonation adjustment is possible). In order
to freely adjust the neck pitch, and thus the action, the fingerboard floats; i.e.,
it is not glued to the top. A neck extension with carbon fiber reinforcement supports
the fingerboard above the top.
- Flying buttress braces provide structural support for the neck block. This significantly
reduces the rotation of the neck block due to string tension, and should reduce creep
over time. The creep of the neck block angle necessitates an eventual neck reset
non-traditional for an acoustic. I like laminated necks for several reasons: it adds
visual interest (the opposing view is that it makes it visually “busy”), and it makes
the neck more stable, and in this case, with the use of maple, stiffer. The fingerboard,
peghead laminiation, bridge, and pickguard are East Indian Rosewood.
for most guitars, which is quite painful for the traditional Martin style neck joint.
Of course, with the adjustable neck, a neck reset consists of a simple set screw
adjustment.
- I used an X-brace for the back instead of the traditional (at least for Martin style
instruments) ladder brace. There were several motivations to try this: I thought
it would provide more opportunities for trimming and tuning after the fact, the back
holds its dome shape better, and just because.
- An access port is cut into the tail. This allows access for fine tuning of braces
(trimming after strung up to optimize the sound). It also allows for easy neck adjustment
without removing the strings. Future installation of a bridge plate transducer will
also be easy.
I am pleased with the design modifications. In particular, I will feature an adjustable
neck in future guitars. However, I think the design can be simplified some. In comparing
the sound to my first guitars, keeping in mind that I am very satisfied with the
first models, I would say that the volume and treble/bass balance are similar, but
the new guitar has a pleasing crispness to it, particularly in the bass. It is a
bit hard to attribute the different sound to one particular change, but I believe
improved bracing, in particular the flying buttress, are a factor; I also think the
use of walnut back and sides as opposed to sapale is a factor. The guitar is also
very light and well balanced.