Falcate bracing

Choivert · January 2023

Has anyone played a falcate braced guitar (link: https://goreguitars.com.au/innovation/#Falcate_Bracing)

Curious if anyone has one and has noted particular characteristics?

thomasross20 · January 2023

No but that whole site is super interesting and I am all for innovation like that

ArchtopDave · January 2023

I'm not impressed by his claimed list of innovations. He does own up to Johann Stauffer (who incidentally, at one time, had the first C F Martin as an apprentice) having used straight pull alignment for strings, but forgets to mention that Stauffer also made guitars with adjustable neck joints. Additionally, compensated Nuts and Saddles have been around for a long time.

The concept referred to in his Heavy Sides section of getting more volume isn't exactly unique. It's been known for a long time that you get more sustained volume from particularly an Archtop, or an Acoustic, if you keep a space between the back of the guitar and your body, in order to allow the back of the Body to vibrate. You can actually hear a difference if you play a nice resonant electric guitar unamplified with the back of the guitar body not held against your own body. I accept the bracing is a bit different. I don't know whether it's distortion in the photo, but given his comments about making the Bridge lightweight, it's a bit odd that the plate underneath the Bridge area looks so large.

I'm not saying that his thinking is without value, but he is making claims for which he isn't entitled to claim as his own.

thomasross20 · January 2023

Good points... you're more in the know than I on this it seems!

Tannin · January 2023

He doesn't claim any of those innovations as his own (other than the falcate bracing of course). That is simply a list of the things than make his guitars different to the run of the mill. None of them are unique, nor claimed to be unique.

Falcate bracing is becoming quite common. My Mineur concert guitar is falcate braced, pictures (including build pictures) here - https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/211843/ngd-yes-again It is a lovely guitar, easily the most responsive one I own. Is that a consequence of the falcate bracing? Or is it just a beautifully made, light, responsive guitar? What contributes most to its tone and response? The bracing? The Engemann Spruce top? (Most of my others are Sitka.) The wonderfully resonant Tiger Myrtle back? I can't say for sure, but if pressed to guess, I's say the combination.

Gore and Gilet in their book say, essentially, that falcate bracing is one of the many different design features or build techniques a luthier can use to achieve the aim of a very light, strong top. Both makers are happy to build using either falcate or traditional bracing according to the wishes of the buyer, but I gather that is most often falcate. And they certainly get results - they are two of the four or five most widely respected luthiers in the country and their book is a standard work.

I have a second falcate-braced guitar on order, this one a baritone jumbo. Paul works very slowly but after a couple of years I have finally reached the top of his build queue and last time I dropped in he had got as far as cutting out and glueing up the back (Blackheart Sassafras) and the top (King Billy Pine).

I'll post pictures when it's finished, of course.

(Damn it! Here I am writing a long, time-consuming reply when I have temporarily banned myself from The Fretboard and a couple of other favourite hangouts until I've finished a big (non-musical) project which eats up hours the way a duck eats grass. I just dropped in to read a post or two and half an hour has gone by already!)

ArchtopDave · January 2023

I beg to disagree. The third sentence under the heading Innovations ......" Listed below are ten innovations that I have been responsible for or played a significant part in; there are many more that I have not listed."

bertie · January 2023

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