Edwinson Guitar design ideas

[Tomcat]

What does anyone think of the design philosophies in https://www.edwinsonguitar.com/Design_P ... sophy.html

Has anyone tried out things like the alternative bracing or the radiused top and back, etc?

Just curious, and already getting ahead of myself, thinking about a potential first guitar from scratch someday...

[RHayes]

The alternative bracing shown actually makes more sense to me than traditional styles (at least structurally) but I'm not qualified to make that comparison. (just learning on guitars 4 and 5 and all the same 00 model from free plans). My thought would be to make a "few" guitars of the same model sticking to tradition, then try something new for comparison.

[jread]

There’s been some interesting bracing designs posted here and I understand they were very good sounding instruments. Mine are all Martin style though I keep considering changing this up then decide not to because I like what I’ve been making. Maybe next time.

[scamp]

The traditional Martin X brace design is ubiquitous but from my perspective and others isn't ideal. If you want a good tutorial on it's short comings take a look at the book from Trevor Gore.

That said, I think you can produce an excellent guitar using the Martin structure and because it's been around for so long the sound of guitars using this method seems to be what is generally accepted and considered "good".

I am currently working on my 3rd guitar ( first was a kit and second was from scratch ).
Both previous were Martin X brace ( an OM and a 12 fret OOO ).
For my 3rd I decided do something different so I did research on different non conventional guitar designs ( non- X braced ). Looked at Klein/Kauffman designs, Trevor Gore designs and others. Decided in the end to build a radial bracing design currently used by Ben Wilborn with the sound hole moved into the edge of the upper bout. From an acoustic and structural perspective I think this makes sense.

Now that I am building this non-Martin guitar I am realizing how difficult it is to stray from the established Martin design. There is so much info on the Martin bracing and layout available. So....my recommendation to you is to stick with a Martin type design, especially for your first from scratch build. After you get this under your belt then maybe start experimenting.

[Tomcat]

For my 3rd I decided do something different so I did research on different non conventional guitar designs ( non- X braced ). Looked at Klein/Kauffman designs, Trevor Gore designs and others. Decided in the end to build a radial bracing design currently used by Ben Wilborn with the sound hole moved into the edge of the upper bout. From an acoustic and structural perspective I think this makes sense.

Now that I am building this non-Martin guitar I am realizing how difficult it is to stray from the established Martin design. There is so much info on the Martin bracing and layout available. So....my recommendation to you is to stick with a Martin type design, especially for your first from scratch build. After you get this under your belt then maybe start experimenting.

Thanks, Scamp! My first I'm going for a kit, but I'd definitely be open to alternative designs for a scratch-built after that. I'll have to dig into the names you give as examples, in addition to Edwinson.

The Wilborn designs are so beautiful! I have no idea how I could get a chance to see/hold/play such guitars.

Is this the Gore book you mean?

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-a ... hvC291FXm6

[scamp]

Your first guitar , in my opinion, should definitely be a kit.
If you get one from John Hall it is extremely helpful since the quality is good and more importantly he is willing to help with support/questions which inevitably comes up.

After that, you might want to go with a more traditional design that has detailed design plans ( something like an OM design that's available from Stewmac. ). I would steer away from design plans from GenOne ( I bought their plans and they weren't as good as the Stewmac ones ). Remember that there is a big leap from a kit to a from scratch build, especially if you do your own bindings, inlays etc.

The Wilborn guitars are indeed beautiful and from what I have read and heard on line sound amazing. I haven't actually held one or heard one live but I'm trying to build one anyway. If your interested, check out my blog on this forum. It's under "Blog Your Project" and called "Wilborn Guitar Attempt"

The Trevor Gore books are the ones you listed. They are a bit expensive and just a a warning .....there is a lot of equations and math. That said, even if the math is too much for you he does explain everything that is important and you don't need the math to understand it. He only puts it in to prove his conclusions. I found it useful to help me understand the fundamentals of what is going on acoustically in a guitar and what is important.

[Tomcat]

I did get a StewMac kit, waiting for delivery now. After that, I doubt I'd try to go straight for a very alternative overall design, though perhaps just non Martin bracing could be an option - we'll see how much learning curve I'll feel ready for at that point.

I did see your Wilborn build thread. Very interesting, and I'm excited to see how it comes out!

[scamp]

If you are building a Stewmac kit great but I have one recommendation. Invest in a body mold vs what Stewmac suggests. You can get one from John Hall for a reasonable price and it will save a lot of headaches.

[Tomcat]

If you are building a Stewmac kit great but I have one recommendation. Invest in a body mold vs what Stewmac suggests. You can get one from John Hall for a reasonable price and it will save a lot of headaches.

This first kit actually has the box pre-built, so I'll skip this step this time. But I've seen that advice before to use a form not just a 2D template and when I get to bending the sides myself, that seems a clearly good idea.

[tippie53]

I have been doing this close to 30 years there are many ways to do this. I have seen lots of different things many to my ear sounded terrible but , this is what its about . making what you like. When you go to guitar shows there are lots of pretty and contemporary designs and lots of old traditional. It seems most of what sells are traditional designs. Still you have to decide what you like and if you do this as a business you have to make what sells to pay bills .