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Build #2 has been settling in for about 5 days now. It's a redwood/mahogany dreadnought from a Stewmac kit. Obviously I used a different top.

I've noticed the bass is not nearly as strong as the treble. What are my options?

1. Do I need to give it more time to settle in?
2. Are there some braces that I could/should sand to improve the bass response?
3. Should I just let it be and move on to the next build?

I don't know, but I recently finished an oak ladder braced 16" guitar with the opposite problem - the bass is much louder than the treble. Can't wait to hear the discussion.

Ed

Do you have any pictures of the bracing or others from when you where building?
Also what style of guitar?
what bracing scheme ?
top wood ?

Not trying to hijack, but just give more info for better discussion. This one is bass heavy and a little weak on volume. The details were done with help from Haans Brentrup who specialized in this type of instrument.

Red spruce, sitka bracing, Osage Orange plate:

Ed

tippie53 wrote:Do you have any pictures of the bracing or others from when you where building?
Also what style of guitar?
what bracing scheme ?
top wood ?

It is the standard StewMac dread brace pattern on a redwood top.

Thinking about this further. Does a thicker top mean less bass?

Thicker top or taller braces mean less bass. Basically stiffness supports the trebles but hurts the bass. But if I were to try to tune the top at this stage I would work on the braces. When I work on the braces, I try to take a bit from a few areas listening to the top by tapping as I go. If I remove from an area and it sounds better I remove a bit more from the same area. If it makes no difference I go to the next target on my list and follow the same procedure. The order that I use is the tone bar scallops, then knock down the the far peaks of the tone bars, then the near peaks of the tone bars, the x brace scallops and the far xbrace peak. If the top was not already closed I would take a bit from the xbrace cross if the above did not help.

John

Do you have some electronic equipment or do you listen with your ears to the tap tone. In my experience, I don't have enough exposure to even start thinking about what is "better" - is there some set of rules to follow?

Ed

I do both, ears and software. There is a free tool visual analyzer http://www.sillanumsoft.org/ that can show the resonance freaquencies of the guitar. It just needs a PC and almost any microphone. I set up as described in a document by Trevor Gore http://www.goreguitars.com.au/attachmen ... ata_R1.pdf.

What I would be looking is to move the top resonance to around 180 Hz. A bit higher in a small guitar.

One could also listen, in this case the guitar is described as too much treble and lacking bass. What I would look for is to make the pitch of the tap note lower. It is important to not do to much at a time. Make some changes that you think you can hear string it up it see if you are happier.

Thanks John. I'll give my failing ears a work out on the one I am in the middle of now

Ed