Posted on April 21, 2023March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Guitar Air Cavity Questions: Guitar Air Cavity by Art Davis, Alan Carruth, and Joe D. Franklin Originally published in American Lutherie #63, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Tom Blackshear of San Antonio, Texas asks: Is there a formula for measuring the air cavity of a guitar box, then figuring out how to keep the same amount of air with slightly different box dimensions? Art Davis of San Diego, California responds: Use bird seed. It’s not totally accurate but it’s easy. Pour it in, pour it out, and measure it. Hold the guitar really well because ten or twenty pounds of bird seed is heavy. Also, as per W.D. Allen’s, “Basics of Air Resonances,” in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume 1, changing the air volume doesn’t always do what you think it’s going to. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Guitar Dimensions and Harmonics Letter: Guitar Dimensions and Harmonics by Joe D. Franklin Originally published in American Lutherie #66, 2001 GAL Members, The resonant chamber or soundbox on a guitar is the greater half of its tonal success. If the air enclosed in this box can resonate naturally at some harmonic of the speed of sound, then you have a winner. This is the only part of the guitar that is capable of maintaining polyphony at a level amplitude or volume throughout any given song. Two designs from the past have met these standards, the 1864 Torres and the 1935 Hauser/Torres, and later the 1943 Hauser that used an inversion on the concept of where the fundamental bass might reside. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
