What guitar should I buy?

Bob Holo · January 2007

By the way, if anyone wants to learn more about how bracing patterns or even minute placement differences in the same configurations affect sound characteristics, try to find a video called "Advanced Voicing" done by John Mayes who apprenticed with Bourgeois. John does a really good job of breaking it down and explaning how changes in wood density and brace placement affect his designs. Granted - John only does Xbrace, but it'll give you a good idea of how much little those little changes affect things.

It doesn't mean one design or another is better, (and John doesn't suggest this - nor has anyone on the thread come right out with an objective "good-better-best" rating) but bracing topology does predictably change the amount of sustain, the equalization of the sound output (bass to mid to treble), the amount and nature of the harmonic content in the output... if you put all of this together you wind up being able to say things like: "Well, the purpose of this design is to sacrifice sustain, harmonic content & bass output for strong initial attack and tonal purity (ie, fewer harmonics) and overall perceived volume (pumped mids "sound" louder and cut better because they're in a more sensitive region for the human ear and because lower frequencies require greater power for equal perceived loudness because greater energy is required to drive longer wavelengths equal distances with similar power loss)

etc...

So, in other words - bracing patterns and subtle difference in bracing patterns do predictably affect tone and output. John's video is a good introduction to this type of stuff. Could an X braced guitar be made to sound like a Ladder braced guitar? Sure - there are a whole lot of variables to play with and this is just one of them. I sure couldn't but I'll bet some of those old-school designers at Gibson would have a pretty good idea about how to do so. Did they try to make the re-issue X brace sound like the old Ladder brace? I don't know... but I would LOVE to have that discussion with them or even merely be a fly on the wall for that discussion. That stuff turns me on bigtime. I have never spent time with an experienced luthier and not walked away with a huge cheese-eating grin on my face. There is so much to learn from them - what they do is so cool. They design and build the devices that allow us to communicate our thoughts through music. Too philosophical? Probably... sorry.

It's how I feel about this stuff.

badjazz · January 2007

Bob, at least know that you are not alone; I love this stuff probably way too much. There are worse things to obsess over.

I got the Dupont MD-50 today, and it is a great guitar--but humbling to realize how far away I am from being a good gypsy player! What's with this fret marker being on the 10th fret? It hurts my brain. Seriously though, I cannot recommend highly enough Jacques at gypsyguitars.com. He was very helpful, sold me a great guitar for hundreds less than the next lowest price I could find, and seemed like a generally nice guy who cares about what he is doing. I talked to him Sunday and Wednesday I'm playing the guitar, all the way from Maryland to Hawaii--hard to beat that.

You guys where right, I'm very happy with this guitar. It sounds exactly how I think a gypsy guitar should sound. I can't believe how light and thin this thing is. The top is incredibly thin compared to every flattop I've ever had, and the difference between this and any of the cheaper selmacs I've played is incredible. I'm sure glad I didn't get a cheapo, there is no comparison. Thanks for your guidance, everyone.

Josh Hegg · January 2007

Congrats on the MD-50! It only gets better over time. I have spent many hours of set up time on mine and it's just about perfect after about 10 months of messing with it!

Cheers,
Josh