I thought Calvin wasn't ever licensed. But as long as geo thinks he is I may as well use him.
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Am I finally done? (next page)
awright, more braces for the cakepan mando
(Instrument-Building, page 7)
The top has rung very nicely when tapped at every stage along the way. Dana Bourgeois knows more than anybody about tap-tuning, and in the pictures of him tapping a braced top on his website he looks like me, but there the resemblance ends because he actually knows what he's doing with all those pretty pieces of wood. I just tap for fun and comfort myself that the pros are not unanimous:
My experience of thirty five years has led me to the conclusion that "tuning" the sound of a guitar is an illusion and a chimera, and those who publicly advocate that they can accurately control the response of a guitar by responding to noises derived from tapping parts of it, are simply seducing the innocent, or at best, self-deluded. (William Cumpiano)
Yow!
A picture of the top braces as they were earlier (which were not working) is here. I added the transverse brace south of the flat brace that sits under the bridge. It still rang out loud and true, and that brace is an inch tall.
Then I crossed the X a second time with a normal 1/4-3/8"-tall brace, and it's now too stiff to ring much at all. I hope I haven't gone too far the other way and killed off the sound. But then I can always do what manufacturers of crappy guitars do and stick a piezo and a preamp in it.
By the way, click either picture to see it bigger.
I didn't ever post a picture of the braces I had put in the pan. Anyway, here it is with some more bits of wood added to keep the long sides of the pan from bending in toward the middle. I ain't too concerned about killing any contribution the aluminum might be making to the sound. Or with inner beauty (could you tell?).
I didn't ever post a picture of the braces I had put in the pan. Anyway, here it is with some more bits of wood added to keep the long sides of the pan from bending in toward the middle. I ain't too concerned about killing any contribution the aluminum might be making to the sound. Or with inner beauty (could you tell?).