I was cleaning out some old files yesterday and found these thought to be lost forever photos of my original 11 light brace system. The Redwood and Jacaranda Rosewood guitar I still have today and is featured in a previous post here. The Cypress and Cedar was destroyed during a move in the late seventies. The braces were tuned to the chromatic scale using tuning folks.

Manos Lentas wrote: The braces were tuned to the chromatic scale using tuning folks.

Wow that's really interesting..is that done often? I wonder what would happen if you tuned every single piece of wood in a guitar

I have to correct that statement, it was not the chromatic scale. That was my original idea but what I did and you see in the photos is to tune the two outside full length braces to E and then the 9 remaining ones were tuned starting treble side E,F,G,A,Bd, B,C, D, & E. The high E brace is heavier than the low E brace as you can see in the photo. It wasn't an exacting science like tuning the guitar strings, just adjusting the braces to transfer given frequencies with more amplitude than others.

I never heard of any other maker using this many braces, but with all the flamenco's built, I am sure others have tried similar ideas. Different makers have different ways of tweaking or fine tuning their braces and tops. Some tune a flamenco top to Bd. I arranged it so the middle brace was tuned to Bd. The response is fairly even with my system, but isn't perfect. I used straight grained redwood for the braces. I don't think I proved anything, but it was fun experimenting with this in my younger days. I sure wish the cypress was still around. It would have been interesting to see if it held up as well as the rosewood which still is as straight and sound as the day it was finished.

that's a really unique, interesting idea! how long did it take you to build the two guitars? would you say your experiment was fairly successful? i might build my own guitar this summer. this definitely inspires me.

I would say very successful, however I cannot say for flamenco it has any advantage over any other system of bracing the top. There is so many factors that influence the tone and volume of a guitar, that while the top and bracing plays a leading role, there is no method or type of top that a majority of master players would find superior.

It took me about 6 months to build both guitars using hand tools entirely. The cypress was never finished. The varnishing process took about a month on the rosewood as it has 13 thin hand brushed coats with each one being sanded and smoothed between coats then hand polished to a semi gloss. The final result is a heavier finish than desirable and while I have entertained the idea of sanding it down more and polishing, I have never done it.

I would advise on finishing to just spray a thin coat of lacquer on the guitar. A lot less work and nice results. I do not think french polish belongs on a flamenco. It is much too delicate IMO and flamenco are meant to be played hard. I cannot hear any advantage in sound over a sprayed lacquer, but that is a personal opinion.

A kit with preformed sides, etc., might be a good way to go to get started. Setting up all the forms and jigs needed to make a guitar can be time consuming and expensive. I see several outfits selling instructional videos on making flamenco guitars now. Might be worth getting one of them to see what you are getting involved with before making to much investment. With power tools one could make the job easier.

Sam,

Was there a soundhole with this guitar? I'm not seeing one in the pictures ????

Here's a flamenco guitar with the opposite tendency, only four braces below the soundhole tonebar. Hermanos Conde guitar from 1949--belonged to Ramon Montoya at one point. I had a chance to do some restoration work on it recently.

The soundhole was cut after the back was glued on. More traditional and easier to cut the hole and mount rosette before gluing on the top to sides, but for some reason I cannot recall, I did it last. No photos of the completed cypress exist, but finished photos of the rosewood is in a previous thread.
lutherie-f5/my-74-homebrew-negra-flamenco-t198.html
Surprisingly the multiple bracing didn't stiffen the redwood or cedar soundboards as much as a spruce with Torres bracing. I think because the braces are fairly small and thin and no traverse braces were used in the lower bout on the top. There is a sound clip of it on the members audio video clip board where compare it to my cypress/spruce Dominguez.
archives-f8/alegrias-negra-vs-blanca-t312.html
My playing isn't too good on the simple Alegrias, but it gives you an idea of the tone.