The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by RJVB
    The way the tailpiece is held is definitely similar to how that is done on viols, but I'd love to see some pictures of that 15th century "fingers" tailpiece!
    OK, OK, OK Writing on the desert with an internet connection freeze most of the time allowed to write what wrote.

    The individual 'fingers' create opportunities and problems. Opportunities, because they make the bridge more mobile when compared to big heavy wood or metal tailpiece especially long one. Problems, because you have to manage sympathetic vibrations. I try to tune the pitch of individual 'fingers' to be between notes when the instrument is tuned to 440 Hz A. I never can achieve exactly 50 cents between, but it is, with calculations and than try and error, manageable to be OK.

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  3. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    Even in a loud room you can hear the clarity and complexity of tone. These are really promising, Krzysztof.
    Thank you very much for your kind words.
    They sound similarly, as guitars from the same family, but differently. This is not not only because of the wood (Italian spruce vs sitka, Indian rosewood vs.Pau Ferro) or the fact that one with Pau Ferro back and sides was finished few hour before the festival. They are built differently. They have different basic neck angle allowing different regulation of strings break angle on the bridge. The regulation is performed on the tailpiece holder by rising or lowering the tailpiece. Different break angle result in different top loading, so sound changes considerably.
    They have different bracing too. As you can see on the pictures on my webpage (www.bluearchguitars.com) bracing on one guitar is radically not standard archtop bracing.

    Krzysztof.

  4. #28

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    I was ready to believe you that such a tailpiece had indeed been invented before. The old luthier weren't any less clever or innovative as the ones today!

    You can always manage those sympathetic vibrations with a nice piece of felt or leather

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hammertone
    Thanks.

    Do the individual fingers rest on the top plate of the guitar if there are no strings attached to them?
    Are the individual fingers of the tailpiece hinged at the cross-bar?

    Is the tailpiece:
    -held in place by the tension of the strings;
    -hinged at the base;
    -permanently set in place;
    -removable from the base plate that is attached to the rims?
    Thanks for the question.
    I hope the picture on my web page where I show the tailpiece from a different perspective:
    Inspirations | Blue Arch Guitars
    explains the tailpiece and regulation of the tailpiece height.

    Krzysztof.
    Attached Images Attached Images Blue Arch Guitars-1-p8071584-jpg 

  6. #30

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    By the way, if anybody is interested here is a link to my photo relation from 2022 Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival in Arvada, CO.

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  7. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by RJVB
    I was ready to believe you that such a tailpiece had indeed been invented before. The old luthier weren't any less clever or innovative as the ones today!

    You can always manage those sympathetic vibrations with a nice piece of felt or leather
    They had been invented before. For example see Kevin's Martin design of the double-bass tailpiece. The same concept:

    Damping is an option, but leaving the afterlength not damped adds... how to say it... an air to the sound. A specific feeling of echo. So I prefer to do a hard work and tune them.

  8. #32

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    Hi, K,
    Isn't it great there are still a few sentient souls left on the planet! The "taste test" to my ears is a very clear, bright sound. I'm assuming it's Spruce. It will be interesting to see how the guitar blooms after playing and aging.
    Marinero

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marinero
    Hi, K,
    Isn't it great there are still a few sentient souls left on the planet! The "taste test" to my ears is a very clear, bright sound. I'm assuming it's Spruce. It will be interesting to see how the guitar blooms after playing and aging.
    Marinero
    Hi M,
    Clear sound with many high aliquotes is my target sound area. Within that I have some room to play with.
    Check Jamey Arent short recording. He draw different sounds from the Italian spruce/Indian rosewood guitar:


    Krzysztof.

  10. #34

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    Ted Ludwig gave OK to publish a video from Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival, so here it is. Yet another style of playing.

  11. #35

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    Hi, K,
    I'm going to use a word to describe the sound which is a compliment: Orchestral. I can only imagine that over years of playing, the sound will develop a great richness and will certainly reflect the individual player's unique sound.
    Marinero

  12. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marinero
    Hi, K,
    I'm going to use a word to describe the sound which is a compliment: Orchestral. I can only imagine that over years of playing, the sound will develop a great richness and will certainly reflect the individual player's unique sound.
    Marinero
    Thank you for that comment. Jimmy Bruno said something that - in my understanding - reflects similar assessment: ‘Like harp”.
    I am curious how they develop, too

    Take care,
    Krzysztof.

  13. #37

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    Yet another playing style. I hope some of you will find this interesting:

    I am working now on a wide frequency range, very low impedance humbucker pickup, that can pickup all or most of the high frequency aliquotes my guitars generate. The pickup sounds great, but I still work on volume control. The prototype electronics is done, but now I have to finish the matching pickguard. Should be ready soon, so maybe some additional recordings will be available. I am going now to Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase and I plan to meet some great players there
    K.

  14. #38

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    Is it the recording, or is the girl not used to making acoustic volume? Or the guitars simply not really suited for fingerstyle (it doesn't sound very full fingerpicked by the other player either)?

  15. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by RJVB
    Is it the recording, or is the girl not used to making acoustic volume? Or the guitars simply not really suited for fingerstyle (it doesn't sound very full fingerpicked by the other player either)?
    They are great fingerpicking guitars. Very responsive with great dynamics allowing to drive them hard. I just suck as a “recording engineer” The room was very noisy, full of chatting people and I have chosen strange places to direct my iPhone 8 built in mic to . I still think Pat’s loud chord changes playing was worth to share and while it contrasted with Bella’s delicate sound, she adds nice character to Pat’s performance. Bella Speelman is a young talented thumbpicker worth to watch. I wonder how she will develop from her current playing in Travis/Atkins style.

  16. #40

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    I guess what I was hinting at is that there are instruments (with great dynamic range) where you have to work to play really softly and others where you have to work to get a full sound. In this recording your instruments sound if you indeed need to drive them hard to get that full sound which we do hear when they're being strummed.

    Purely intuitively I'd say that having a soundhole that points upwards instead of towards the listener could be part of why I get that impression.

    No judgement at all about the players' talents; you can be an excellent fingerpicker but simply require an amplified instrument because you're not used to express yourself otherwise. But even if you are, playing an unknown instrument that sends all its output directly into your face can (must!) change the way you perceive your playing, so there's that too (I suppose I should have thought of it before).

  17. #41

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    Quote Originally Posted by RJVB
    I guess what I was hinting at is that there are instruments (with great dynamic range) where you have to work to play really softly and others where you have to work to get a full sound. In this recording your instruments sound if you indeed need to drive them hard to get that full sound which we do hear when they're being strummed.

    Purely intuitively I'd say that having a soundhole that points upwards instead of towards the listener could be part of why I get that impression.

    No judgement at all about the players' talents; you can be an excellent fingerpicker but simply require an amplified instrument because you're not used to express yourself otherwise. But even if you are, playing an unknown instrument that sends all its output directly into your face can (must!) change the way you perceive your playing, so there's that too (I suppose I should have thought of it before).
    I really appreciate your comments and fully understand where they are coming from. I promise I will make proper recordings of my guitars because the videos published until now were not at all intended to be a showcase of guitars’ sound. I decided to post them to show players and their reactions to my guitars. I thought they are meaningful. Still, even a flat recording with no effects, made with best mics, great room etc. can be so different because e.g. mics placement can make a small guitar bigger and big smaller. What is a natural / objective sound?
    I can only repeat that my guitars are responsive played softly and can handle heavy strumming. And they sound delicate when played softly and roar when driven. Kris was playing them for few days. Maybe he can comment? He plays with his fingers.
    Regarding the resonance hole placement; it emits only low frequencies (below let’s say 200 Hz), which by nature are emitted omnidirectionally. There is no acoustic reason to place resonance hole in the front of the guitar. But mics in phones are a mystery. I do not even know what iPhone 8 microphone characteristics is, what is low frequency roll-off, and what Apple noise suppression algorithms is doing with the sound The sound changes dramatically when phone is held in vertical mode vs horizontal, horizontal with mics on the left/right, how the hand is held around the mic. You can even create a short and wide tube from your palm and this has a specific frequency response
    Thank you for your comments and interest in my guitars. It is a pleasure to see people reacting to them. I would love to have a technology where people could play and feel guitar online
    Kris - will you comment?
    Krzysztof.

  18. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blue Arch Guitars
    Regarding the resonance hole placement; it emits only low frequencies (below let’s say 200 Hz), which by nature are emitted omnidirectionally. There is no acoustic reason to place resonance hole in the front of the guitar.
    That's quite a bit of discussion about the place and form of the sound hole on the classical Delcamp forum, with a lot of input from Alan Carruth. Much of which I never sought to understand, I'll admit, but the take-home message I got was that there's a number of reasons why soundhole(s) is/are were they are.

    I hear you on the omnidirectionality of low frequencies, but there's still the issue that a frontal soundhole has (almost) an entire hemisphere of unobstructed space to emit into, whereas a "soundport" that sits somewhere below the chin of the player has a smaller space (and the player's body probably doesn't reflect sound very well ).

    Years of playing violin (i.e. with upward-facing soundholes) has taught me that the only way to get a space filling sound is to stand not too far from a wall or even better in a choir (apex) and preferably not with too high a ceiling.

  19. #43

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    Low-frequency sounds (described as a wave longer than the size of the sound source - and 200Hz sound wave has a length of 1.65m, or 5.5ft - much bigger than a guitar top or resonance hole) generate sound pressure identical in all directions spherically. It is a physical fact. Google "soundwave length and directionality of sound emission" and find a reputable source for more information if you want to know more. You can place a subwoofer in almost any place in a (small) room because the sound wavelength is much too big to create phase problems. 20Hz wavelength is 16.5m long. 55 feet. The sound pressure of emitted low frequencies is the same in the back, sides, or front of the sound source. Sound wave "flows" around obstacles and you need a big obstacle (bigger than the length of the sound wave) to have any meaningful reflection. At middle frequencies (sound source of a similar size as the wavelength), the sound is generated more into the front half sphere, and at high frequencies, due to even bigger diffraction and phase cancellation, the sound is highly directional. This is the reason players like to play in front of a hard wall or low ceiling because the sound directed mainly in front of the instrument is reflected to a player. This front projection is what makes instruments sound completely different for a player and listeners in a room. This phenomenon is valid, though, only for medium and high frequencies. Many bass-reflex speakers have resonance holes in the back of the cabinet. For this reason.
    But there is a good reason why f-holes are between the bridge legs in a violin or any other bowed instrument.
    There are two reasons it is not the case for guitars and they are a consequence of how the physics of plucked instruments work.
    First, a guitar bridge works differently than a violin or cello bridge.
    The bowed string rotates while being pulled by the bow hair, and when friction gets smaller than tension, the string rolls back. This repeats many times per second. Extra energy is constantly added by the bow to the system. As a consequence, the bridge on bowed instruments rocks left/right many times per second. This is the main bridge movement of the bowed instruments. The f-holes in violin family instruments mobilize the plate between the f-holes allowing pronounced movement of it and effective sound generation.
    In plucked instruments, where the energy exciting the string occurs only once when a player plucks the string, the string rotation does not exist. The wave traveling along the length of the string pulls and releases the bridge along the instrument axis, so the main bridge movement is turned 90° compared to the violin. This way of bridge movement exists in violin instruments too, but due to the narrow dimension of the bridge along the instrument length, it is not as important as in plucked instruments. This is the reason why plucked violin is not very loud.
    F-holes in plucked instruments - sorry for being bold - is not a good place to put a resonance hole, because left/right bridge movement is not very pronounced. To be clear, Lloyd's Loar L5s or Jimmy's D'Aquisto instruments are magnificent, but I think that the archtop can evolve allowing for a new sonic experience.
    The second reason: most plucked instruments do not use the upper bout area effectively, so placing a round or oval resonance hole there is OKish, but not optimal. I think that the top is the most important area of the guitar and should not be jeopardized by making holes in it. I work hard to mobilize the whole top area, especially along the instrument axis - helping the bridge to work effectively. Because resonance holes emit only lower frequencies (which by their nature are emitted omnidirectionally as I wrote above) they do not have to be placed in front of the guitar. I place the resonance hole on a guitar side saving the top area.

  20. #44

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    Awesome tail design. Would appear to be more stable than the Sacconi style.

  21. #45

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    I have added new recordings from 2022 Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase. You can hear there the acoustic sound and acoustic sound supported by my new low impedance pickup. All recorded in a little better acoustic environment than in Arvada.
    See/hear here:

    Blue Arch Guitars Krzysztof Trześniowski - YouTube

    It is still recorded with a smartphone, but at least the room was not noisy. Hope you like it.

    Krzysztof.