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Double Sides?
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Double Sides?
I recently put a strap button on a 2023 Woolson Soundcraft (Paul Woolson) guitar, and had a look-see inside. It has a sound port, and the sides are about 3/8″ thick. There is no kerfing, the back and top appear to be glued to these thick sides instead. The web site says it has a “double top”. Anybody ever hear of double sides?
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10 Replies
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Could be “structured sides” as pioneered by (I think) Michael Kennedy and Jeremy Clark in Montreal.
Pictures in this post show my first attempt that them. I call them ‘cored’ sides.
In my case, 2 1.5mm veneers and a 6mm softwood full width kerfed core.
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17 likes, 0 comments - paulmcevoyguitars on June 17, 2023: "Some construction pictures from my first Selmer Style Gypsy Jazz Guitars. #luthier #guitarmaker #..."
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Thank you, that must be what they are. Leaves a very clean look on the inside.
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Check out Dion guitars and Tom Sands guitars. They both use structured sides as well.
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Michael, any benefit in using structured sides?
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Not Michael but this is Jeremy Clark’s website,
https://52instruments.com/materials-and-design/
As far as I understand it, Sergei Dejonge more or less invented the idea but like a lot of Sergei’s ideas he moved on to the next idea. Jeremy and Michael Kennedy (both Sergei’s students) work together at Miles End Guitar Co-op and took the idea and refined it. They are both associated with it.
https://52instruments.com/materials-and-design/
I definitely don’t have the scientific vocabulary to describe it but for me the analogy is a drum rib, they are laminated and extremely stiff with the vibrating membranes being the top and bottom heads. In the analogy the guitar top and to a lesser extent the back are the vibrating membranes, and the stiffer the sides are the more stability the top has to vibrate and move air.
@anthony-kreher would have a much more articulate way to describe it.
Or, as was demonstrated to me by another structured sides guy, if you take a long carpenters hand saw and hang it over a bench, if you hold it loosely at the top and strike the handle, the vibrations will be weak and die quickly, if you push the end firmly against the bench the saw will have very clear vibrations and they will sustain longer.
I have only built one guitar like this so far but it was impressively loud with a complex tone and a really spooky “room filling” sound…I would describe it as having a “recorded” sound, kind of a like a speaker cone. I am 100% not sure if it was a fluke but I was an instant convert.
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Hey there! I love building with structured sides. Yes it’s a super clean look, looking through the sound hole. They are super fun to make. And they make a very strong mechanical impedance between the top and the sides. Which boosts the sustain and clarity a lot. Although you would Probly want to make some design changes if using them to make a strumming guitar. It could get muddy sounding. Also, it adds quite a bit of mass. So I typically use paulownia for the core. Although wrc would be nice too
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I am also interested in the difference between laminated sides with solid linings. I think the solid linking will also add a nice impedance missmatch. But the sides will be lighter. The mass of the sides widens the active surface of the monopole. But you can achieve this in other ways.
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Have you considered a CF core? I haven’t really thought about it lately but we talked about that flax fabric core also.
But then in those cases you’d have to use linings and one of the best things about this is not having to deal with putting linings in. It’s a much faster construction method.
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I have actually thought about carbon fiber in the sandwich. I don’t know if it would do much besides extra crack prevention. And you typically use epoxy when using carbon. And the gorilla glue is perfect for the structured sides.
It’s been so long since I put in kerfing or linings, i don’t remember it being that much of a pain. I don’t think it’s that much faster tho. Cutting the core takes a long time. Bending the sides. Doing a dry run. That all takes plenty of time. Last time I cut cores, I cut enough for 4 guitars, and I think it took well over an hour
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it was something I picked up from Mike Kennedy about the time: unless you have some special method, you can’t really put in 2 sets of linings at once, so that’s 2 drying times per side. Also I think the sides come out much flatter laminating them against the mold (I guess similar if you were doing laminated sides) so there’s a lot less sanding.
But yeah, you have to resaw or come up with inner veneers and mill up the cores. And that probably did take me a lot of time, I batched enough for 3 guitars. The thickness sanding was endless.
I have found joining the sides to each other a lot easier too.
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