fronobulax said:
hansmoust said:
By the way, the lighter spot on the top indicates that the bridge should move at least half an inch 'north'
Is that because you believe the "lighter spot" exists because the bridge was in a different position and the finish darkened around it? I wondered if it was just a reflection of some kind since on this computer there is also a bit of a similar "halo" around the tailpiece as well.
Hello Frono,
Time for another history lesson:
A lot of the things you see in musical instrument construction are based on old traditional ways of doing things; some make sense and some did make sense at some point in time.
Take for instance the violin. Since the violin has no frets, there should be a point where the bridge should be located and so the points halfway the soundhole, where the F-shaped holes are at their widest, mark the position where the bridge should be placed. The arched top guitar inherited this particular feature of the violin, even though the archtop guitar works entirely different than a violin. A guitar has frets and therefore there is a fixed position for the bridge. However, traditionally, archtop guitar makers have choosen to place the f-holes in the same way as the violin, so that the middle points of the f-holes are in the same position as the bridge. If you look at older (not necessarely Guild) archtops, acoustics as well as electrics, you will see that the bridge is approximately at that same position.
When guitar players demanded better access to the higher positions of the fretboard, even after the introduction of the cutaway, one of the solutions was to change the way the neck was set into the body. This moved the fretboard in relation to the body and therefore a new position of the bridge became necessary.
Since the soundholes did stay in the same place, the bridge was no longer in the same position as the ‘points’ of the f-holes. So, if you look at a more modern electric archtop guitar with the neck joint at the 18th fret, you will notice that the bridge does not line up with the ‘points’ of the f-holes.
That’s the reason why I expected the bridge to be in another position than where it was in this photo.
Take another good look at the various archtop guitars, acoustics as well as electrics, that are pictured in The Guild Guitar Book.
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl