Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

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Robert Freemond
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Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Robert Freemond »

I'm trying my hand at a Gourd Guitar & can't find much Info on bracing. The plan is to build a steel string with attached bridge & a 24.9" Scale. I have an X brace laid out where I suppose it should go, but I really don't understand how bracing works other than it's structural applications. The top dimensions are 12.75" X 18.5". I want to have fun with this & not Over think it, but still come up with something playable. Does anyone have any suggestions.
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Hope you can see the purposed bracing layout
Hope you can see the purposed bracing layout
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Mark Swanson
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Re: Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Mark Swanson »

The first thing I would do is get rid of the idea of using a fixed bridge. It presents a lot of different problems, the bracing would need to be stout. I think you would do much better by using a tailpiece and a floating bridge. Look at the way other gourd instruments do the tailpiece and bridge, start from there.
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Robert Freemond
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Re: Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Robert Freemond »

Mark, How much arch do i need with a floating bridge & how do i hold it - Or are you saying I should carve a new top.
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Mark Swanson
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Re: Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Mark Swanson »

I have never used a gourd to build an instrument. I have reservations about the strength of the gourd. How strong is it, will it give in to the string tension? I don't think either of us knows the answer. If you use a floating bridge and tailpiece, there will be end-to-end stress, if it starts to pull together it will do nasty things, like break the top/back seam, or cave in the top in front of the neck join.
If I were going to do it, I'd use a 15' dome for the top, with a low neck angle. Shoot for the bridge to be 1/2" to 5/8" tall, no taller or it will stress the top. Or, go ahead and try the fixed bridge, but I just don't like the heavy bracing and glued on bridge on such a small top.
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Jason Rodgers
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Re: Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Jason Rodgers »

Can you show us the intended gourd? I bought a large (~14" long x 9" wide), fairly uniformly-shaped gourd at a harvest fair many years ago, and sawed it in half with intentions to build a uke-lute-ish sort of instrument. While the outside of the dried gourd can be fairly hard, the inside is pretty punky/foamy. I had considered issues with tension, as Mark describes, and thought of maybe using some of that penetrating epoxy to harden-up the inside. I was definitely going to use a solid, bent liner for attaching the top. For the outside, I was going to use some leather dye and finish with shellac and tung oil.

Might not hurt to do a little research on the construction of folk instruments that use gourds.
-Ruining perfectly good wood, one day at a time.
Michael Lewis
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Re: Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Michael Lewis »

You need a "neck stick" to go to the end of the gourd to take the compression load of the string tension. Kind of like a 'through neck' on an electric guitar, old time banjos, and some resonator guitars. Look up gourd banjo for an idea.

Are you intending to bow this instrument? If not you should have one of the moderators move this to "other instruments"
Robert Freemond
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Re: Bracing for a Gourd Guitar

Post by Robert Freemond »

I guess this should be moved to "Other Instruments"

Mark, You've pretty much articulated the concerns I had before starting. It looks like most builders have solved the problem by using a 'through neck' idea. as Jason said the inner surface of gourds are not ideal for gluing, so I think the way to go is to hang the Gourd off of the neck. I thank you for the numbers, that help me a lot. Below are some links to some examples.
Michael, These validate what you said.
Jason, Saturating the surface with something like Epoxy is a good idea. I suppose you could even use Fiberglass :o

http://cldc.org/2012/12/20/classical-go ... available/
http://www.hutten.org/rob/gourdbanjo/
Attachments
When you first cut into the Gourd
When you first cut into the Gourd
After it's cleaned, but still not really glueable<br />Note wall thickness.
After it's cleaned, but still not really glueable
Note wall thickness.
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