Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone know offhand how wide the top plate for the bas side on a Dyer style harp guitar needs to be?

Do you think that WRC would be a suitable wood for such a top?

I came across an improbable board in the lumber yard last week. Amid the pile of wide-grained, randomly sawn 1 by 12's was a board that is (1) perfectly quartered, (2) very straight grained (haven't checked runout yet), and (3) has a ring count so high that I doubt I can take a picture of it to show. I haven't resawn yet to get a final check on how stiff it is, but I'm trying to find if there are reasons why I'd like to leave it at it's full width, and how long to make the plate if I'm thinking of a harp guitar. The board was 14' long overall.

The board also has some shimmer to it that looks sort of like bearclaw, but more subtle.

Could do one piece mando tops too ??

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

bump - someone must know the answer at least to the first question (although bass would be better than bas!)

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Oh, well ... I now see from a photo I found that the center join of the plates doesn't line up with the center line of the fretboard, but is angled so that the plates don't need to be any wider than normal. Sorry for the bother.

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim,

I didn't reply originally as although I have built a harp guitar, it was to my own design and plans - as are all of my instruments - and I haven't seen Dyer plans. Greg Miner sells the GAL Dyer Harp Guitar Plans and looking at the picture on his website, 12" width should be more than wide enough I think - the plans are full sized, 30" wide and have the side view on there as well.

I personally wouldn't slant the top - if I had a board long enough but slightly too narrow for the harp arm, I would grain match another piece from the board to make the harp arm width - effectively a 3 piece top with a normal centre join. This wouldn't need to be a very big piece and visusally and structurally would work fine.

I think that cedar would work fine for a Harp guitar top as long is it fits tonally with what you are looking for. Structurally in terms of top thicknessing and bracing you would just treat it like any other instrument with a cedar top - it depends on the piece of wood and what you are looking for tonally.

I look forward to seeing progress pictures.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Jim,

Actually, based on the cedar/European maple Grand Concert guitar that I made, I had in the back of my mind that cedar/maple would be a good baritone guitar combination. Thinking about it some more, it could also be an interesting harp guitar combination - the "dark" cedar sound but combined with the great string to string clarity of maple taking out a lot of the "mudiness".

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Dave - Thanks, I'll make a note of that.

Do you think that English Sycamore is a reasonable substitute for North American Maples usually? There's a really good supply of English Sycamore here at the local hardwood vendor. It may be easier for me to get that than our own Maples, surprisingly.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim,

English Sycamore is an Acer and is a maple - similar to the maple used for violins, cellos, double bass b/s and will be an excellent tonewood. It's not as hard as some of the American maples but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

What is called Sycamore in America is a member of the Plane family and the European equivalent is London Plane. Very confusing

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010