Petros - Posted - 04/01/2024:  17:29:29

I'm wondering if anyone can help me understand what elements of an open body reso are the most important elements giving it the sound it has. Clearly there being no sound well is #1 but what about other things like bracing? (see Harlow photo where he uses small base pieces to support posts as opposed to a Scheerhorn brace for instance).

I spoke with Frank Harlow (RIP!) a few weeks before he passed. I was going to take a Regal reso to him to work on and show me things but it never happened. What a nice man to offer to help me! And I spoke with Denny at Beard and he said basically the body is a speaker cabinet so that was a big help.

I guess I'm curious about the different open body makers and what elements I could think about in converting a Regal (65 ROYC) from sound well to open and posts OR perhaps to a half open sound well ala Harlow (see photos).

Any ideas, insights are appreciated!

 

tomkatb - Posted - 04/03/2024:  12:59:23

Frank was a believer in the open body.

As i remember there was a pile of baffles in his shop he had removed.

wlgiii - Posted - 04/03/2024:  18:59:50

Tom Warner sent me a photo of my Appalachian under construction; I had ordered an open body with no baffle.

Edited by - wlgiii on 04/03/2024 19:00:29

Appalachian Interior

 

RezBluez - Posted - 04/09/2024:  18:31:45

There are a lot of variables involved in this, to many to list. Like for example the post; kind of wood, length, thickness, diameter, shape round, square, flat, tapered, do they have a foot, what are the being attached to, where are they position in the guitar. Should they have pressure on them, or not.
I guess what my point is lol, is you could drive yourself nuts trying to figure how and why this stuff works.

little ray - Posted - 04/13/2024:  03:58:08

I’ve played both traditional and open. The quality of the build is the number one thing regardless of the sound post or traditional sound ring.