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Post by rogerh on May 11, 2011 19:15:38 GMT 1
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Post by Björn A on May 11, 2011 21:52:24 GMT 1
Fantastiskt fin. Helt i min smak!!
Mvh
Björn
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hrlarson
Jag är en forumsnörd
Posts: 1,573
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Post by hrlarson on May 11, 2011 22:24:19 GMT 1
Mycket vackert överlastad.
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Post by Laer on May 12, 2011 8:20:46 GMT 1
Woah!   |
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Post by rogerh on May 12, 2011 22:20:39 GMT 1
Slipade bande och gick in och karvade bort två nävar granspån från den nedersta bjälken (ladder braced) och förstärkningsbjälken mitt under stallet i locket. Som en ny gitarr med större volym, längre sustain och bredare frekvensspektrum. Nu låter den RIKTIGT bra även när man fingerplockar! |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 13:29:47 GMT 1
Wow!!!! Stunning guitar! Though I never liked the excess of ornamentation like this. That's a surprise for me. I'm used to these guitars and all of mine are the loudest archtops I've ever played. This is a common thing in most archtops. Did you ever wondered why Freddie Green and other old players held their guitars the way they did it? ;D  Not surprise. It's were these guitars mainly ended up in the '30s. Not exactly like this. It's a Schönbach made guitar (former Luby, Czechoslovakia) sold by Paramount. Surely made around the mid '30s. 1935 is a good guess. Very similar round hole archtop guitars, having exactly the same headstock shape, can be found having the Bell-Tone brand name. I haven't managed to find the owner of this other brand name. I wouldn't be surprised if it belonged to Paramount as well. It's the first Master Craft guitar I've ever seen. I'll add it to my brand names list. Great stuff!! The few Bell-Tones I know are all solid but not high-end instruments. This one, besides the ornamental splendor, is not a high-end either. The neck has the typical stripe (walnut or ebony) of the non aluminum reinforced necks. This feature alone means budget model for the pre war Czech guitars. I don't understand these sentences so well with the translator. Did you added a ladder bracing to the (formerly unbraced) back plate and reinforced the tonebars on the top? I'm glad it sounds better than before. Do you have any pictures of the guitar before the restoration/modification? Any pictures of the guts? I'd love to see it inside if possible. ;D ============= WOW!! Häpnadsväckande gitarr! Även om jag aldrig gillat överskottet av ornamentik som denna. Det är en överraskning för mig. Jag är van vid dessa gitarrer och alla mina är de mest högljudda archtops jag någonsin spelat. Detta är en vanlig sak i de flesta archtops. Har du någonsin undrat varför Freddie Green och andra gamla spelare höll sina gitarrer som de gjorde det? ; D Inte förvåna. Det är var dessa gitarrer huvudsakligen hamnade på 30-talet. Inte precis så här. Det är en Schönbach gjort gitarr (tidigare Luby, Tjeckoslovakien) säljs av Paramount. Visst gjorde runt mitten 30-talet. 1935 är en bra gissning. Mycket liknande runt hål archtop gitarrer, med exakt samma buffertbalk form, finns med Bell-Tone varumärke. Jag har inte lyckats hitta ägaren till denna andra varumärke. Jag skulle inte bli förvånad om den hörde till Paramount också. Det är den första Master Craft gitarr jag någonsin sett. Jag ska lägga till min varumärken lista. Bra grejer! De få Bell-Tones jag vet är alla fasta men inte high-end instrument. Den här, förutom det dekorativa prakt, är inte en high-end heller. Halsen har den typiska ränder (valnöt eller ebenholts) för ej aluminium förstärkt halsar. Denna funktion innebär enbart budget modell för före kriget tjeckiska gitarrer. Jag förstår inte dessa meningar så bra med översättaren. Har du lagt till en stege stärkande till (tidigare unbraced) bakstycke och förstärkte tonebars på toppen? Jag är glad att det låter bättre än tidigare. Har du några bilder på gitarren innan renoveringen / ändring? Alla bilder av tarmar? Jag vill gärna se den inne om det är möjligt. ; D |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 14:24:13 GMT 1
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Post by rogerh on May 16, 2011 14:41:33 GMT 1
Whoa! That's a lot of great information. Thanks >Wow!!!! Stunning guitar! Though I never >liked the excess of ornamentation like this. The thing I like most is that all the mother of pearl is gathered in one place and not scatterad all over the guitar. Gives a great punch to the look. >That's a surprise for me. I'm used to these guitars >and all of mine are the loudest archtops I've ever >played. This one is soft and mellow. I re-braced it (ladder bracing) using the same measures as the old braces, but maybe I made them a bit heavier and stiffer. I made this a couple of years ago, nowadays I would had made the the braces thinner. The all-mother-of-pearl fingerboard is stunning but not great for the sound, maybe some of the volume is lost there. >Not exactly like this. It's a Schönbach made >guitar (former Luby, Czechoslovakia) sold by >Paramount. That was interesting to know. >It's the first Master Craft guitar I've ever seen. I'll >add it to my brand names list. Great stuff!! Cool >The few Bell-Tones I know are all solid but >not high-end >instruments. This one, besides >the ornamental splendor, is not a high-end >either. The neck has the typical stripe (walnut or >ebony) of the non aluminum reinforced necks. >This feature alone means budget model for >the pre war Czech guitars. Yes, it not top-of the line, but the wood is all solid. It has a truss-rod, no need for a aluminium rod. >I don't understand these sentences so well >with the translator. Did you added a ladder >bracing to the (formerly unbraced) back plate >and reinforced the tonebars on the top? I'm >glad it sounds better than before. When I got the guitar it had a long crack in the top and some kind of bad repairs made to it (don't really remember). I took off the back and rebraced the top and glued the crack and installed a Virci disk just to try it out. Turned out that the volume was weak and really couldn't drive the double top. I think I reset the neck too - I know I did a refret (a big task with this kind of fingerboard). New tuners. It was no fun to play and nice to look at, so I've had it on the wall for a couple of years. During the recording of our new CD we needed a guitar with an arctop sound, so I decided to have another go with it. I removed the volume eating Virci disc and thinned down the braces in the top, especially the one below the bridge. Made a a lightweight birch bridge to replace the heavy ebony original. Now it's fun to play! It's ladder braced alright, one brace between the soundhole and the the bridge, another one between the bridge and the bottom end and one just above the soundhole. Maybe I have some old pictures. |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 15:31:50 GMT 1
So it was ladder braced originally?!!! I only know another Czech archtop guitar of this period having a ladder braced top. but only two transversal bars; one near the waist and one by the bridge, but running in-between the F-holes only. The top was somewhat collapsed. It is a Martin Coletti G-61 that a friend of mine bought. The Martin Coletti brand name belonged to J. E. Dallas & Sons. Another UK importer/Dealer of the period. This particular guitar had the usual "Foreign make" stamp always found in any imported guitar in the UK after 1936. So this one is slightly later than yours. Yoiurs doesn't seem to have any stamp so its' probably a 1935 or 36 import. As far as Ii know, this kind of guitars were not built before 1935. The style was very different then. Just check the Klangfix's grandma. That is the style the Czech makers were making before 1935. I have no idea about how the Bell-Tones are braced, but I guess they would be ladder braced too. I tried to persuade the owners to check inside the guitars, but no success. ====== Så det var stege stagade ursprungligen?! : o Jag vet bara en annan tjeckisk archtop gitarr av denna period med en stege stagade topp. men bara två tvärgående stänger, en nära midjan och en vid bron, men körs i-mellan F-hål bara. Den översta var något kollapsade. Det är en Martin Coletti G-61 som en vän till mig köpt. Martin Coletti varumärke tillhörde JE Dallas & Sons. En annan brittiska importören / återförsäljare av perioden. Denna särskilda gitarr hade den vanliga "Foreign göra" stämpel alltid finns i någon importerad gitarr i Storbritannien efter 1936. Så den här är något senare än din. Yoiurs verkar inte ha någon stämpel så det är nog en 1935 eller 36 import. Såvitt Ii vet var den här typen av gitarrer inte byggda före 1935. Stilen var väldigt annorlunda då. Markera bara Klangfix mormor. Det är stilen det tjeckiska beslutsfattare gjorde före 1935. Jag har ingen aning om hur Bell-Signaler är stagade, men jag antar att de skulle vara stege stagade också. Jag försökte övertala ägarna att kontrollera inne i gitarrerna, men utan framgång. |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 15:36:54 GMT 1
Sure. I don't think a MOP layer is the best seat for a fret. Sure some tone is lost.
That would be great!!!! ;D
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 16:24:10 GMT 1
Hey Roger, Do you have any more info about Paramount Instruments Ltd? I cannot find anything... Though in my experience, researching any of these old British brands is always very difficult.
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Hej Roger, Har ni några mer info om Paramount Instruments Ltd? Jag kan inte hitta något ... Även i min erfarenhet, forska något av dessa gamla brittiska märken är alltid mycket svårt.
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Post by rogerh on May 16, 2011 16:51:32 GMT 1
>Paramount Instruments Ltd The ONLY thing I could find on the "net" was one sentence that declared the firms formal shut-down 1944. Here are some before pictures  As you can see, the old bracing was to weak. Needed to be replaced with some stronger stuff.     Mirror-print like Da Vinci! Reversed the image.   Well. That explains the truss rod! The bottom part of the fingerboard over the top is sawn off/thinned out too. I overdid it when I made the new bracing. The Virci was not a good idea either. But I replaced all the braces, so this is not the final picture, I think I thinned them out a bit before I glued back the back.    The Virci is gone and most of the extra brace right under the bridge (that part must have some extra wood). The ends of the bracing bars are much thinner now. I might give it another go to get some more volume  |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 17:47:38 GMT 1
Great! Thanks so much!!!!! Gorgeous pictures! ;D It's quite interesting inside. I think this guitar came out from the same workshop of the early Radiotone guitars by Dallas sold in 1935 and 1936. But this guitar is rougher built than the high-end Dallas stuff. The radiotones have the same hardwood stripe running all along the back plate center seam. But in the Radiotones (Rads for short) it's narrower and more cleanly made. The blocks, though similar and having the same grain orientation, are also better crafted than these. The Rads have kerfed linings unlike most European guitars of the period, flat in yours. The bindings are also slightly more complex and the necks are two piece pearwood with internal duraluminum reinforcements yielding dead straight necks after 70+ years. The Rads are parallel braced and sound full, powerful and loud. I think the problem in yours is the bracing style more than the bars themselves. Ladder bracing is not good for archtops, specially if having tall archings. The arch gives a lot stiffness across the grain, so nothing else is needed unless using short or almost flat archings. This is why you hardly ever find archtops braced this way. non high-end Levins had ladder braced backs, but they were not carved, just slightly domed, so a totally different construction. My pal Tom, the owner of the afore mentioned ladder braced Martin Coletti told me that this guitar sounded weaker and thinner than any of his Czech archtops of the period. All parallel braced. If you ever get inside the guitar again I think it's better changing the bracing pattern altogether and switching to a parallel bracing instead of trying to get a better voice from the current parallel bars. I can try to get some pictures of the tonebars in my Rads which give a very good voice and power. The fretboard extension was sawn for sure. This one looks more an early Otwin than a Czech make!  |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 18:06:26 GMT 1
Some sisters of your guitar... part of my czech arsenal. From left to right: A '60s Cremona 465 made by Bräuer. Laminated but a great sounding guitar. The other two are 1935-36 Radiotone no. 7812 cello guitars. The ones very similar to your Master Craft.   In this last picture the old Rads are flanking the new Rad design introduced by 1937. They have the same model name in the Dallas catalogs, but as you can see, it's a totally different guitar. A close copy of the (US) Paramount Style B and C guitars by W. Lange. This Rad version was built from 1937 to the WWII start. And my guitar is the '37 version.  |
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Post by snapcase on May 16, 2011 18:21:03 GMT 1
These are the tonebars inside the early Rads. Sorry for the crap collages. They were composed from poor quality webcam shots. But you can get an idea. Tall, thin and short tonebars with a abrupt and rather long tapering, ending far from the soundboard edges. A sturdy bracing allowing the outer area of the top vibrating freely. Not a real need for a recurve giving a strong and loud voice and a powerful low end. When using longer tonebars (ending by the blocks or the linings, like Gibsons or Epiphones) a recurve is usually mandatory to get enough power and low end. Not the case in these guitars. By the way, the top center seams are cleated. Another symptom of higher level guitars.   PS, I've checked the guitars again with a mirror. The proportions in these collages are not right. They seem way taller than what they actually are. If you wish I can try to make some better pictures of them. At first sight, the tonebars are approximately 1 cm tall at the highest spot. I can try to measure them as well. |
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