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#1
08-24-2016, 08:15 AM
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Progressive Tone Bar Bracing
Has anybody had the chance to play the custom Martin's from Wildwood that have this progressive tone bar bracing?
http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/produ...goryID=114&n=0 Curious if it makes a difference. 
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#2
08-24-2016, 12:11 PM
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It's interesting that the copy on the web site concentrates on the difference in mass, with the 'progressive' tone bars being cited as 20% lighter. If the difference is just in the tone bars, that's really a negligible saving in mass for the top as a whole. All the braces together weigh about 1/3 what the top itself does, and most of that is in the main X and the UTB.
Far more important, IMO, is the difference in stiffness that comes from making the bars a different height. The stiffness of a brace is proportional to the cube of it's height, so making the bars, say, 20% lower makes them about 70% less stiff. Even more than that, where that stiffness is counts for a lot. Even a small change in the way the braces are profiled can alter the voice noticeably. Which brings up the question of whether they're voicing these tops individually, or just carving the braces to a predetermined profile. Individual voicing would add some time and cost.
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