More detail about bevels?

[douglasfan1]

Nowadays, more and more discussion for Arm bevel, but not much in others like rib bevel and cutaway bevel. Could I ask for more experience or information on how rib bevel and cutaway bevel affect the tone? Is there anything I need to consider regarding to tone while determining to have those bevel or not?

[The Bard Rocks]

While I have no direct experience owning any kind of beveled guitar, I do read about them whenever I get a chance. My bet is that you may not be able to notice any difference.

[colins]

Laurie Williams ( https://guitars.co.nz/index.html ) builds very high quality guitars with arm bevels and rib bevels. Like many luthiers, he maintains that the soundboard does most of the work to define a guitar’s sound and the back and sides much less. Other AGF threads that discuss the extent of the impact of back and sides on the guitar’s sound support this. So I’d be saying that a rib bevel has minimal opportunity to have an impact on sound.

Arm bevels take up some of the top, so one might think they influence the sound. I have several guitars with arm bevels, all built by luthiers that routinely offer this option, and in every case the luthier had no concern about sound when a bevel was discussed at the start of the build, and the final guitars sound great. So if arm bevels do affect the sound I think the experienced builders just work around it as they do with the other variables on the guitar such as stiffness of the soundboard.

I have no experience with cutaway bevels.

[printer2]

I have made guitar bodies with smaller bevels and attacked a cheap guitar to see if this was something for me. No, not pretty, it was a junk guitar that I was not comfortable giving away to anyone, especially not a beginner.



Actually made it playable and sounding not too bad. I am going to go back and modify a body with the arm bevel and if I can find the wood I used for the back and sides, a rib cut. Any personal instrument I make will have both as I have pain issues. What will it do to the sound? What does it matter if the guitar sounds good with them?

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by douglasfan1

Nowadays, more and more discussion for Arm bevel, but not much in others like rib bevel and cutaway bevel. Could I ask for more experience or information on how rib bevel and cutaway bevel affect the tone? Is there anything I need to consider regarding to tone while determining to have those bevel or not?

Every additional "bevel" you add to an acoustic body has the potential to effect the tone and/or volume of the instrument. When I designed my deep body size 0 mahogany acoustic I weighed the benefit of bevels and added the top body bevel. I love it and I can't say that I notice any degradation in tone / volume from adding it.

[Guitars44me]

I love bevels. I am 70 and still gigging solo acoustic/retro one man band.
Usually NO PA. Zero electricity.

My BIG JK customs with Manzer wedge and multi bevels are just the ticket, and only cost twice what my car is worth!
Hahahahahaha

As the hot rod guys say, there is no substitute for cubic inches

These big body’s are very comfortable to hold and play for long periods, which I used to do over 240 times a year, pre Covid

See the build thread for the next one in my signature

Good luck and remember, as Duke Ellington said, “ when it sounds good, it is good!”

Paul

[maxtheaxe]

The beveled guitars I've seen, here and elsewhere, seem to have extraordinary interior architecture to support such bevels without compromising tone/resonance. Pictures of these interiors almost resemble Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in the expression of art nouveau.

I'd love to have one, especially since my aging body is becoming a bit sensitive to those right-angle edges. One in particular was sold here a couple years ago by one of the regular sellers (he has a very nice Golden Age Taylor up right now)...it was one of the Kinniard Bros. wonderful builds. Just a stunning axe, in some variety of spruce over African blackwood, with full beveling.

Sadly (or maybe not) I've tamed my own GAS by coming to the conclusion that, in order to appreciably improve on what I already have, I'd need to spend north of five figures...*sigh*

[tommieboy]

Very interesting topic! I really enjoy following some of the builds in the Custom Shop forum that deal with these issues. Same with sound ports. I have seen some luthiers build sound ports into their bevels too!

For me, I have settled on smaller / thinner guitars to work around these issues.

Tommy

[srick]

Here's are some pictures of the Fairbanks guitar that is being built for me. This is the first bevel that Dale has incorporated into a guitar. Most custom luthiers offer them as an option and I have never seen any complaints. I suspect, like anything, with attention to detail, it will work just fine. Hopefully, by early December, I'll be able to tell you first hand.

This is before the top has been placed, you can see the reinforcement on the lower left of the bout:

2020-07-02 IMG_0299 (Custom).jpeg

The top is glued and the process of cutting the bevel begins:

2020-07-06 IMG_0320.jpg

Final bevel:

2021-10-01 2021 10.1c.JPEG

There's not 'that' much extra mass there in the way of the soundboard. Plus, I have a 'heavy' arm and this was an alternative to placing a John Pearse stick-on armrest (which I have on my other guitars).

best,

Rick

[B Chas]

I'm with Paul, arm bevels make a bigger body feel smaller. A GA, or SJ feels like a GC. If you'd like bigger sound with more comfort, try one.