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Wondering if any one has "purpose built" a high strung guitar and if so any advice/experience regarding:
top thickness and bracing?
wood choices?
body size/shape?

Thinking this might be a fun project. I have strung a L00 size but felt it was overbuilt for the light tension of the four octave [E/A/D/G] and the standard gauge B/E.

I am wondering if some form of classical or early martin fan bracing might be appropriate ?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Mike

Might be some kind of record.... have I stumped the crew?

Okay, I'll bite.
What do you mean "high stringing"?

All I can think of is Nashville tuning where they took the light strings from a 12 string set, and put them on a flattop. It reduced the muddiness of doing rhythm backing tracks with a 12 string.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Hi Mike,
Rather than under build the guitar why not use thicker strings on the "high" strings to increase the tension. Use a wide saddle that would allow for compensation both for Nashville tuning and standard stringing and tuning.
If I was to build one strictly for Nashville tuning I might use a smaller body size (small parlor) and shorter scale length (23"). If you don't need the bass, why not make things a bit more comfortable to play

Chris, yes, I am referring to a guitar purposely built for Nashville Tuning.

Clay, I have experimented with gauge a bit, and you're probably right for a more "generally useful" instrument.

First time I saw one played it was Red Shea in concert with Gordon Lightfoot back in the early-mid 60's. I can't for the life of me recall what the guitar was but I'm sure is was some standard martin just restrung.

I build as a hobby and between Martins, Gibsons, Collings and my own I have more than enough personalities in the "stable" right now.... I guess I was just ruminating on a project that would add something a bit different to the mix.

I'm considering what would be the best approach to bringing UP the volume and projection with out loosing the "Brite and Tite". In the recording studio no problem, but sitting around an acoustic jam slightly different story.

Mike

Traditionally in the Nashville studios they simply restrung their Gibsons, Martins, Guilds, and Mossmans..... and drove on.

I did a Les Paul like that once... was fun to experiment with.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Nashville Tuning and high strung are synonymous.

I've never built a high strung guitar but have used Nashville tuning on a couple of mine.
I don't believe there would be an advantage designing bracing and top thickness specifically
for this.

Here's my advice: build a guitar for regular tuning and possibly make an additional saddle for high
strung.

Also, my experience is that you can get very good tone out of an inexpensive guitar
when used for high strung, although the action may need to be modified.