Woodburning on the soundboard - adverse effects??

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

I was wondering if anyone knew how much affect woodburning has on soundboard resonance.
I am wanting to incorporate my experience of woodburning into my guitar making.
Any thoughts?

Thanks,
-Zach

Oh and the images would be about 3" by 3" (or larger)

[Mark Swanson]

Hi and Welcome!
Well, much would depend on where on the top you would put there designs. I have seen some nice woodburned rosettes, no trouble there.

[Alan Carruth]

I've noticed that when I've routed the rabbet for the binding on guitars the frequencies of the some ot the resonsnt modes of the top drops, and it doesn't come back up to the pre-rout level when the binding is put on. I wanted to duplicate that pitch drop on one of my test mules, without having to bind it, so I cut a couple of shallow grooves around the edge, roughly at the inside edge of the liners, and got the same effect. THey were not much deeper than the burn of a moderately wide line, if I remember my wod burning days rightly, so, in theory, designs around the edges of the lower bout could have a small effect on the tone. I'll note that Taylor is doing something similar these days: routing a shalw groove around the inside edge of the top before assembling the box. Of course, they claim it's the best thing since sliced bread....

Alan Carruth / Luthier

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

Yeah okay... That's what I thought.
What do you think about a woodburning on the upper bout of the soundboard? It is a little bit less acoustically active there I would imagine.
I would imagine that decreasing the thickness makes a big difference in resonance, but also the change in the wood's state when it becomes burned.
There's also the option of adding a thin veneer to burn on... but I don't like that idea because it results in a thicker soundboard which could kill the acoustics more than if you burned on the original soundboard itself.

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

Here's a picture of what I might want to burn onto the top. The deepest burns are about 0.6mm deep.

(Tried posting the picture once already... see if this works)

[Ron Belanger]

Wow! Nice image.

[Jason Rodgers]

Dang, Zach, that's some skill! I always thought it would look cool to do a shading effect with a hot sand method (forget what that pyrography technique is called) near the binding and rosette.

[Clay Schaeffer]

Rather than adding a veneer I would be inclined to leave the soundboard slightly thicker to compensate for the depth of the burned areas. I have seen some dulcimers with wood burned designs in the soundboards, but the burning is pretty shallow, much less than 1/2 a millimeter.

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

Thanks, okay so leave the soundboard a little thicker just as you would with an inlayed rosette.
What about location of the wood burning (I would probably want to put it in the least acoustically active spot on the soundboard (wherever that is.. Upper bout maybe???) What do you think?

Thanks for the input guys, this is helping
Zach

[Randy Roberts]

I would stick to either side of the upper bout and leave the lower bout alone. The top bout is mostly structural, and the lower mostly sound. Builders have been free to do all sorts of things up in the upper bout... carvings, inlay, etc. You can be pretty free to make the upper bout thicker if you feel the need and not pay a price in sound especially above the upper transverse brace (above the soundhole), but in the lower bout you are looking at having to make trade-offs you may not want.

[Ben Loutrelle]

Nice Owl!

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

Here's an update for those who were wondering,
I made this guitar and incorporated the wood burning into the upper bout (less acoustically active). The end result was a guitar that sounded fabulous! So I would assume that the woodburning had no, or a minuscule affect on the sound.
Time to get creative!!!



Zachary Schryer-Lefebvre
Sole Proprietor
TreeHouse Guitars
http://www.treehouseguitars.com
http://www.facebook.com/TreeHouseGuitars

[Nathan Dodd]

That's beautiful Zach! I especially like the fact that you've left off the rosette and curled the twigs around the hole there. can we see a full shot of the guitar too please? I'd really like to see what the whole piece looks like

[Barry Daniels]

Very nice! It looks like the burning is very light so it should not weaken the soundboard at all. The only exception is the dark area under the tail wings, but it is rather small and in a low stress area of the soundboard.

[Steve Senseney]

Nice work. Very well designed and executed.

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

Here are a few more pictures, check out my website if you want to see more. http://www.treehouseguitars.com






I'm working on a new one right now- mahogany back, sides and neck, bearclaw Sitka soundboard, bloodwood binding, fingerboard, and bridge. The plan is to burn an ancient tree, probably a sequoia. I have a larger canvas now though since there's no cutaway!
Check out my website if you want more pictures
-Zach

Zachary Schryer-Lefebvre
Sole Proprietor
TreeHouse Guitars
http://www.treehouseguitars.com
http://www.facebook.com/TreeHouseGuitars

[Nathan Dodd]

Beautiful work! That's a very nice guitar Zach!

[Nathan Dodd]

Just checked out the website, it's very nice, really like the other guitars and the pyrography is outstanding! I'm not very artistic in that way sadly and i have a lot of admiration for you!

[Zach Schryer-Lefebvre]

Thanks Nathan!
I have been doing pyrography for about 4 years now, but I'm still just getting into the whole guitar making thing. I built my first guitar almost a year ago.
Make sure to 'like' me on Facebook if you want to keep up to date with guitars and such! I post pictures of my progress and works regularly so it's the best way to stay up to date!
Thanks again for the compliments
-Zach

Zachary Schryer-Lefebvre
Sole Proprietor
TreeHouse Guitars
www.treehouseguitars.com
www.facebook.com/TreeHouseGuitars