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Topic: Opening a sound well |
Paul DiMaggio
From:
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 4 Mar 2015 8:47 am |
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| I have been toying with the idea of opening up the sound well towards the upper bout on my Gretsch. Hoping for a little more bass ,acoustically. I am assuming that doing that would make some of the lower frequencies coming off of the back of the cone end up getting out to the sound holes. The well has paralellogram shaped holes, would squaring up those holes and thinning the "posts" be sufficient? Also the spider has casting flash still attached and areas that look like porosity so a clean up probably wouldn't hurt. Are there any pitfalls I might encounter in taking this unit apart and putting it back together? |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 5 Mar 2015 12:10 am
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Sounds logical. My Dobro Dobro from the early 70s has generous sound well holes and has great bass coming from the two top ports. Perhaps the sound well/body can be considered a bass reflex system. There are formulas for port hole dimensions based on the volume of the chamber. That volume is pretty small - add the volume of the body to the volume of the chamber I would think.
I dunno. It also sounds a bit like an unrecoverable crap shoot. I know nothing about the value of Gretch resonator. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 5 Mar 2015 7:23 am
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The one pitfall I'd mention is alignment when putting the parts back together. Mark the spider and cone so you have them back in the right direction when you're done.
Let us know if those changes make a difference in the overall tone. I'd highly recommend making a recording before and after you do whatever you do.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Robert Allen
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 5 Mar 2015 8:05 am
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| I've repaired some resos that had a spider such as you describe. A new #14 spider from Beard might be well worth the investment. |
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Paul DiMaggio
From:
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 5 Mar 2015 2:22 pm
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| Bob, the #14 spider is definitely on the table, the issue is the Nashville pickup's removal and reinstall. According to Gretsch the pickup is not glued in so that might make removal easier. I emailed Beard and they said the slot width and depth on the #14 adjustable and regular spiders are the same. The unknown, is whether the Asian spider slot is the same as a 14. I really like that pickup but ,for the price of them, they seem awfully frail. |
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 5 Mar 2015 7:08 pm Re: Opening a sound well
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| Paul DiMaggio wrote: |
| ... would squaring up those holes and thinning the "posts" be sufficient? Also the spider has casting flash still attached and areas that look like porosity so a clean up probably wouldn't hurt. ... |
Paul, I think that opening up the soundwell holes would be fine. You might even consider removing one of the posts. FWIW, here's a photo of Beard's 'Open Soundwell' design:
If you have the time and patience, cleaning up the spider with files and sandpaper and then leveling it should help a lot.
HTH. Good luck with the project.
_________________
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Paul DiMaggio
From:
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 16 Mar 2015 10:04 am
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I got into the guitar's belly and opened up the soundwell and that pretty much took care of the muddy sound in the bass. I don't think It gained much volume but lots of definition.
I didn't take the cone and spider apart, just lifted the entire unit out. Sanded the ledge and had to enlarge the hole that wires are fed thru to stop the cone from being pushed forward, it was jammed up in there. I left the spider alone, I know very little about aluminum casting, but the spider is very crude looking, so it will be replaced.
My question now is, what is the technique for removing the Nashville pickup inserts without damaging them? |
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