The Steel Guitar Forum

Anyone have the MIMF (Musical Instrument Makers Forum) plans for a Weissenborn? MIMF no longer sells them. (Don't know why.) I'd like to get a copy of these plans to compare with the StewMac set. There is a short comparison of the two sets of plans at http://www.rahul.net/gaa/Weiss/index.shtml

Also, I recall reading somewhere here in the Forum about a Weissenborn-style guitar made with greater depth that supposedly gave it better bass response. Comments?

Thanks.

------------------

That's a guitar that Neil Russell (Celtic Cross) is making for someone in Australia. I guess we'll all have to wait to hear what transpires ...

Gary Anwyl, the guy whose web page your referring to above, is a regular participant on this forum. He will likely chime in soon.

By the way, his turned out great!

I'm a staff member on the MIMF, we quit selling the Weiss plans because they sucked.
Really, they were poorly drawn and not symetrical, (I have a set) go with the Stew-Mac plans, they are supposed to be very accurate.
I've talked to a few people about Weissenborn depth, most of the people who have done it seem to think that making them deeper adds low end, but takes away some of the 'Weissenborness' and makes them sound more like a standard guitar. Rich Mermer has made a jumbo baritone model, Bear Creek has one too, so there has been some variations on the theme made.
Keep meaning to make myself an acoustic Weiss but can't seem to get away from the resonators long enough.

------------------
Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.

I have both sets of plans (that's my webpage you were pointing to). I just took another look at them. The MIMF plans don't really have any significant information that is not on the Stew-Mac plans. The body depth is the same on both plans. The body shape is not exactly the same on both plans, but the differences are minor.

If you have any specific questions about the plans let me know.

I thought the MIMF plans were very usable as long as you watched out for the minor quirks.

If you're thinking about building a Weissenborn make sure you get the "Chris Knutsen" book by Noe and Most. It has a lot of detailed information about Weissenborns; plus it's fun reading and it has a lot of nice pictures.

Very nice job on your site, Gary. There's a lot of information there presented in an objective manner. The navigation is logical and well organized too.

Gary,

This book? Chris J. Knutsen: From Harp Guitars to the New Hawaiian Family by George T. Noe (Photographer), Daniel L. Most

Any other "must have" book recommendations for someone who wants to build their own guitar?<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Alan Kirk on 11 March 2004 at 07:25 AM.]</p></FONT>

Alan, that's the book. The book "Guitarmaking" by Cumpiano and Natelson is the "must have" book on building an acoustic guitar. There are two books by Irving Sloane that I also found useful: "Classic Guitar Construction" and "Steel String Guitar Construction". The Sloane books aren't as comprehensive as the Cumpiano book, but they present some alternative ways of doing some of the construction steps.

Andy, thanks for the comment.

Gary

For those of you who travel frequently, make sure you check out Gary's silent practice dobro, too:
http://www.rahul.net/gaa/fun/silDobro.shtml

Hi-
Just gotta chime in here about the low end in a Weissenborn...
I've got three Weissenborns, two Style 1's and a Style 2. They are all different sounding guitars, but all have really amazing bass response. The depth of each guitar varies a little bit, as Weissenborns often do (from 2 7/8" to 3" in depth). One of the Style 1's and the Style 2 have the smaller bridge; the other Style 1 has the larger bridge (you can see a black and white photo of this guitar in Andy Volk's excellent book). Again, they all sound different, but all three guitars have a low end to die for.
In my opinion, you should be able to get great bass response from a standard depth Weissenborn. I've played a few Konas, which are much deeper bodied than Weissenborns, and found that while they sounded sweet, their low end was puny compared to the mighty Weissenborn.
Good luck on your quest!
Cheers,
Ed