Reply To: D-45 appointments

#717
Richard Hoover
Senior Moderator

    That’s a fun question!

    Let’s start with how the binding affects the sound in general. The violin uses the little black/white/black fiber purfle to isolate the top from the body of the instrument. With out this the string’s energy would transfer from the top into the sides and back of the violin directing sound to the player at the expense of the audience. The same happens in the guitar. If the bindings don’t isolate the top from the body it will suffer in its ability to project the sound outward.

    Your 45 style biding does an excellent job of isolation with two violin purfles book-ending abalone strips all working together by limiting the transfer of vibration away from your audience. Real wood or cellulose based bindings like Ivoroid add to the advantage. Contrast this with the laminated plastic binding found in production instruments. These will transfer rather than block vibration resulting in a guitar that seems louder to the player than to the audience. So your observation is correct 45 style binding allows better projection than plastic laminate bindings, which SCGC doesn’t use.

    All the best,                                                                                                                                                                                         Richard