Roy Courtnall Lattice Strutting Design
In recent years a number of guitar makers have experimented with new ideas in guitar design. In some cases this has included altering the outline shape of the instrument and also re-designing the internal strutting layout, and even altering the size and position of the soundhole. This is not entirely new - some 19th century makers also tried out some of these ideas, but no lasting innovations became universally popular.
One of the most recent developments that has proved successful, has been the use of a Lattice Pattern for positioning the struts. Many variations of this idea have been tried, some more successful than others. The pattern given in this Plan is the one used by Roy Courtnall. It consists of ten struts that cross over one another, creating small square sections of supported soundboard. (In other respects, this guitar has a conventional exterior shape.)
The advantage of the lattice design is that the soundboard can be made very thin due to the comprehensive support over the entire surface, The typical sound produced with this design is one of great projection, with a piercing, bell-like quality.
Spruce or cedar can be used, but with the design shown here, the most powerful results have been achieved with cedar, and with the instrument fitted with D'Addario Hard Tension strings.
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