zombywoof Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Just wondering if anybody knows why Gibson used fabric side supports on their guitars up to the early 1950s. You can seen one of the supports in this pic of my LG-2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I always thought they were just there to function as band-aids to reduce the chance of the sides splitting along the grain. The sides get loaded in funny ways if you play sitting down, like I do. But what do I know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipster100 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 That is exactly why they are there, to keep and side cracks from potentially continuing further. They are typically strips of muslin or silk. Both Gibson and Martin used the technique on pre war guitars. Martin still uses it on their GE, Marquis and Vintage lines. I'm actually not sure about Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 That is exactly why they are there, to keep and side cracks from potentially continuing further. They are typically strips of muslin or silk. Both Gibson and Martin used the technique on pre war guitars. Martin still uses it on their GE, Marquis and Vintage lines. I'm actually not sure about Gibson. The Legend series has them. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Good question.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Gibson also used wood strips as side supports on some of their bigger acoustics with deeper sides like the J-200, some of the Jumbos and even the Nick Lucas Specials. They are an important functional part of any good acoustic to prevent side cracks and to keep them from spreading if they do happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Many thanks for the replies. The only thing I could think of was to maybe stiffen the sides but for the life of me I could not figure out why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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