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Tranguitars Booklet

Tranguitars crafts high-quality classical guitars in Vietnam. The guitars produce beautiful tones with outstanding power, projection, and clarity. Vu Tran developed his signature guitar design based on studying master luthiers and incorporating modern technology. He expresses gratitude to those who have supported his work and career as a professional luthier.

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Vu Tran
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321 views

Tranguitars Booklet

Tranguitars crafts high-quality classical guitars in Vietnam. The guitars produce beautiful tones with outstanding power, projection, and clarity. Vu Tran developed his signature guitar design based on studying master luthiers and incorporating modern technology. He expresses gratitude to those who have supported his work and career as a professional luthier.

Uploaded by

Vu Tran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Crafting the finest in contemporary classical guitars

Tranguitars are among the finest classical guitars


available for professional performers and students in
Vietnam and Southeast Asia. These guitars sing with a
beautiful timbre while presenting outstanding power,
projection, and clarity.

After years of studying the art and science of guitar


making from masterminds such as Hauser, Daniel
Friederich, Mathias Dammann, Jeffrey Elliott, and Simon
Marty, I’ve developed my signature design, which is
based not only upon experience from the predecessors
but also upon the state-of-the-art technology and
knowledge.

I would like to express my gratitude to my beloved


parents, who always support me in all the different
aspects of my personal and professional life. I also want
to take the occasion to thank Mr. Thanh Huy Nguyen,
Quang Huy Tran, and Vietnam guitar community, who
have supported me tremendously in the shaping of my
work and career as a professional luthier.

Vu Tran, October 2019.


The Guitar :

Bracing style is carefully chosen to suit both


the physical nature of the timber and the sound
characteristics required by the customer. Particular
considerations have been applied to the elements
listed below:
1. Playability
2. Timbre
3. Clarity
4. Balance
5. Sustain
6. Color
7. Tone
8. Response and sensitivity
9. Dynamic range
10. Power
11. Allure
In terms of my technical experiments, after having
made hundreds of guitars over the last ten years, I
have three basic soundboard designs and strutting
systems:
Traditional top and bracing:

The soundboard design has been


based on traditional Torres/Hauser
style builds. Starting with Spanish
Luthier Antonio de Torres (1817-1892),
his design was refined by a German
luthier Herman Hauser Sr. (1884-
1942), which resulted in guitars with
ideal concert performance qualities.

I mainly use traditional seven fan


bracings with open harmonics bars.
Jeffrey Elliott dramatically influences
the design, which is a redefined
system from both Torres/Hauser and
Romanillos. Furthermore, I build using
Daniel Friederich, Hauser, and Fleta
inspired strutting styles.
The double top soundboard:
Matthias Dammann is the father of the double top
guitar. It was designed with the development and
motivation of young luthiers and players in mind.
In seeking the new modern sounds to improve the
possibilities of the classical guitar, the double top
guitar has become a popular choice for use in both
Competitions and Concert Halls.

The construction of this guitar is fascinating, with


the use of Red Cedar and Spruce in one soundboard.
Between the two tops is an extremely lightweight
and durable Nomex. This combination makes a light,
low internal friction top while retaining the musical
and aesthetic features of the Spruce and Red Cedar.
In addition, the traditional fan-bracing and bridge
structure is used to bring an immensely charming
voice of the traditional sound to the Double top. The
result is bold and clear, with loose, colorful basses and
harmonically rich trebles in the higher registers.
Radial Bracing design:
At the same time as the Double top was being invented in Europe, Mr. Simon Marty, an Australian luthier, who
is also a research scientist, had been creating Radial bracing. I feel very fortunate that he decided to share
his ideas and specifications on how to recreate Radial Bracing in his style, which helped me exponentially in
making it successfully

The bracings are made of Balsa wood and Carbon reinforcement. They fan out asymmetrically from the center
of the soundboard. The bridge is stronger and lighter than the typical bridge. The top is traditionally thick in
the center (2.8mm) and thinned down to 1.1mm around the boundary. This thickness gives the sound a woody
natural timbre.
The back is made of 4 layers of 1.5mm Rosewood or Ziricote and arched like a Cello back.

The guitar has an incredibly powerful steadiness with layers of overtones and is crystal clear in all registers. It
has a punchy and immediate response with singing trebles.
Bridge:
It’s a transporter carrying the energy from the strings
to the soundboard, acting like human vocal cords.
It’s essential to keep it working with high efficiency.
Accordingly, the best Rosewood is used for the bridge.

Elevated Fingerboard Design:


I use Vietnamese Mahogany with carbon fiber
reinforcements to stabilize the neck. The elevated
fingerboard innovation is to make it easier to reach
the higher notes. The neck thickness is 21mm at the
nut and 23mm at the 9th fret.

Intonation:
It is essential to keep the guitar in tune on every note.
The nut and saddle need to be fine-tuned to change
the string lengths.
Back and side:
The back thickness varies on the materials and the
soundboard, ranging from 6mm for arched back to
1.9mm for my traditional couple back.

I mainly use East Indian Rosewood, Ziricote, Cocobolo


Rosewood, Vietnamese Rosewood, Brazilian
Rosewood, and Maple.
Vu Tran - Luthier
Phone number: +84 34592468
Email: [email protected]
Fanpage: Tranguitars
Address: 26 Dang Thai Than, Ward 3, Dalat, Lam Dong, Vietnam

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