what will the next big acoustic feature be

[CoffeeGuitar]

over the last decade or so we have seen some great innovations for acoustic guitars

fan frets/bevels etc

but what do you think the next big thing will be?

personally i think the tapered fretboard could be it

it can be seen on the lowden pierre bensusan model

as you go along the fretboard it widens the closer it gets to the body as does the string spacing resulting in alot more room near the upper frets

[HHP]

Not sure how you classify "big". Fan frets, bevels, soundports, odd shapes, radical bridges have only appeared on a tiny fraction of guitars. The last innovation that impacted huge numbers of guitars was probably the X brace at the turn of the century.

[rmyAddison]

And then you have Martin, a 176 year old company, putting their best efforts into reproductions of 70 year old guitars.

I have no problem with these "innovations" but I don' know that I would personally call them "sonic improvements", none had produced a better tone to my tastes, just different.

I do like the bevel for comfort though...............

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by CoffeeGuitar

over the last decade or so we have seen some great innovations for acoustic guitars

fan frets/bevels etc

but what do you think the next big thing will be?

personally i think the tapered fretboard could be it

it can be seen on the lowden pierre bensusan model

as you go along the fretboard it widens the closer it gets to the body as does the string spacing resulting in alot more room near the upper frets

According to Doug Young's review the string spacing does not widen as much as the neck/fingerboard itself, thus leaving more space outside the 1st and 6th strings to accomodate vibrato.

String spacing gets wider on every guitar made, but the degree to which it does varies.

I hope that more companies will adopt the adjustable angle neck that Babicz developed. It can be changed on the fly so that bottleneck to sissy action can be had from song to song.

HE

[gregsguitars]

Your probably going to see a "breakthrough" concerning some fancy testing of prized old instruments and some innovative company figuring out how to reproduce those vintage golden age tones with super thin faux composite materials that will allow for almost no bracing and no tuning instability as no wood will be used....

[bkharmony]

Building high-end guitars with renewable materials.

[JohnnyDes]

For recent past, I would include:

Folding guitars (Voyage Air)
Taylor NT neck
Carbon fiber guitars
Coated strings

For the future:
Better & cheaper carbon fiber guitars

JD

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by CoffeeGuitar

over the last decade or so we have seen some great innovations for acoustic guitars

fan frets/bevels etc

but what do you think the next big thing will be?

personally i think the tapered fretboard could be it

it can be seen on the lowden pierre bensusan model

as you go along the fretboard it widens the closer it gets to the body as does the string spacing resulting in alot more room near the upper frets

I've been ordering wider fingerboards (12th fret width) on custom guitars since about 1996. For any given bridge spacing, this provides for more real estate (fingerboard-wise) between the E strings and the edges of the fingerboard.

Great for expressive playing.

Yeah, I hope it's the next big thing...however, guitar builders (and manufacturers) are slow (understatement) to catch on to player-preferred preferences such as this...I'm not going to hold my breath.

Howard is correct to point out that this variable (overall width of fingerboard at the 12th fret) does not change the string spacing in any way.

I like to talk about "playing the string spacing, and not the fingerboard width", and this is an example of that. Pierre knows what he wants for both the string-spacing at the bridge and nut, as well as overall nut width and overall 12th fret width.

[twotone]

with the big discussion about ways to accelerate the so-called opening-up process, I expect pricey options "Dedamped Top", "Tonerited" or "Preaged". they might build a machine that´s holding a finished guitar and is strumming 24 hours, with a constantly moving Capo up and down the neck, for weeks.

As a longtime drummer I remember makers like zildjian selling "preaged" cymbals. I never understood what "preaged" actually meant, but I got to play a lot of those at jazz sessions in the 90s. They were new bright cymbals, a little thinner maybe, but to my ears none of them had that mellow smokey sound of vintage K´s or A´s Zildjians. After 20 years they had.

And, I guess the "relic" thing of electric guitars could swap to acoustics, too, because there´s a lot of money in it. new D-18s or J-45s looking like 1947.

[walternewton]

Originally Posted by twotone

And, I guess the "relic" thing of electric guitars could swap to acoustics, too, because there´s a lot of money in it. new D-18s or J-45s looking like 1947.

I've been wondering for a while now when "relicing" or "distressing" will come to acoustic guitars...besides electrics, it's done fairly often in the mandolin world now too.

[Michael Watts]

Originally Posted by twotone

And, I guess the "relic" thing of electric guitars could swap to acoustics, too, because there´s a lot of money in it. new D-18s or J-45s looking like 1947.

That's already happening...

I predict that some of the finest guitars that the world has ever seen will be built next year.

I'm rather hoping that one of them will be mine!

Apart from that who knows? The great builders are constantly evolving their ideas and approaches as are the great players. It's when the two go together that the magic happens.

[JimB1]

I think by necessity we are going to see other tops then Sitka and Adirondack come out. I wouldn't be surprised to see Poplar make a comeback as a guitar tone wood either along with increased use of non-tropical woods as Cites and other laws require more stringent documentation on imported woods.

Also it looks like Ebony is going to become difficult to get in quantity going forward so we may see alternatives in man made materials like Micarta for fingerboards and bridges.

I was just reading a woodworking article on some nice composite woods from bamboo and other fast growing plant matter that might be interesting to see made into guitars.

Necessity is the mother of invention or so they tell me

-Jim

[AFNospam]

Espresso maker replacing the barn door. Humidifies and provides a jolt to keep you going.

[bizirk]

I say Halogram guitars. With a flip of a switch we can be playing a Olson, then whammo a pre-war Marty......

[Losov]

I always assume "innovations" in guitar construction to be marketing gimmicks. I seem to have a pretty good batting average on this.