This is one of the most beautiful builds I've seen in a long time. Even if it only sounds half as good as it looks, it's still going to be heavenly. Congratulations!

Joel likes to torture his guitars, this way they learn to be obedient and will always play in tune once they leave the shop :

https://i.imgur.com/IBqzkDy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fuShhh7.jpg

Wow. That’s quite the setup. Is this commonly done by other builders?

That is an Erlewine neck jig, sold by StewMac, which sets the guitar precisely as it would be under full string pull, enabling a very accurate set-up. It's sort of an analog PLEK device.

Shooting going on :

https://i.imgur.com/VLrdUbg.jpg

I shall have the guitar on my laps by next monday. she'll come along with Master Joel himself !

Can't wait to try it out !

Beautiful man! Congratulations in advance. May I ask what was Michauds view on the side sound port, i mean the expected outcome, intended to increase bass from players perspective?

It's just feature I asked for because I love soundports.

About 15-20 years ago, after hearing someone playing on my old Yamaha LS16, I was quite shocked by how great the guitar sounded to my ears from up front versus me playing it at home. I thought and looked around for a way to be able to hear my own guitar when playing, as if I were in front of it... That's when I came to know about soundport.

In order to give it a go and because there were just no guitars featuring a soundport to try off the shelves of any guitar shop, I decided to ask my local luthier to add one to my Yamaha LS16.

It was so successful, that from this point on, I've either added a soundport to my existing guitars or I asked for this feature when commissioning a new guitar. Since I mainly play for my own pleasure at home, it's really something I enjoy a lot.

I just asked Joel to try to make one that would let me hear as much as possible the sound it would make from up front.

Joel said that it can never be the same unless the soundport were to be huge. However he has cut and sized it in order to get the desired internal cavity pitch.


Here is JOEL's take on it : "In my expierence the sound port is much less about creating a ‘monitor’ for the player. It may have an effect on what they are hearing but I see it less to do with simply having a hole closer to their ear. What happens instead with a sound port is that the main air resonant mode is raised in pitch. This will have an effect on certain note frequencies and may have a tendency to boost the fundamental of the treble register. It can change the relationship between the top and the back, I’ll try my best when using a sound port to balance this change elsewhere."


Hope that helps,

Okay that's the first I've seen of this haha! That's pretty awesome. And... it's probably less than 48 hours before you finally get to meet your precious new Michaud! It looks incredible, and I hope it sounds even more incredible to you. Keep us posted :D

I'd say that getting to meet Joel in itself is an experience, but you've already met the man before so just ignore him, and focus on the guitar this time ;)