Quote:
Originally Posted by slimey
I use a sable as a gig guitar when weather, location, timing means I'm reluctant to threaten the well being of a wood instrument. It's a reasonable instrument for the job, best I've found for my tastes. But as an acoustic instrument it lacks volume and projection, for gigs it's heavy, the tactile feedback to the player is limited. But the neck is good and using a good pick up you can get an acceptable tone for live sound. ( just )
Acoustic players tend to be tone chasers which translates to those who gig being fussy about the pick ups they use.
I think this makes reasonable access to the insides of the instrument critical. There are many instruments I've not purchased because it came with a pick up I didn't want and changing it would mar the instrument. Taylors are a good example with their built in controls on the side of the instrument.
So not being able to quickly change a battery, with big hands, would stop me buying an instrument.
Better player feedback, no mid range quack, lighter, functional ( battery access, quick string changes, good tuners, stable ) , an easy playing fast neck would all be things making an instrument interesting and a threat to the wallet.
With carbon instruments we're far from traditional design , I think Emerald has done a good job of recognizing this with their shapes , why has no one copied electric guitars and molded a battery compartment into the back of the instrument , a closing compartment with a small hole into the inside of the guitar would make it simple to change battery and easy to run the wire through for any pickup. You could even have a terminal connector for the battery connections so any pick up could be simply adapted.
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Hi Steve!
Thanks for your feedback!
As a player myself, I agree whole heartedly with all your preferences/necessities.
I think the problem is; achieving everything with no absolutely no sacrifices isn't possible; and where I personally have placed ultimate priority is on acoustic sound and tone.
Its quite easy to mould an access panel on the rear, or indeed have a very large sound hole that even the largest of hands can fit down into (and I can by all means do this); but what this is doing is significantly impacting the structure of the resonance chamber itself.
Some manufactures require tooling within during moulding/assembly, and the large sound hole helps them remove this; or indeed if they do not have large sound holes; they may have access panels on the rear. These are not there just for setup; but a manufacturing restriction. My process however is completely unrestricted in this way; so the sound holes only purpose is to help shape and project the sound (with no other openings or holes cut in the body itself)..
That being said, I've found that they still provide ample access for wiring a simple under-saddle pickup (with controls, pre amp and battery). And; I will be adding an externally accessible battery door also (just couldn't get one in time to suit so am now designing my own
)
I think the beauty of selling direct to customers will be finding their personal preference and working with them. Want a very specific pickup? Sure! Want an access panel, external controls or a larger sound hole? No problem, just be advised that this will impact the sound of the instrument.
My philosophy is that I'm not aiming to make the 'swiss army knife of the guitar world' that can do a little bit of everything, 'just ok'; instead I'm aiming for a very specialised tool that's main objective is; sounding and feeling good.
Thanks again for your feedback and suggestions; I am taking everything on board, and indeed will incorporate this into the next prototype