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Old 09-08-2020, 07:49 PM
Portland Guitar Portland Guitar is offline
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Default The Soft Guitar

We decided to do an experiment: make a guitar that is optimized in as many ways as we can. I(Max) recently read through Gore and Gilet’s Design and Build to get a better understanding of the guitar. The goal is to make a guitar that has a light top, low stiffness but can still withstand the 200lbs of tension from the strings without aging problems over time. We used as many of the ideas in the book as possible and added ideas that have been stewing in my dad's head for many years.

The list of what is different in this guitar is as follows

Paduak bridge
I beam bracing with Carbom fiber on the top
Honeycombed top and back to reduce mass
Soft edge on sides
Soft edge on fretboard
Soft edge on headstock
Minimized bridge mass
Thin under top bridge plate in paduak

Tests: top and back deflection with 3 lb weights. Deflection test of bridge movement under tension and off.

Here is a video of the finished guitar. Below are the build pictures that went into it. I haven’t done the tests yet, but I think they will be good. It sounds amazing and has a wonderful ring to it. The build process has improved significantly from making the radiused sides; it eliminated the need for curfing. By using a system that uses CNC to route the top, carving patterns for decorative inlay is simple.






















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Old 09-08-2020, 07:51 PM
Portland Guitar Portland Guitar is offline
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Old 09-08-2020, 08:29 PM
ZacInSC ZacInSC is offline
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I love the playing from “The Burning of the Midnight Lamp”!
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Old 09-08-2020, 11:25 PM
pagedr pagedr is offline
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That thing sounds beautiful. Is that a 00 size?

Last edited by pagedr; 09-08-2020 at 11:40 PM.
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:08 AM
Portland Guitar Portland Guitar is offline
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It is a OM size, 15" lower bout. I think it the rounded edges create an optical illusion around the bouts.
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:07 AM
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SprintBob SprintBob is offline
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Wow, the engineering in that guitar is extremely interesting and the results speak for themselves.

Tell us more about what look like adjustable string saddles (like an electric guitar setup?).
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:19 AM
Portland Guitar Portland Guitar is offline
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Thank you! That is our split-saddle bridge. There are six individual saddles that sit on a single plate with T-channels in them that allow the saddles to move back and forth. This allows for the compensation to be changed on each string
and creates an achievable theoretical "perfect" intonation for the higher frets.
As well there is 0.25" of tolerance from the slot. If you don't care as much about intonation this can let you change the scale length of your guitar. A 24.75" can be turned into a roughly 25" scale length. We have a patent on certain parts of the bridge.
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Old 09-10-2020, 07:54 AM
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mikealpine mikealpine is offline
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That has an beautiful depth and resonance! It sounds fantastic!!
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Old 09-10-2020, 10:01 AM
Nahil.R Nahil.R is offline
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That's a pretty piece of engineering! Very creative work.
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