Official Luthiers Forum!

A number of recent posts have got me thinking that their is a gap in the current guitar making area - "Air Guitar Top Voicing". The beauty is that you don't need any wood to do this, just the ability to logically and articulately describe the tonal effects as you thickness, brace and carve and reposition the braces of your imaginary top and draw diagrams of the Chladni patterns as you go. You get extra style points if you can conceptually explain the theory behind each result. For computer games buffs, you can go to the higher level of doing it all using computer "air guitar simulation models". Extra points can be got here when you explain and demonstrate the subtle differences of sound you get from the same top when played by Martin Simpson, Tommy Emmanuel and Keith Richards, or the same top combined with different back and side woods.

I'm off to write up a Business Plan

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

That's hilarious, Dave!

Make sure you figure in light vs. medium strings as well as the type of glue used. This could put John Mayes' hereto for excellent voicing DVDs in the obsolete category.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Sounds as if you had a well lubricated lunch Dave

Dave,
After I stopped laughing it became apparent that you really don't have enough to occupy your time and that you need (very much so) to build a guitar or two. Something that is tangible and can focus your more than budding imagination.

Perhaps the aroma of fresh cedar or BRW will bring you back to your senses.....

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Peter

It's all about climate control.

I use dry ice for the backs and sides. It's a much denser air and this helps projection.

For the the top i use humid tropical air as this has more flex to it and is responsive over a greater frequency range, even thought there's some dampening of the sound. I think my air guitars are worth the extra money as i have a bit more hot air than most.

The odd thing about acoustic air guitars, is that when you route the channel for the bindings, it actually improves the tone. I think this has something to do with more air leaking out, and in an air guitar, it's all about air. On my son's guitar (the heir air guitar) we're leaving off the sides entirely and will see what that does.

Rob

what a gas....

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Do be wary of air-guitar psychoacoustics though - it will get you every time.

And while you are at it factor in the effects of using air-hot-hide-glue on your air-guitar and see if you can hear the difference in how the wind blows. Do be sure to avoid eating cabbage when conducting your experiments.

The problem I see with this is that 90%+ of air guitars are electric rather than acoustic, so we would be drawing on only a small amount of experience of the top voicing of an acoustic air guitar, though I doubt that that will stop the 'experts' coming out of the woods.

Much as experienced athletes go through the mental process before an event I can see air voicing as being a great limbering up excercise for the olympic class voicer. Ever seen a top class bobsleigh driver going through the curves before a run?

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

By the way... here's one i am bringing to heraldsburg...


Note the unique soundport...















Rob

the more i build the more i reach for the sky.

Is that an airdarondack top?

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Brad Tucker

When you marketing strategy has hordes of followers drinking your Kool-Aid, will you call them 'airheads'?

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I'll wait for Air-Guitar Hero to come out so that I can play along to songs that only I can hear on my air game console. Its wi-fi enabled, so I can play anywhere, any time. Free, unlimited downloads, too.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Rob this is a GREAT guitar bro - and I really like the sound port too! Very well done!

Colin my friend it may not be a good idea, if in public, for guitar builders to mentally, with some physical augmentation go through the process of voicing a guitar. The hand motions of using finger planes, the tongue sticking out as we try not to drool on our tops, and the action of tapping an imaginary object while listening intently and scowling.......

I have seen people that resemble this walking around the business districts of Ann Arbor after the state closed down the 3,000 resident mental hospital........ I would not wish to join them....... again.......

Due to the current dreary non-weather and long nights all I have to work with is Old Growth Air and Moon Air....

Anyone know the working properties of Air on a G String?

Its all about the strings...

You just MUST have Brazilian G-strings in order to get any quality sound out of them. If you find you cant afford those, then the southern California G-string is next with a close 3rd place on the Southern FLorida G-strings.

Of course you have to have good wood in order to make the strings ring. The wood from young trees brings out the best "woody" tones. My air guitars have that "old growth" woody tone which is hard to come by because the wood is so floppy.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Thanks Hesh! Did i mention that was my FIRST guitar? Wait until number 10!

By the way, i could use some help with a problem. When i try to get a decent chladni pattern, i am using colored corn meal. I thought that i would mainly sprinkle it on the lower bout and not the upper, since that is acoustically dead. The problem is, when i pour it on the bridge area, it falls all over the floor! Should i be using something stickier?

thanks in advance!

Rob

The more air guitars i build, the more i reach for the sky....

G strings - danger Will Robinson........... Man I had better not post what I was thinking........

would that be the only time breaking a g string would bring about a grin?

you need to use light cornmeal

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Brad Tucker

Stop that Brad you are going to bait me into saying what I am thinking and get me banned for life........

Another thing to consider is that Air Guitars are very light weight and might benefit from using Titanium bridge pins

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Dan

Dan wrote:
"Another thing to consider is that Air Guitars are very light weight and might benefit from using Titanium bridge pins"

Actually, since air guitars are as light as they are, you need to use _heavy_ bridge pins. Depleted Uranium pins work best, although Tungsten ones tend to elicit less attention from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and work nearly as well. OTOH, the DU pins make it easier to find your guitar in the dark.

Here fishy fishy.....do strings come in flourescent colors?

Ok, so do Brazilian G strings perform better with stacked heels?

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Brad Tucker

Mine will be based upon the the air and stench found out back of a Mississippi juke joint BBQ pit .. air Dobro, or is that an AirBro, ResonatAir anyone... an absolute must for playin them Blues .... uhhh, mind passin the cornbread ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Mine are far too heavy.

I'm thinking some quartersawn old-growth helium might be go on the next one.

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

...Creating a weak bass with a treble fundamental....