Official Luthiers Forum!

I just finished these two and will be sending them off to their new owner this week.
Thought I would share some photos.

These were commissioned to see what effect wood choice really has on tone.
So here are two, nearly identical, instuments built from contasting woods.

One is Adi/cocobolo
The other redwood/claro walnut

They are each adorned with abolone shell and flamed maple.

I incorporated an adjustble neck design into these builds. Also unique are the truss rod covers which are held down with rare earth magnets.

The tops were tuned using chladni testing methods and are nearly identical in their response patterns and resonant frequencies.

I am amazed at how close the tone sounds on these two. The adi is slightly more punchy and the redwood deomonstrates more warmth, but overall, they sound VERY similar. To me, it demonstrates that tone is very much a factor of how an instrument is built with a little characteristic of the wood thrown in. As opposed to the other way around, which is how many people view guitar woods.


Here are some photos.
Enjoy,

Dave

Gorgeous Dave ....beautiful woods & execution. Love the bling!

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Dave
Milton, ON

Wow, great job! Really interesting to hear that they have such similar tones. They look stunning.

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Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au

nice looking guitars!!

GOODNESS!
Those two look good enough to eat!
YUMMY!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That's a nice pair.
Very interesting about the sounds being similar, just coloured a bit by the woods used, that's what most experienced makers say

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

WOW those are beautiful!!!

Dang.

Can you provide some more info/pics about the adjustable neck joint?

Beautiful work. Lots O bling!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Really nice, Dave! Beautiful and tasteful!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

The adjustable neck was based on designs of Mike Doolin and Dave DeFoite.
In simple terms, the heel was let into the sides, as opposed to resting on the sides like traditional builds. There are three contact points, made from 1/4" set screws that the heel bears down on. If adjustments are needed, the main bolts are loosened, set screws adjusted, then the bolts are tightened again.

I really need to figure out how to make it adjustable from outside the soundhole, but haven't gone there yet.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures.

Thanks again for the comments.

Dave