Official Luthiers Forum!

Just kidding of course.

We had a Hauser come in for a spell. Very interesting instrument. Superb craftsmanship, killer tone, lots of innovation, and..... this thing is a cannon too. It also is very light weight but I forgot to weigh it.

Here are some pics for you viewing pleasure:

I thought that would have got the Red Carpet treatment, not just any old offcut....

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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.

We save the red carpet for the really valuable instruments....

Totally cool.

I love a good ice cream cone.

Almost looks like Sycamore. Maple?

Zero fret?



Thanks for sharing it.

I think it's broken though, I keep twisting that big key and it won't play itself.....

Any chance we can get a shot/sketch of the bracing.

Looks like from the 20's - it would be before Segovia... Probably ladder braced.

Thanks.

For a minute I thought you guys converted it to a bolt-on. Cool guitar. Thanks!

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Hi ya John! I'd be happy to make that happen except the guitar went back to it's current steward. Sorry.

Hey Terry! This guitar is a good reminder at least to me that much of it's been done before by the folks who came before us. Hausers are great examples of this idea with all the innovation especially the adjustable neck angle/joint.

Wow, I had no idea they ever used neck joints like that! thanks, Mike

Yep and there's more too such as the cantilevered fret board extension, something we see these days on high-end arch tops.

The guitar sounds like a million bucks too. I was real big on very light weight guitars when I was building believing as I do and did that you ought to be able to make them pretty loud since there is less mass to overcome and get vibrating. Hausers are great example of this notion, this one is a canon and the body depth is not much more than an electric.....

Pretty cool!

Zero fret, obvious sign of a cheap import

Hesh,
So to set the neck angle they just shimmed it some?

And I thought that was a Taylor innovation.

And how about fret markers on a classical? Or maybe it was a gut string model.

Like you said, most of what we think is cutting edge has already been done.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Hey Joe! I'm not sure but I suspect that they shimmed it and that the bolt and turn key were used to remove the neck. But again I'm not sure.

No shims, the neck should pivot at the top of the pocket and be free floating at the back
It's the Stauffer system
I do a similar system on mine but use a strap button/bolt instead of the clock key bolt

Very cool, thanks Jeff!

I was considering doing the same, but I wasn't sure what hardware to use. Are you turning custom buttons on a lathe or are you using store bought ones? What size bolt do you use? Do you have a source for gold/black bolts, or do you use stainless from a hardware store?

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, it looks very much like the Stauffer system, but it also looks like the pivot parts have been removed, making it just a bolt-on. Or did Hauser intend it like that with the clock key to make the neck easily removable...the original travel guitar??? .

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

"It's the Stauffer system"

And quite a bit earlier than Hauser

"make the neck easily removable...the original travel guitar??"

That is how I build my travel guitars, but with a port in the tail block that allows the neck to store inside the body. An added benefit is the action can be adjusted using washers or shims between the heel and body.

It did indeed intrigue me, the lack of any more formal fulcrum system or evidence of one removed, beyond the geometry of the block. Whether intentions may have been for versatile user adjustment or not, if I were to adjust the neck angle with the design on this particular case I would prefer to use shims to ensure solid contact and firm positioning rather than rely on string tension alone to keep the joint taut.

In this case however the angle happened to be fair with the joint fully tight, and we only had the neck removed for convenience of other work, so the joint itself didn't get much focus.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

"That is how I build my travel guitars, but with a port in the tail block that allows the neck to store inside the body. An added benefit is the action can be adjusted using washers or shims between the heel and body."

Cool, how about some pics please?

The adjustable neck joint is traditional on Eastern Europen guitars... Many factory built Russian and Ukranian guitars are still made this way

The main issue is the stability and flexibility of the adjustable neck joint. There were several prominent Russian guitarists who stuffed thick Bakelite combs under the fretboard extensions in an effort to keep the necks from shifting around during play.

That's probably why Hauser made the joint bolt on but non-adjustable without further intervention. The clock key is then simply a tool to dismount or reinstall the neck.

It seems like a fairly good compromise.

Thanks

Egmonds (a real cheap import from the Netherlands) had the same adjustable neck in the 1960's.

I had a cheap guitar made in South Africa from the 70's with a similar type of neck adjustment. I think that one went in to the bonfire.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

It may have had a pivot strip at the top originally but many did not (I use one)
If it need to be locked solid for a decent action, I suspect this is the result of either having a pivot strip removed or the effects of body distortion over the years. Depending on how the intonation is a pivot strip could be added or the heel cut away at the back to restore tilting ability.

rlrhett, I use a 6mm thread button head head stainless screw with allen socket
I grind the head down to 9.5mm diameter and set the screw into a small block of wood with CA then turn it down to a strap button shape. It is adjustable without tools by pulling the neck back to take off string tension.