Building the Ergonomic Guitar

EDITOR’S NOTE: I am hosting a visitor at the end of July. Ola Strandberg is flying over from Sweden for several days of collaboration and transatlantic cross-cultural design pollination. Mayhem. Chaos.

The world of lutherie may never be the same.

Ola and I have never met. Just online. But deep in the Design & Technology Exchange we started floating ideas and dreaming toward the future of headless instrument tuning systems. Some powerful new concepts emerged.

Then an email landed in my mailbox: “Want to work in person?”

Financial Ecosystems

Why is this significant?

I like to frequently make comparisons to biology. Nature is the ultimate designer, substances, shapes or systems.

Spider silk has one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any material on our planet. Exceeds our best leading edge polymer fiber technology. And it is created on demand from chemicals in a spider abdomen.

Have you ever studied mature single stem plants like grasses or weeds? Tubular stalks less than 0.125″ in diameter easily support structures easily 36″ in height, with flexibility and resilience. Even in rain and wind.

What would that look like on the scale of a building?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the relationship between economics and ecosystems. It seems to me a parallel can be drawn between free market capitalism and the biodiversity found in a healthy ecosystem.

Ecosystems (and economics) seem incredibly complicated. Maybe they are, when considered as a whole. But really, both are a series of individual transactions. Many transactions. All happening at once.

Following simple principles:

Each individual seeks to thrive
Strategies include competition or collaboration
Transaction opportunities are nearly unlimited
Change is constant
Adapt or die

In a forest, we notice the tall trees. But they are just one link in a system. They absorb unfiltered sunlight, provide shadow for shade tolerant species below. Animals, insects, feed on the plants, and each other. Everything grows, dies, rots. The dead matter is recycled by living organisms, providing fertile soil to repeat process.

Nothing is wasted.

These same principles apply to musical instrument economics.

Fender, Gibson, Martin absorb unfiltered light. But Steinberger, Parker and Taylor grow in their shade. Myriad others fill other niches ever smaller to those of us who build only a few instruments per year. New, used and vintage. And each instrument is a series of components: bridges, pickups, potentiometers, screws, strings and cases.

eLUTHERIE.org is fertile soil. And a financial ecosystem.

Micro-Partnerships

I would like to introduce a new term: micro-partnership.

micropartnership two or more individuals collaborating to form a symbiotic relationship.

Ola Strandberg and I are going to team up to design and build the next generation tremolo system for headless instruments. We will each contribute ideas and expertise. Build and refine a prototype. Sell premium quality semi-custom bridge sets through eLUTHERIE.org. License the concept to “tall tree” builders who are interested. That’s the plan.

Small gets big.

This can happen with incredible speed. On any scale. In many directions at once. Multiple tiny partnerships between inventors, experts and investors leading to income stream diversification which I think is a powerful business model during global financial change.

Trickles of water eventually form an ocean.

Trust

We exchange “currency” online, in the form of trust. Trust is far more valuable than money. Trust allows us to collaborate, which leads to greater opportunity.

This is what I’ve noticed from my experiences:

a. Trust is always earned, never given
b. Trust requires both time and multiple interactions
c. Trust is built via participation and generosity
d. Trust requires honesty, communication and clear expectations
e. Trust requires consistency

Trust can also be lost in an instant.
The web is 360 degrees 24/7.
Truth will out.

If you want eLUTHERIE.org to work for you, my suggestion would be to participate. Share your knowledge via comments, write an article or join us in the Design & Technology Exchange. Build relationships and trust.

We’re here to help:

Central location to meet and partner with innovative thinkers
Permission to use other inventors’ technology
Secure private space for collaboration
Archives for research and data storage
Dedicated server with backups
Marketplace to sell to a focused audience

Most importantly you always retain control over how others use your ideas.