Tim’s final guitar will be more “standard” from a scale perspective but its electronics and amplification will be significantly more elaborate. The instrument will include internal mic’ing and piezo elements both inside the body and top of the instrument topped off with a Roland GK3 pick-up – all designed bring out Tim`s studio sound in his live performances.

Rick took this opportunity to take a “green” approach to this prototype when he salvaged the neck from the original Equinox build. It had a chip near the back headpiece area but Rick cut it wider and filled it in with epoxy and purple heart dust.

Specs

Custom Tim Miller Model – 30″ extended scale guitar
Tuned to C or C# with a set of D`Addario .010 – .46`s
6lbs. 14 oz.

Guitar Body

• Custom ergonomic hollow body design
• Engleman Spruce top – a wood also used for its resonant qualities in piano sounding boards and violins.
• Honduras Mahogany core with integrated “S” brace
• Curly maple back
• Reed James custom wound low output passive A2 pick-ups
• Bondy hardtail bridge
• 2-CTS 250k pots for volume and tone
• Single mini 3-way switch (Bridge- Both – Neck
• Oval sound hole
• Flush mounted strap locks and output jack
• Gloss finish

Extended Scale Neck

• 26 medium frets
• Purpleheart fretboard
• Curly maple back
• Canton extended heel design
• Steinberger headpiece & string adapter
• 2 way truss rod
• Mother of Pearl side dots
• Oil finish

And finally, here’s a walk around the guitar – something I’d like to see more custom builders provide.

Many current attempts at redefining the guitar focus on the use of modern electronics. And while the Chameleon Guitar doesn’t shun this approach, it starts with analog roots. It begins with wood – that magical material at the heart of our most beloved instruments.

Interchangeable soundboards contain piezo pickups which provide an acoustic source for sound modeling. Various woods and bracing techniques have been tested and fed to the modeling engine which can also model guitars of various sizes and shapes.

With this level of diversity, Amit sees the Chameleon Guitar as a tool for the professional musician. Rather than depending on multitude of instruments, the recording or gigging player would have an array of sounds at his or her disposal simply by changing sound boards built from different tone woods. Still a thesis project, Amit is working toward a commercial model down the road.

Overall, its an interesting idea with possible applications in bass and other electric stringed instruments. But it remains to be seen whether this latest attempt at redefining the future of guitar will take off.

Making the Guitar Body

Made of black limba with a beautiful quilted maple top, Vance describes the body as “somewhere between a Klein guitar on top and a ‘sitting friendly’ design that Aaron and I came up with for our first guitar which worked out VERY VERY well – better than the Klein I used to have, IMHO.”

Key to the instrument’s seated position is its placement on the left leg instead of the standard right leg position. Vance thinks “the angle of the instrument is absolutely divine while seated this way.”

Its builder describes how he came up with the shape:

Basically, Vance wanted the instrument to fit him the way he prefers to sit and the way he stands. I took tape measure cardboard and duct tape as well as life size cut-outs of a Klein and had Vance sit down so that I could fit him. I then did my best to achieve the proper weight, carves and balancing point.

Strat Width Neck Meets Steinberger Trem

The Moses Graphite neck is based on their Baritone Strat replacement neck which means it’s as wide as a Strat at the nut. Vance prefers this to the standard headless neck which he describes as “VERY VERY thin at the nut…so much so that I find them nearly unplayable.”

A unique feature is its use of both a Moses Headless nut (which accepts double ball end strings and regular strings) AND a Floyd Rose locking mechanism. It’s to facilitate a technique of Vance’s:

I have developed a technique in which I use the Floyd Rose locking system to attach a metal dowel to the neck of the instrument, which I then bow, creating very eerie and ethereal harmonics which shimmer down the strings and into the pickups. This is a technique I devised while using a ‘normal’ guitar and wanted to maintain the ability to perform this way with this new instrument.

That said, I can remove the locking pieces from the Floyd nut and it becomes a “normal” nut right away. Tuning stability is excellent on this instrument.

At the other end is the XS-Trem – a remake of the Steinberger S-Trem. Vance describes it as having very smooth travel and finds it effortless compared to a Floyd or Wilkinson bridge.

Sonic Diversity

The choice of electronics is quite unique ranging from a Alumitone pickups in the bridge and middle positions, a Sustainiac in the neck and a Roland GK-3:

Two of the knobs control the instrument volume and the Sustainiac mode and gain (both are Push/Pull). The other two knobs are a rotary 6 position pickup selection (Neck, Neck-Center, Center, Center-Bridge, Bridge, All) and Roland GK volume. The instrument also features a Roland GK-3 internally mounted. The two switches for the GK-3 (which can be assigned in the VG-99 or other devices to send just about any MIDI command or to select pickups or…well, just about ANYthing) are located very near the strings.

It appears in photos that these would be easy to accidentally bump but many, many experiments have born out my assertion that fingers will pass over these (VERY low profile) buttons while strumming and picking the instrument. Placing the buttons here makes it very easy to access them while playing. I map them to delay triggers on some of the custom plugins that I write, creating an effect where I can quickly tap in a delay repeat pattern (Not just tempo) that matches the song I am playing. Endless fun there. Straplocks keep everything in place.

Finally, while ergonomic instruments aren’t his main focus, Aaron Andrews did share this:

I can’t say that it is my primary thrust as a luthier but I have and continue to keep my customer’s needs foremost in my endeavor, so long as it is within me to serve. That said, I was fascinated with the Klein when I first saw it in Guitar Player magazine when I was too young and too poor to even dream of it. Gotta say though, I did have a love affair with an Ovation Breadwinner!

Composite Guitar Body

Compared to the GL’s 7.25 lb, the LBG Carbon Graphite Guitar is a light weight at a mere 4.5 lbs. That’s a huge difference in weight you’ll welcome during those long sets. The LBG accomplishes this weight loss with a hollow body composite back topped with a face plate.

Note that the hollow body approach was not done for acoustics and the face plate is there simply to hold the controls and pickups. In fact, the face plate could be wood instead.

Also relevant is the guitar body’s departure from the original Steinberger GL’s broom shape. A key functional element is the introduction of a thigh rest into the design thus eliminating the kick out leg rest.

The current finish contains a series of triangles that appear and disappear under the light. Being a matter of taste, I asked Jon about the finish. He stated that the graphite guitars “are easy to finish using any paint, so they could be black, white, red, blue, whatever.”

Graphite vs. Wood Construction

The LBG’s composite construction results in the same advantages seen in other carbon graphite instruments:

• Physically tough
• Largely unaffected by temperatures and humidity
• Light weight

The result is a travel friendly, road ready instrument that retains its tuning under even adverse conditions.

The only wood found in the instrument is its rosewood fingerboard.

Mini Review

The first guitarist to purchase one of the LBG’s is “sutainjapan” from the Steinberger World Yahoo Groups. Here are some highlights from his Monday, October 20, 2008 mini review:

Construction quality:

The graphite composite quality is up to my expectation as is the clear coat finish. Fingerboard and frets are good, too.

Sound quality:

The sound of the guitar is exactly what I expected from a graphite guitar with less body thickness than GLs. Clear, focused and airy, and louder than any of my Steinbergers when played unplugged. I attributes this to the fixed bridge to a certain extent but not all, as I’ve found that the basic character of the sound is not changed when the bridge is swapped with T-trem.

For more visit Jon Bondy’s page on the LBG.

First up, the requisite front view reveals the hand bent spalted maple top and the use of a Steinberger Trans Trem Type 2 tremolo bridge. Note the purpleheart pickup rings and the Macassar Ebony bobbins:

Here we see the Honduran mahogany body with its purpleheart stripe and a good view of Rick’s extensive contouring of the heel area. The sculpting improves access to the Steinberger 5 bolt neck:

Another great shot revealing more of Rick’s sculpting of the body:

A great view showing the belly contour:

Here’s the electronics round up:

• 2 Reed James Custom wound A2 low output passive pickups
• CTS 500k Volume pot
• CTS 250k Tone pot
• Mini 3-way switch
• Flush mounted modern Tele style output jack

Rick is only building a limited run of these Klein variations and then returning his focus to his original designs. For examples of Rick’s work, take a look at these previously featured instruments:

• Canton Custom Guitars Ergo 2 Complete
• Mini Gordo Midi Guitar

Here we start to see the extensive contouring that went into the midi guitar’s back:

As we rotate the instrument, we see a highly sculpted neck heel that combine with the body’s deep cutaways to provide excellent upper fret access.

Stephen describes “access to the upper frets as effortless relative to the Brian Moore 8.13 I was using as my main axe prior to the Gordo.”

More of the lovely work on the neck heel and a nice view of the figuring on the curly mahogany body:

Here’s a closer look at the Purpleheart wood 13 pin jack plate and the use of the previously featured Bondy fixed bridge based on the Steinberger bridge.

Stephen had this very interesting observation about playing an instrument this lightweight:

The guitar is so light (around 4.5 pounds) and it’s back so highly contoured that the guitar does not feel “anchored” in place. It seems more like it is floating. Since very little of the Gordo’s back actually contacts one’s body (much less friction), adjusting the playing angle in a fluid way as one moves in space seems effortless. It feels more like I am finding a natural playing position than a “correct” one. Of course, maybe they are the same. With the Gordo, I don’t need to think about it. I play and it responds and finds balance.

In Stephen’s final analysis, “this is a beautiful, easily portable (fits in a Ritter GL gig bag) and highly playable instrument.” Sounds like one very happy customer.

Listen to the Mini Gordo Midi Guitar in Action in our forums.

Poplar Guitar Body Meets Tele Neck

MCWAV opted for a straightforward configuration influenced by the Tele Esquire. Included are a single bridge pickup, a vintage style 3 saddle bridge and a 21 fret Fender Genuine Replacement Tele neck.

Here’s a look at the back of the guitar:

The guitar body is made from a 2 piece poplar blank. While we haven’t seen a lot of poplar use in previously featured projects, it’s far from uncommon and sees use in both guitars and basses. It grows throughout the eastern United States and is easy to work with – the latter a consideration when first venturing into making instruments.

Like most guitars or basses designed with ergonomics in mind, the seated playing position was a key element in arriving at an appropriate shape.

Here is the guitar positioned over the right leg and akin to the casual playing position:

Here is the guitar sitting on the left leg:

In either case, the guitar sits well and allows the guitarist to sit in a relaxed position without the contortions many guitars require to achieve an appropriate playing position. Nicely done.

Continuing the theme, the instrument’s wiring was also influenced by the Tele Esquire and includes a tele style switch plate, knobs and switch.

So what does MCWAV think of it so far? He noted that he’s been playing it daily and really enjoying the comfort it provides. And while some of his friends may think it looks odd, we know better. After all, beauty is as beauty does.

If you recall, it combines a figured ash top with swamp ash back and sides and weighs under 5 lbs. Click the picture to get a closer look.

Now for the back where you can see the attention to making the neck heel unobtrusive. Go ahead – click it.

A notable difference over other versions is the use of the stock ABM bridge rather than a Tune-o-matic. As Chris indicated in comments in the previous article, “it has a little more metal and sits flat on the body more like a Fender bridge”.

Bamboo Guitar Neck

Inspired by a fellow player’s fretless baritone guitar, guitar and sarod player Mustafa Stefan Dill had the laminated neck made from compressed bamboo – an eco-friendly alternative to more traditional woods. (See the guitar forum thread Building Guitars with Sustainable Woods for a couple of examples of electric and acoustic guitars with bamboo bodies.)

The fretless fingerboard is 6063 aluminum, sanded to 1500 grit, polished with Simichrome and then hard anodized in black.

A two way truss rod and Steinberger head piece with single ball string adapter complete the neck.

Chambered Guitar Body

The ribbon sapele chambered guitar body is matched up with a curly maple top – a beautiful combination of woods. While you’re looking at the sapele figuring take note of the careful attention given to the heel contour where body and neck come together. Canton also includes another nice little detail by recessing the Straplocks. One of them is visible above the four bolts securing the neck.

Finally, a Bondy hardtail headless bridge takes care of things down below with Seymour Duncan P-Rails handling pickup duties.

According to guitar maker Rick Canton,

Stephen’s intention for this guitar was to have an elegant, sleek guitar while being simple yet powerful. He also wanted a travel friendly guitar due to his traveling schedule so this new model fit perfectly for him. Stephen aptly named it the Mini Gordo.

The Mini Gordo specs include:

• Roland GK-3 Guitar Pickup Internal Kit
• Moses graphite neck
• Curly mahogany solid body
• Bondy Hardtail Bridge
• Purpleheart 13 pin jack plate

And at a mere 4lbs 8oz, this compact instrument is just the thing for protecting your back on those long, late night gigs.

For more, check out the follow up article, Mini Gordo Guitar Revisited as well as the forum post Mini Gordo Midi Guitar in Action where you can listen to an original composition played on the midi instrument.

Eric found that while it had a really nice 24 3/4″ scale neck, the single pickup was somewhat limiting though still usable. He notes:

I immediately started modifying it – first I put a switch for coil tapping. Then I made a custom jack housing. But it was never all that comfortable to play sitting down. So after my Klein experience, I constructed a fold-out leg support and then a new bolt-on arm rest.

Although the Speedster Travel Guitar comes with an arm rest, it’s rather small so Eric came up with the larger replacement seen to the left of the factory arm rest.

And here it is with its leg support deployed:

For you experimenters out there, Eric suggests that…

this approach might be a good one for people to inexpensively try out ergonomic ideas, as the Speedster, even new, isn’t all that expensive and the modifications are much easier than constructing a whole instrument.

You could take a similar approach with a Hohner G3T Headless Guitar – the licensed copy of the original Steinberger broom electric guitar.

That reminds me. I have the two pick up version, the Hohner G2T, laying around here somewhere…

According to the site, these changes include an enlarged lower body scoop and a redesigned sculpted neck heel area.

Also noteworthy is the use of two fret sizes. Medium jumbo frets are used for frets 1-24 and skinny tall frets are used from 24-36 in order to “achieve better fret spacing in the hyper range.”

The Turbulence also retains the removeable left leg rest unit which you can see used to excellent effect in this video clip of Livio Lamonea playing Dream Theater’s Another Day solo. Note the guitarist’s relaxed and neutral sitting position.

The Delta Wing and its offshoots make for an unusual design that could make some inroads with the rock and rock fusion crowd.

The Canton Klein guitar body is a hollow body with alder back and flamed maple top. It’s just a bit thicker than 2″ with a small belly contour and more heel contouring than the original Klein.

According to Tats…

All the parts are from a Steinberger GLB2S. I love the natural wood grain look so the finish is clear nitro-laquer with no pickguard. The controls are – volume pot, tone pot and selector switch – placed in a horizontal line (the original Klein has the select switch at its pickguard under the neck pickup). The body doesn’t have the center-block so the sound is really deep. But I thought the power of EMG85s would kill its acoustical elements so now I think them to be replaced more jazz like passive pickups… like benedetto’s B6 etc. I use D’aquisto flatwound strings with the string adapter. Total weight is under 8 pounds.

The result: A Lovely Jazz Guitar!

Note how the black ABM hardware really stands out against the gorgeous redwood top.

Rather than go with the standard front sound holes, owner Mike Friedman opted for sound holes or ports in the top bout. The idea came from Adrian Legg ‘s Custom Guitar which you can see Adrian play in this video as well as this Homespun Tapes instructional video.

I sure hope we get a chance to hear this one. Chris says it sounds great.

Update: Check out the MP3 files and hear how the Redwood Forshage guitar sounds!

Hip Hole

Yes that’s right – the hip hole is a functional element on the Dove electrical guitar. In his article Hip Hole, Rick points out how many guitars hit the pelvis at the Illiac crest – a spot which is even more pronounced on a woman’s anatomy. To accommodate this, Rick created a cavity in the back and then continued it through the front of the body and thus made it an aesthetic feature as well.

Rick also reports an added benefit of the hip hole in that “it’s more comfortable for the strum/pluck hand as the hole floats the wristbone while still offering support and guidance.”

Alumitone Pickups

The Dove is slated to use Alumitone pickups with a single coil in the neck position and a humbucker in the bridge position. These caught my interest a while ago when I heard they are dramatically lighter than conventional pickups. No word yet on how they sound but Rick confirms that they are indeed light weight.

Trapezoidal Guitar Neck

The Dove will be the first guitar to include the trapezoidal profile neck first seen on the Orchid bass. It’s an inventive approach and Rick covers the concept in detail in the following articles:

• Trapezoidal Neck Profile
• Asymmetrical Trapezoidal Neck Profile

More to Come

Other interesting elements of the Dove include fanned frets and a sustainable approach to materials and finish. More details to come as the Dove evolves.

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License

A Short Scale Neck Meets a Klein-style Guitar Body

Using an image of the wider Klein harp guitar as a starting point, the two created a styrofoam template and then removed material from the upper bout until it was “more natural and pleasant” to play with a “straight back and balanced shoulders.”

The short scale neck is thinner than a Les Paul’s and Josemi states that upper fret “access is easier than in any other guitar i have ever tried.” However, he’ll be reshaping the heel further to gain even better access to the higher frets. Then he’ll finish the neck in a glossy varnish.

Bridge and tuning hardware is handled by a Tune-o-matic bridge, a Schaller Fine-tuning Tailpiece and Wilkinson EZ-Lock tuners.

I was curious how the addition of a headstock would impact the Klein based design and Josemi felt “the instrument’s balance is good playing sitting and standing” despite the headstock. He felt the combination of the neck’s short scale, heavy hardware and pickups helped offset the headstock.

The resulting guitar weighs 3 kg or 6.6 lb. By comparison an American Standard Strat he owns weighs roughly 3.5 kg or 7.7 lb. Overall its a nice weight savings.

Electronics and Wiring

Josemi used the now discontinued Tonerider Alnico2 vintage spec pickups which he considers “incredible pickups. I have them installed on other guitars, and always get incredible tone and dynamics.” These particular pickups have four conductors and are wired with an EYB “type E” switch resulting in the following combinations:

• 1 – neck humbucker
• 2-neck single
• 3- bridge + neck single
• 4-bridge single
• 5-bridge humbucker

How does it sound?

Outfitted with a Pyramid nickel .011 string set and intended primarily for jazz, Josemi describes the alder body electric guitar’s sound as follows:

“very rounded: no booming bass, very defined mids and silky soft like butter highs. All positions are usable, pleasant and balanced. Position one gives a jazzy horn-like tone that everybody who hears falls in love with instantly.

I’m very very pleased with its feel and tone, very easy to play. I’m so satisfied with it, that I just don’t want to play my other guitars (guess they are jealous now ha ha!)

Joserra is also working on another guitar build with a different shape, neck, hardware and pickups. I’m looking forward to it.

This one is made with a flamed ash top and swamp ash back and sides. Add the original’s ergo features to an instrument that weighs under 5 bs and you have a real winner whether you play seated or standing.

UPDATE: See the completed guitar – Forshage Thinline Tele Guitar

The full size plan drawings are in a single Acrobat PDF file and contain plenty of detail for anyone interested in building Romano’s guitar body. It “assumes a 1 and 3/4″ thick blank and is currently designed for a Telecaster heel on the neck. If a strat type neck is used the pocket would need to be modified.”

To download the plans, right click on the link below and choose to save:

Romano Zambon Electric Guitar Plan – 46 KB

For those who’ve seen my first guitar project, you’ll see a similar approach in that Romano focuses on building the guitar body rather than adding the complication of building a neck. I think this is a great approach for first time guitar builders. It provides plenty of opportunity for creativity while eliminating the most complex part of making a guitar – the neck. And by opting for a Tele heeled neck rather than a Steinberger neck, Romano greatly expanded his choices.

Romano’s other departure from a Steinberger based solution is in the tuning department. Inspired by Scott French’s alternative headless guitar tuning approach, Romano used Steinberger tuners mounted in the guitar body mated with a small stub “headstock” and a tune-o-matic or TOM style bridge. Again, this opens up additional alternatives for the guitar builder. Steinberger tuners could be replaced with banjo style tuners, a tune-o-matic bridge could easily include piezo pickups, etc.

Overall, it’s a wonderful project and an approach with a lot of advantages – particularly for the guitar builder looking to experiment. Thanks Romano!

Thinking out the Guitar Build

We begin with Romano talking us through considerations leading up to building his guitar:

I came across your site about a year ago and was intrigued by the Klein guitar. I remember them from the 80′s but did not give them much thought at the time.

Clearly trying out a Klein today is not an option so I started to do some research and decided it may be feasible for me to build my own body. I thought about going the Steinberger route for parts but I really dislike the skinny necks and I wanted to be able to use regular strings. Then I saw the Scott French design and felt that was a very elegant solution.

My original idea was to marry the Klein shape to the Scott French bridge/headpiece solution. I did not necessarily want to copy it verbatim but I did use it as a starting point. So I began making cardboard mockups. The first thing I noticed is that the Klein was really WIDE and the upper bout actually got in my way. I modified the bout and removed some more material where the body contacted my ribcage. I also wanted to keep the width just below 14″ so I could use an off-the-shelf alder guitar blank.

Preparation for Making the Guitar Body

Romano then set out preparing for the actual work which included studying the process of building a guitar, buying tools and coming up with templates:

I read your build guide and Building Electric Guitars by Martin Koch. Now I had to buy tools ($$$) and I ended up getting the same Dewalt router (nice router BTW). However I simply did not have room for a bandsaw so I had to make due with a jigsaw.

After about a dozen cardboard mockups I built a set of templates out of 1/4″ MDF and then used those to route out working templates from 3/4″ MDF. I first tried building a “practice body” out of some cheaper pine and I am glad I did as I would have ruined the alder. After that I made some changes to the template and my technique and started on the alder blank. It took a few weeks as I could not work on it every night.

The Guitar Neck

Because thinner necks like the Steinberger’s cramp his hands, he chose a USA Custom Guitars 25.5″ scale neck, .860″ thick at the first fret with a 1 11/16″ nut width. A paddle headstock gave him the necessary material to shape as needed.

He prepared the conventional neck for “headless” use by cutting out the mini headstock and pressing string through ferrules through both sides. The neck was also converted to a true bolt on neck with the use of 10-32 stainless inserts and bolts. A Schaller TOM bridge and body mounted Steinberger tuners completed the headless tuning solution.

Finishing the Guitar

Everything was finished with Minwax Wipe On Poly – an idea he got from builders over at the Telecaster Guitar Forum. Romano commented that “it goes on easy, no streaks or runs and I get a really nice smooth satin finish. Best part is it is the simplest finish I have ever done.”

Electronics

GFS blade pickups from Guitarfetish.com were put to the task – GFS Lil Killer bridge (15K) and neck (6K) Strat rails. Preferring the sound of single coils over humbuckers, he finds these give him that “Fender snap with slightly fuller, warmer tone.”

A nice touch is the .040″ steel control cavity cover plate held in place by 1/4″ magnets in the body. This setup “worked out really well as it’s easier to pop the cover off and I don’t have to deal with unsightly screws.”

Results

Romano tells me he’s “very happy with how it came out. I had very little woodworking experience and this was the first time I used a router.” And after only a few days of playing, “it has become my favorite. Now when I pick up my Telecaster it feels alien to me (It’s getting jealous). I have not weighed it yet but it is considerably lighter than my Tele.”

He plans to play it for 6-12 months before turning his sights on his next guitar project for which he already has ideas for improvement.

Equinox 2 Electric Guitar

The guitar body, goncalo alves mated with a bookmatched curly maple top, now sports a Danish Oil finish resulting in a very warm looking instrument:

For comparison, here’s the original template:

Guitar Contours

Rick spent a great deal of time carving the Equinox’s contours and the following shots really show these off. I love the way the top and back woods come together. You can also see the recessed strap lock button and the output jack locations.

Rear View

Note the back contouring and the sculpted neck heel. You can also make out the recessed upper strap lock button:

Electronics

• CTS 500k volume pot
• CTS 250k tone pot
• .022 polypropylene and metal foil capacitor
• 2 mini on/off/on switch both wired for Humbucker/off/Single coil
• Seymour Duncan Jazz Neck at the neck position
• Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro at the bridge position

How does it sound?

Rick indicated that he’s “still experimenting with the caps and pots but so far it yields very bold warm and clear jazz tones with a hint of 335 and nice Strat variations.”

Any chance of a video, Rick?

Mr. Canton on the instrument:

I decided to go further with the rounding of the edges to see what both designs looked like. I also thinned out the top horn and created some more contouring there as well. Also note the output jack location. Right now the fret work needs to be completed and some fine shaping with sandpaper here and there. Next week I will be starting to add oil coats for finish, then it will see final assembly.

The resulting guitar is just beautiful IMHO and I like the contrast created by the front’s sharper edges and the back’s softer organic look.

Note the highly sculpted heel on the guitar’s bolt on neck. The extended heel on the neck reaches far into the guitar body which explains the unusual bolt pattern.

Lovely. I can’t wait to see the finished guitar.

And so, here is Al Shaffer describing a recording session with his jazz group “The Three Halos” and a restaurant’s “guitar night” with a local jazz musician playing the Koll.

The Three Halos Recording Session

The trio is “The Three Halos” and I focus mainly on an NS Designs WAV4 Electric Upright Bass and sometimes a Steinberger XM fretless bass guitar. My guitarist wanted to check the Koll out so I brought it for him to play. We actually never got around to using it through the afternoon.

At the end of the session we decided to record an improvisation with myself on the Koll and the guitarist on his chambered swamp ash Klein along with our drummer. I played it directly through my Hartke HA2500 amp and HCX 115 cabinet, no effects at all. I didn’t think it would sound very good through the bass rig, but was surprised how well the seven string worked with a bass amp. I have a set of heavy flatwound strings on the Koll and was able to think both as a guitarist and a bass player with the combination.

This was really the first time I played it at any volume or with any other musicians. I felt very good playing in this environment and the multi-scale fretboard was never an issue. I had been having trouble with the seventh string when playing the guitar at home, but that disappeared in this situation. I think that the single coil pickup had a very unique sound and covered the range of the guitar beautifully.

If you will note in the video (seen below), I do not always have the guitar in its proper position as I am seated and I found that to be a bit uncomfortable. My Kleins always seem to sit correctly when I am seated.

From the session, here are Al Shaffer on the Koll, Joel Knispel on guitar and Marshall Hughey on drums:

Guitar Night

The other outing with the Koll was taking it to a “guitar night” at a restaurant hosted by a very good local jazz guitarist, who is also a Benedetto dealer. I had called him up and asked him if he would be
interested in trying out a seven string headless guitar and he was up for it. He did look rather oddly at it when I took it out, but did not seem put off. He played it for the entire first set of mostly jazz standards. He was playing through an AER Compact 60/2 (which sounded great!).

His remarks afterwards were that he had a bit of trouble with the seventh string and that he stuck mainly to the 5th to 9th fret positions because he had some worry with finger position at the more “fanned” higher areas of the fretboard. I do believe that given more time he would have been completely comfortable with the fretboard. All in all I think he enjoyed the experience and was definitely interested in Saul Koll’s work.

Upcoming Canton Electric Guitar

Al also noted that guitar builder Rick Canton is making him an ergonomic electric guitar with a similar multi-scale fretboard.

Rick is hard at work on several models so expect to hear more.

Many thanks to Al Shaffer for feedback on this truly unique instrument by Saul Koll.

Mike on his search for the right instrument:

I wanted a guitar like this for some time but did not know where to get one or if anyone would make it. The Klein seemed like a good choice and a number of players whom I admired played them but I have been playing amplified, small bodied acoustics and I wanted a hollow or semi hollow guitar. So to make a long story even longer.. web searches led me to your blog and it was here I learned of Forshage. Great but where to test drive one? I e-mailed Joe Giglio without so much as a common acquaintance or letter of introduction and he most graciously invited me to play his. I cannot relate how much of a kindness he showed to me and my son when we visited him; he is a gentleman and a hell of a player.

And so, Mike ordered himself a Forshage ergo electric guitar which is in its final stages of construction.

Guitar Specs:

• Redwood top and mahogany back guitar body
• H-S-H Barden pickups with Duo Tone humbuckers
• 25″ scale maple neck with ebony fretboard
• ABM headless bridge system

No Sound Holes?

Chris custom builds his guitars and this instrument is no exception. Mike came up with the idea of porting the upper bout rather than go with the traditional sound holes on the front.

Mike on porting the upper bout:

Instead, I thought that instead of a sound hole, why not port the upper bout; I saw something similar on Adrian Legg’s guitar. I noticed some time ago on an acoustic I had with a preamp in the bout that it sounded better to me when the hatch was opened. Some other makers do this too.

Wrap Up

Mike’s very excited about his redwood topped electric guitar and we can look forward to further updates once the instrument is completed. Thanks for sharing Mike!

Guitar Body

The chambered goncalo alves guitar body has changed a bit but it’s still clearly Model #2 from the original article. It’s paired up with a bookmatched curly maple top:

These next two shots give you an idea of the body contouring.

First a view from the neck:

Next a side view:

Extended Heel Neck

The Canton guitar neck includes several interesting features including a 4 bolt extended heel design that reaches far into the guitar body.

And here are its specs:

• Curly maple with rosewood/curly maple heel laminates
• Figured bubinga 25.5″ scale fretboard with 20″ radius
• Zero fret – stainless steel jumbo
• Frets 1-16 – stainless steel medium
• Frets 17-24 – stainless steel small
• 2 graphite stabilizer bars
• 2 way truss rod
• Steinberger top load headpiece

Note the use of three different sized frets which Rick describes as follows:

The 2 (actually intentionally 3 with the jumbo -0- fret) allows for lower action. There is also a feeling of “more room” when holding a chord or running a scale at the higher registers with the fret layout.

I also sanded the fretboard’s 20″ radius thinner at the higher registers. The fretboards thickness goes from 1/4″ at the -0-n fret evenly tapering to just over 1/8″ at the 24th fret. This, coupled with the fret sizes, allows for closer action.

Bridge and Electronics

Rick will be using the Bondy hardtail bridge. You can read more about it in Owner Feedback on the Bondy Guitar Bridge.

Electronics and circuit layout are TBD but the pickups will be some type of humbucker.

More to follow so stay tuned…

The Guitar Body Plan

Eric generated full scale plans of the front and back of the guitar body and very generously made these available in Adobe Acrobat format for our readers. Here’s a preview of page 1 of the plan:

To download the plans, right click on the link below and choose to save:

Klein Electric Guitar Copy Plan.pdf – 366 KB

The Finished Guitar

The finished instrument features a primavera guitar body, a fanned fret maple neck and a fixed headless tuner solution of Eric’s design:

Lace Alumitone pickups are matched with a 5 position blade switch.

The Tuning Tailpiece

Eric’s tuner solution takes a number of off-the-shelf parts and transforms them into a tuning tailpiece or tailstop. Combining a Schaller roller bridge and a headpiece of extruded aluminum angle, it’s effective and lightweight. If you’re willing to forgo a tremolo bridge, the 2.6 oz roller bridge and 6 oz tuning tailpiece are a featherweight combination compared to the almost 1.5 lb Steinberger R-trem bridge.

For those interested in studying the tuning tailpiece further, right click on the link below and choose to save the six page PDF file:

Tuning Tailstop.pdf – 1.08 MB

Eric’s drawings cover everything you need to know to assemble one of your own and it looks good. I can certainly see myself considering it for a future guitar build.

Many thanks to Eric for sharing his build and his tuning solution!