Official Luthiers Forum!

Just thought I would let every one know I thought it was worth reading two more times,

if thought attrib was not obvious,,

It is poetic though maybe I should post it elsewhere with atribb make people think you have turned a little mellow.

I was going to put WORTH READING TWICE in a post bellow it.

Rick about five years ago something happened at times I lose focus some times completely, if it shows please have patience.

             Kirby

_________________
"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

for about the last year I also have my soon to be 22 year old autistic son living with me. My ex made it hard for me to be much involved until she could no longer control him. We have made a lot of progress but still have some serious issues to work on.

I at all times must keep on such an even keel.
I fear lapses when I let my guard down here.

Besides those issues there is one that I enjoy, half the time the Tone Faerie are having arguments in my head that make this place seem like church,

Yes I know, mini stroke or just hit in the head one to many times.

_________________
"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

Fine sounding acoustic guitars are living room and recording studio instruments. That's not going to go away. But if the guitars that you make are going to be used on stage, then chances are about 95% that they will be plugged in, right?   In face, based on the last ten live shows I've been to, make that 98% plugged in. This includes mostly small venues in the 100 to 250 seat range.   Plugged in...

One of the big markets for fine acoustic guitars is the Friday evening or Sunday morning worship scene. From what I see, people who play guitars in churches and synagogues tend to spend big bucks on their guitars. Then they plug them in.

So why not make guitars that work well that way?

Then make other guitars for the living room and studio.

And don't go getting weird and say it's going to be all Mexi Strats. That's a churlish and reactionary statement inspired by a phenomenon that isn't comfortable to you, yet is quite real.   

For Joni, that move was to the Roland VG-8 system and the reason didn't have anything to do with sound; it was so she could program (well, actually the programming was done by a couple of other people, Hank Linderman being one) dozens of the tunings that she used in writing a lot of her songs.

We are living in a changing technological time; we have to adapt to the musical changes; we have to recognize the importance of electronics in how guitars are actually used on stage...unless we simply want to build parlor and campfire instruments. Some major companies are doing very well by designing to these times.   Takamine, Godin, Yamaha, and yes, even Ovation have made acoustic-sounding plug-in guitars work. There's no reason why we luthiers cannot make such guitars that work better.

Or you can just give it up to Mexi Strats...

My choice has been to try to design better acoustic-electrics...among other guitars.

I agree with that...

this is all very interesting. i am building my first guitar, a parlor
guitar. i ONLY care about how my guitar sounds pluged in. i have a nice
martin and a nice tacoma so i feel good to go if i dont want to plug
in. But i play a lot of shows and i am looking for only a few things,
sound, and as small and light as i can make it. As much as i dont like
taylor the T5 is a great sounding guitar. anyone wanna give me a push
in the right direction as to how a begginer should go about building
this kind of guitar. Rick? you look like the expert on this : ) 

Bekker, Rick's already mentioned his 'basic recipe' for his solidbody acoustics: western red cedar centerblock, mahogany neck, bend sides, cedar top. I'd say that's plenty of info to go looking around with.

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and ideas. I realise now that this topic  is bigger than Ben Hur and that there is no clearcut formula to achieve what I and many others would like  with one or two easy mods. Rick thanks for sharing your experience and feelings on the matter. I hear what you are saying and I will be diligent to experiment as I go. It's not difficult for me to be original as I have a tendency to try to change too many things all at once and end up creating some monster in the process. So as I understand it wood choice and neck design are top of the list .

Regards

Craig.