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New electric
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Author:  David Myka [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:13 am ]
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Hey all. I have enjoyed this forum for a while now. There are some great discussions and extremely good talent here. I have a new project that I thought I would share with you that started as an experiment to see what would happen if traditional acoustic woods were used to build an electric. We used Sitka spruce for the body, Adirondack spruce for the arched top, and Madagascar rosewood for the neck, fingerboard, bridge, tailpiece, and all appointments. The finish is Tru-Oil which feels really nice.

I have built a few electrics now with rosewood necks which when coupled with a lighter body wood produces an instrument focused in the upper mids with excellent sustain and chime. The harmonic content of the notes is equivalent to a nice rosewood acoustic. The dense neck material attached
to the lighter weight body makes for some excellent resonance and
sustain. With this particular guitar a nice resonant and sustained tone was easily produced just by tapping anywhere on the neck.

The body is chambered 3/4" from the back and the top is carved inside to 1/4". There is a solid center section 4" wide. The spruce is a bit heavier than I expected it be
but overall the guitar is much lighter than it looks (the lack of
soundholes has something to do with it). The tone is very clear and
articulate with a definite bark to it. You can hear the full harmonic spectrum of the notes with this
one. And thanks to the Lollar pickups it all makes it to the amp. This
was a really cool project and I will be making some more using these
concepts (lightweight body/heavy neck). It really works well.

Here are some pictures:




Here is a peek inside:


For more pictures click here.

Enjoy!
~David
Author:  joelThompson [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:29 am ]
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wow thats realy nice david.

i have a guild nightbird that has a solid spruce top from the 70's and its a
wonderfull guitar but i have never seen a solid body with an all spruce
body.

i like the idea of lighter less dense woods for the body and dense woods
for the neck it a principal that black machine guitars has working on for a
while now and they are building a good rep for themselves.

i take it you have veneered the back and sides in koa? it looks very nice

Well done.

Oh and welcome to the forum.

joel.
Author:  Michael Dale Payne [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:04 am ]
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David that is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Author:  Andy Matthews [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:49 am ]
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Your stuff never ceases to amaze
Author:  SniderMike [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:35 am ]
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Wow, that is really cool. I'd love to hear some sound clips if you have any.
Author:  FishtownMike [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:05 pm ]
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That is one nice looking electric.
Author:  Ben Furman [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:25 pm ]
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Cool guitar, David!  I saw some pics of this one posted by your customer over at TGP.  I hadn't checked the OLF for awhile, so it was really nice to find your post today after seeing the guitar there!

That's a gorgeous instrument.  Bravo!

Curious, though.... How is the balance on the strap?

-Ben
Author:  erikbojerik [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:46 pm ]
Post subject: 
Ho David! 



I had not seen this one before, it looks really great! 
Yeah...what's going on with the back & sides...doesn't look like
spruce to me!



The only other guitar I know of that is remotely similar is a
spruce-bodied Jazzmaster with a maple neck, which I understand
exhibited a similar kind of tone as yours (though it was not hollowed
out).  The guy's next guitar was an all-wenge Jazzmaster... 


Author:  Parser [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
congrats on a great design and also on your excellent work in getting it put togethet..!

Author:  DannyV [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:08 pm ]
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Very cool!       It looks great and I bet it sounds killer. Did you
make the tailpeice?
Great Work!
Danny Vincent
Author:  David Myka [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
Wow, good to see everyone over here. I had no idea so many of you visited this forum.

Mike: unfortunately I did not have the time for sound clips. I hope to get some from my client soon (does that ever happen soon?).

Ben: the balance on this guitar is very good. When I just held the top strap button is fell at about 45 degrees. Not neck heavy at all with all that spruce in the body.

Chris: that's the idea. Getting the tone along with whatever aesthetics you want (and in this case protection by using a harder wood). I did bend the sides like an acoustic and made some custom cauls to clamp it together. The wood is approximately 3/32" thick. Here is a pick before the top was glued on:


Danny: I made everything on this but the tuners and electronics. The piece of wood from the veneer on the headstock was also used as the veneer on the pickup rings and tailpiece. The wood underneath is the same as the fretboard to tie it all together.

Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate it.

~David
Author:  James Ringelspaugh [ Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
That's a nice looking guitar.

[QUOTE=David Myka] The harmonic content of the notes is equivalent to a nice rosewood acoustic.[/QUOTE]

Could you please elaborate on this?
Author:  clavin [ Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:52 am ]
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How's it going?
I still desire to have one of your guitars. They blew me away at the Guitar congress! That one looks great.
Hope you doing well and really glad to see you still in luthiery! I have been busy as well but since my site is being reconstructed not much new stuff is on it.
Hope to hear from you one day!

Craig Lavin


Author:  David Myka [ Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:19 am ]
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[QUOTE=lex_luthier]That's a nice looking guitar.



[QUOTE=David Myka] The harmonic content of the notes is equivalent to a nice rosewood acoustic.[/QUOTE]



Could you please elaborate on this?[/QUOTE]
Sure can. On an acoustic instrument when you strike a note and dampen it immediately there are harmonics generated in the other strings that continue on after the first note is muted. I always think of it as reverb-like and crystalline in tone. It sounds a bit like a deep cavern of glass where the notes echo off in octaves and partials. And so in this context I mean that this guitar is sensitive and responsive enough to amplify this. It comes through acoustically as well as amplified.

Craig, great to see you here too. I check up on your site every month or so patiently waiting for the next inlay project. I have seen a few projects on the forums and you are doing some great work. I'll drop you a line soon.

~David
Author:  bekker [ Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:06 am ]
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WOW WOW WOW!!! i just went 2 your site and you have a great eye for things!! im a very very new builder but "Dragonfly Supreme #021" is one of the most beautiful guitars i have ever seen. i see you use acoustic and electric pickups??? i play live a lot so i have been looking to build something like a T5 kinda idea. Is that the idea on your guitars at all?? any info would help.

Author:  Jim Kirby [ Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:51 am ]
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David - Gorgeous guitar!

I have to make a pickup ring out of myrtle, for a mini humbucker, and could use a tutorial.   
Any pictures? How do you go about it? Cut the inside out first and then trim to the outer dimension? I've never done one and I'm afraid I'm just going to make woodchips.

Jim

Author:  Kevin Gallagher [ Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:09 pm ]
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   Nice David!

   I have a Tele started for my son that is a 2 inch thick slab of 60 year old
(well, 60 years on the shelf) piece of Sitka Spruce. It has a beautiful
Leopardwood top and is chambered in a sinilar way to your body. We've
built about 25 Teles together and this one is really different from any of
the others.

   I'm sure your piece sounds as great as it looks.

   For some very cool innovations take a look at Rob Thorn's beautiful
creations at www.thornguitars.com . He's very artistic and is a CNC whiz.

   Oh, by the way, we're loading this Tele with a pair of P-90s from the
50s and a Power Bridge.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars
Author:  David Myka [ Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:52 am ]
Post subject: 
bekker: I am currently in the design phase of a guitar that will do what a T5 does in terms of variety of pickups. I have found some great acoustic pickups that I really like. The Dtar undersaddles are great for these. I have also used the K&K pure western minis in one of my Dragonfly guitars and found them to also be excellent. This new one of mine will have both with a magnetic pickup in the bridge position. I am not sure of any other source than all that Rick Turner posts on this forum. There is plenty there to dig into that will get you started.

jtkirby: Sorry no pics (but I could take some on the next project). I start by removing the interior portion with a scroll saw and trimming it to size with a router template. Then I bandsaw the perimeter and sand it to shape. This way there is not chance of it blowing up by trying to route anything that thin. If you can laminate some wood for these and oppose the grain by at least 15 degrees you will go a long way to keeping them from cracking. If you have to make them one-piece it is best have the grain running with the strings so the screws have more grain working with them.

Kevin: that Tele sounds wonderful (the pickups too!). I love old wood. I have some nice 60 year old Douglas Fir that is large enough for archtops that I plan to use someday soon. All the resin is crystallized and the grain lines are at least 60 per inch. And thanks for the link to Thorn's work. I have seen his site many times. He really is an excellent designer and CNC programmer, and of course his inlay work is stellar.

~David
Author:  LuthierSupplier [ Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:18 pm ]
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Man, that is just beautiful! Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the OLF! I'd love to hear this one too.
Tracy
Author:  Ben Furman [ Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:23 pm ]
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The owner is singing its praises here:

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=309641& ;page=2

Maybe he'll put up clips some time.

-Ben
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