Official Luthiers Forum!

I realize this is pretty much a shot in the dark, but one never can tell. Especially with folks like Colin who are members here.

I'm looking for a decent set of plans for a Staufer guitar, with details showing his adjustable neck system. I would prefer plans of the "Luigi Legnani" model, which featured a floating fingerboard along with the adjustable neck.

I've searched the 'net far and wide and so far have come up with zilch. Anybody know of any other sources?

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38922.8349421296

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Michael,

Try Steve Spodaryk. He has been building some very nice Staufer
style guitars here in New England.

His web site is http://www.spodarykguitars.com/

Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

wow!

Bruce, you should have seen and heard this thing. It was amazing. Steve was a builder for awhile before he had the fortunate opportunity to be trained by Julius Borges, arguably one of the best luthiers there is today. Steve's work is more than quite impressive.
He will have a couple similar guitars at Newport next weekend, one is a brazilian/adi beauty.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Michael, I have a 1913 Hauser built in the Legnani style. It's a terz, so no sense in giving you plans, but if you have general questions I can answer them, including detailed photos of the neck adjustment system.

If you go to the MIMF archives, a search on 'labbe hauser" without the quotes will yield a discussion I started on this neck system, and includes quite a few photos.rlabbe38924.5269675926

That Spodaryk guitar, while beautiful, is not of the Legnani style, although it outwardly appears to be. Specifically, the fingerboard is not floating, and the neck is not adjustable.

The floating fingerboard allows more of the top to get into the sonic equation, but presents it's own difficulty - a lack of stiffness in the extension can make the notes up there dead.

I've built one version of this style, and while the sound is not as refined as I would like (it being a prototype, and my first try), it really has quite the "ping" to the trebles. I keep meaning to get back to building more.

That is correct Roger. Steve's is a reproduction of a Martin Stauffer-inspired parlor guitar.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thanks for the heads-up, Roger. Actually, I have photos similar to what is shown with your Hauser over at the other forum. But your analysis of the Hauser is helpful.

Actually, what I have in mind is a somewhat different approach, using the basic design of the Stauffer neck attachment method, but with the adjustment being done from the inside with an allen wrench. Seems to me this would be just as possible to do, although perhaps not quite as convenient as having an external adjustment.

Best,

Michael

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Michael,

I would go with the outside "clock key" mechanism as that would look more
correct to the period.

Hey Ken,

I would go for the outside clock key also if it were to be a period guitar, but my intentions are to apply the basic Staufer design idea to an otherwise modern looking instrument.

Grant Goltz, who stops by this forum from time to time, has also designed an adjustable neck guitar -- and it is a design that works very well by all accounts I've read. But his technique involves cutting the soundboard around the upper fingerboard to allow the neck to move up and down.

I like the idea of the Staufer's floating fingerboard better, although I have noted Roger's comments about the notes played there not being as full sounding. Something to keep in mind.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Michael, look at Southwell's A model guitar for an example of a pretty modern looking guitar with the clock key mechanism.

Really, you don't see this adjustment unless you focus on the heel. No one but the guitarist knows it is there.

I was at a concert last week (Ricardo Cobo - stunning) where he could have benefited from this system. he was under hot lights in a church in the middle of a thunderstorm, and seemed to be fighting action problems due to the wildly varying conditions. The strings kept bottoming out on hard attacks. A quick twist between songs would have been nice. But I guess it depends on what your intent is for providing this adjustment.

In any case the hardware system is trivial. Epoxy a nut into the guitar, a sleeve in the neck, and use a bolt whose head won't slide through the sleeve. I used a modern hex key bolt on mine, because I couldn't find any commercial sources for clock key style bolts.

I should point out the problem with sustaining notes is a "potential" problem. It's a real problem with the Hauser, but the fingerboard there is nothing more than the quite thin ebony. I believe most modern examples make that section beefier, and you can do things like use carbon fiber to keep the area stiff. It's a design issue to take into account, it's not an insurmountable problem with the design.

Roger,

About the mechanism itself -- since you actually have a guitar that uses this design, perhaps you can address this question:

As I understand it, the whole point of the Staufer style neck adjustment is to be able to change the neck set angle on the fly. But what I'm not quite understanding, based on the several photos I've seen of this adjustment, is how the neck actually pivots. It seems to me there would need to be a fulcrum somewhere, and I can't make out anything resembling such from the photos I've seen. Can you comment on this?

Best,

Michael

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Michael,

It just pivots against the headblock right at the junction of the headblock and the top. I know some people have done things like inlay some bone there to make a harder point, but the Hauser is 100 years old, Stauffer's older yet, only have wood there, and are still doing fine.


I just drew an example in mspaint. The neck angle is exaggerated enormously.

Thanks for the response, Roger. Makes perfect sense, now that I see your drawing. Speaking of drawings, a couple of days ago I got an idea for a fulcrum and yesterday I made a drawing of my idea. The following drawing was meant specifically for a 10-string's heel width, and still needs some further mods, the more I look at it, but I thought I'd toss it out for you guys to kick around. For one thing, rather than have the mortise and tenon be the full width of the heel, I'm thinking of a more rectangular arrangement such as one sees in the bolt-nect designs that are common now, but with enough of the heel inletted into the body so there wouldn't be any strange looking gaps.

Nothing is to scale in the drawing, and I will likely reposition some of the elements when or if I ever try it out. I intend to build a mock-up of just this area before I go to the time and expense of trying it out on a guitar.



Best,

Michael

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Well, the further away the fulcrum point is from the 12 fret, the more you'll change the intonation when you change the neck angle. I.e. the distance of the 12 fret to the bridge will change based on the neck angle. Don't know if it will be enoughtto notice. Also, you will get more movement for the same screw adjustment, so it will be touchier to adjust, and you will feel more tension in the screw while trying to turn it.

I have no idea if any of that stuff will have enough of an effect to "matter", but that's how the physics works out. A bit of trig will tell you how much you have to turn that screw to get a 1mm change in string angle.

Roger,

I haven't started crunching the numbers yet. That comes next, before I try building a mockup.

As to the placement of the fulcrum with respect to the 12th fret, its location will be approximately at the 13th fret, what with classicals having a 12th-fret body joint and all. That should help minimize intonation issues.

For the mock-up, I will also probably locate the fulcrum higher on the tenon, closer to the fingerboard extension, but I'll keep the adjustmet screw location approximately where it is on the drawing. This will allow for a greater lever arm, plus more turns of the screw to affect the same amount of angular displacement.

Best,

Michael

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I cant find the link to the site but I think there is a plan for a Stauffer that can be found at in Japan...I think the key word was Crane...the Japanese luthier has plans for several other "Romantic" period guitars including Lacote and others...Shawn38927.9204166667

Hi Shawn,

Here's the link to the Crane site in English:

http://www.crane.gr.jp/indexE.html

I have downloaded most, if not all, of his drawings. Unfortunately the Staufer-esque drawing he has does not include details for an adjustable neck. It's a great resource for plans of period guitars, however, and well worth the look.

Best,

Michael

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