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There have been a number of double tops, backs and sides instruments posted here recently so I thought it time to redress the balance. Inspired by the Greenfield brothers in Canada in the 1920-1930's:



and modern builders such as Paddy Burgin, and nagged by my daughter Martha to make her one as soon as she saw the clips on Youtube of Paddy Burgin playing the instrument he made, I've finished making a double necked acoustic lap-slide guitar. As usual I did this my own way and in my own style. After playing around with different concepts, I decided to make it a similar size to a normal lapslide but to go with a ladder braced top and one soundhole. The name of this instrument is "Orthus" - in Greek he was the two headed, serpent tailed dog of Geryon, the three headed giant king of Erytheia. Orphus was also the father of the Sphynx.

Specs - Twin necked acoustic lap-slide guitar 630mm scale lengths. Ladder braced top, hybrid X/ladder braced back. Central "neck block" with carbon fibre flying buttress braces anchored to the sides. African Mahogany top, back and sides, mahogany peg blocks, Curly eucalyptus bindings with bwb top, back and side purflings. Brazilian Rosewood peghead veneer, end grafts, nuts, saddles and fret position markers. Sycamore (maple) fretboards bound with Curly eucalyptus, and bridge. Marquetry fret markers to match the rosette. Ebony bridge pins. Gold Gotoh mini tuners with hand made Brazilian Rosewood buttons. Hand rubbed pre-catalysed lacquer finish over Z-poxy resin. A few pics:






There were a few "firsts" for me. One was making matching Brazilian Rosewood tuner buttons and nuts:



Another was making the Brazilian Rosewood fret position markers. The frets were marquetry combinations that match the rosette:




Another was using a maple bridge with Brazilian Rosewood saddles:



A look at the inside construction:




And a happy Martha:



The strings went on last Thursday. I put on two sets of D'Addario EJ42 resophonic strings (16-56) and tuned one neck to DADFAD and the other two DADDAD. The sound was awesome - incredible sustain and Cathedral like reverb/overtones with the twin hollow necks and sympathetic strings, very balanced and clear and very loud. I discovered some interesting things though - what 350lbs of string tension with high saddles does to a ladder braced top for a start. I should have played "The Rolling Waves" set on it as behind the bridge it bulged and dipped in front - the bridge stayed perpendicular though. Looking at the bracing pictures I should have put some lengthwise braces on the top in between the ladder brace behind the soundhole and the one in front of the bridge. I have now put in three lengthwise braces joining the lower soundhole and front of bridge ladder braces - one each in line with the middle of each set of strings and one in the guitars centre. I probably could have put a couple of fan braces butting up to the bottom of the lower bout ladder brace, but wanted minimalist and can live with some distortion of the top here for the sound I'm hearing if the rest remains stable. On the to do list for the next one. The other thing I have learned is that with the sympathetic strings and overall tension, tuning down a step makes this a fabulous baritone instrument without having to increase the scale length. The lower neck in CGCCGC (a lot of CGCGCD tuning) and the upper one in CGCEbGC or CGCEGC means I can use both necks to good effect - 260lbs on a 630mm scale length and it sounds good. With the string gauges taken down a little it can work in D tunings as well - I'll try this out later this week..

I suspect that similar but diverse tunings will work better for combination playing than having say Open G and Open D - this is useful if you are performing a repetoire without having to re-tune plus you get the spacey sound and sympathetics.

Here's a couple of sounclips. The first one is the Gospel song "This Little Light of Mine". The lowest neck is in CGCCGC (shades of John Butler) and the upper neck in CGCEGC (Open C). I started off by strumming each neck in turn to give a feel for the sound. The main tune does move between the two necks:

This Little Light of Mine

The second one is more moody showing off the sympathetic strings and the upper neck is in CGCEbGC (C minor) tuning:

It Aint Necessarily So

The tunings are endless and you could get lost forever in this instrument - I'm loving it and so is Martha.

Thanks for looking and listening.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Very cool instrument. The wood combinations are great.

Only you, Dave. Jimmy Page needs your phone number.
Fantastic as always.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Once again, Dave brings his mastery of the unique, in his inimitable style. Great looking instrument and wonderful playing, Dave!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Lex, Steve and Waddy - thanks, I'm glad you like it.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Very cool Dave. I love the fret markers on the sycamore.

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Horton, MI

It's fabulous Dave, what a unique and fine instrument. Beautiful artistry in the fret details. The BRW buttons, saddle, and nut tie in nicely with your choice of woods and the theme of the instrument.

I really enjoyed hearing it played, it sounds as great as it looks. Thanks for the sound sound clips.

Dave, it is always a treat to see your work, so original. Gorgeous and interesting instrument -- loved the sound clips.

Dave, you've captured my attention again with your unique approach. I enjoy your playing and your website. Fantastic job! Clinton

Congrats!

Craig L

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www.handcraftinlay.com

Dave, Dave, (so good we have to name you twice) she is sounding absolutely great. I'm glad it turned out as you hoped, I know I've seen pictures during construction, but I'm stiill totally in awe of your imagination and skills in making such a great instrument yet again. You plough your own furrow, and for that you have my greatest respect as a builder and as a man.

Yet again you have built an instrument (guitar is too confining a word for your work) that is unmistakeably a De Faoite.

Martha and the rest of the De Faoitettes are lucky to have you as their father.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Awesome, Dave.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Well and accurately stated!

Dave I have been checking your web site about every other day eagerly following your build. I really like the "expansiveness" of sound and have a feeling it will develop to an amazingly full sound as it plays in. I also feel though the bass is strong and clear that as it plays and ages in it will really rumble.

Something in my gut tells me it will be happiest in the C tunings, something about a feeling that the added tension of open D would push the sound board to a slightly bound state?
This is asked with the utmost of humility. Just a feeling that developed.

( I listened with a careful ear as I am able to muster probably through forty to sixty replays trying to catch its nuances ) but a sound card and speakers can not replace being there.

Something about the sound told me it was pretty happy with the string tension being where it was so I have tried to figure out why I thought open D was to much. I have a cheap rogue square neck reso (it was a present) tuned to open D. I wanted a dark mellow tone so I went with the absolute lightest P/B strings I thought I could get away with 11,18,22,31,42,52 (low e will become a 54 next string change) (yes I lost a decent bit of volume but I got a sound I really like).

whole point is I feel that is about as light as can be gone with for open D and string tension is around 145# or so( I think) so that would bring Orthus'es overall string tension up about 30#.

I am going to be really embarrassed when you report back that Orthus sounds even better tuned to open D

Dave you fearlessly and in my opinion successfully took on two major challenges ladder bracing with a large lower bout, and ladder bracing with high string tension. Not separately either, COMPOUNDED.

I may be an amateure, but I think that is a huge accomplishment!!!
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Dave you continue to inspire me.

To my knowledge this is the first and only ladder braced double neck acoustic of any sort.

You are blazing the trail,

Kirby

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"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...

Oh forgot,

Why the Brazilian nut and saddle?
Any effect on Orthus'es Tone?

Martha Lady sliders are rare so you are Blazing a bit of a trail also.

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"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...

Kirt, Marc, Anthony, Clinton, Craig, Colin and Mike - thanks.

Kirby,

Thanks - time will tell how the ladder bracing holds up but it sounds great. It's definitely an avenue for modern builders to explore. I think it will sound good in D and I will choose string gauges that give the same pull as it has in C - about 280-290lbs. But its sounds great in C and that is where Martha wants to keep it for the time being. Her playing is getting better and better and at some point - if she lets me - I'll record and post a clip of her playing.

By the way, yesterday we visited Westonbirt Arboretum and I took these photos of a mature sycamore tree (Acer psuedoplatanus. The bark markings are incredible - there must be a rosette/inlay design in there somewhere:

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

WOW, Dave...you continue to pave different paths and inspire many of us to dreams we may have never imagined. I continue to be in awe of your creativity and talents!

The instrument looks fantastic in every regard and detail and the sound is haunting. It looks other-worldly but sounds distinctly and comfortably familiar. Best of luck to Martha in her pursuit of mastering the instrument.

Thanks for posting and thanks for contributing so much to our forum!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Todd,

Thanks - how are your two hollow necks getting on? And is Chris doing one?

JJ,

Thanks very much. If I inspire others to try these things then I will be happy indeed. There's nothing in terms of skill and knowledge that I have compared to others that I see posting here that stops anyone else from doing things like these. All I'm doing is applying common sense and pretty basic guitar making concepts and theories. I think the main thing is to not have a fear of failure - you learn even more from things that don't work and correcting them - and the confidence to veer from the path of set plans and make up your own. Maybe scary at first but ultimately very liberating.

Kirby,

I forgot to answer your question. The Brazilian Rosewood nuts and saddles were because I didn't have enough bone and was curious. I'd seen Matt Mustapick do a similar thing with cocobolo. When I get enough bone I'll make some and swap them out to listen to any sound differences. The Rio ones sound great but it will be interesting to see the string wear on the saddle crowns over time. Rio nuts I have done before and these not only wear well but the strings slip over them beautifully with less fiddling of the slots to avoid any binding issues. They also look good too.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Dave, As others have said,What a unique and wonderful sounding instrument! I really like it and this could inspire me to build one of these one day. Thanks for the sound clips,I especially like "It aint necessarily so" Wow ,it sounds so haunting,clear,and sweet!! Very cool that your daughter is into this kind of guitar and slide music. Good Luck to her future playing. Congratulations on making such a wonderful instrument !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

As usual Dave, an original instrument EXCELLENTLY executed.

Awesome!!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Great looking and sounding guitar Dave. I love the Sycamore maple with the Sapele. How many pounds does It weigh?

That thing is nice! Good job.

WOW .. I must have missed this first time out .. that is something else Dave, nice choices all round .. BTW ...I am planning to try the carbon rod neck block reinfircement as well some time .. how did you line up to drill the holes for the rods (mostly into the side buttresses ??), so they fit at the correct angles, and still fit the contours of the sides ???

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

This thing is SO cool!!! I'm always inspired by your work, Dave... and this is no exception. the sound is incredible .
I'll have to follow your website to see what your doing next.

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Dave - Thanks, and Martha says thankyou too!!

Marin, Banjo and Bob - thank you.

Ron - Thanks. I don't know how much it weighs as I'd have to get on the scales firts to find out and that wouldn't be nice It's a lot lighter than I thought it would be - having wooden tuner buttons really helps here.

Tony - thanks, glad you like it. As for the cf rod anchors, I use 0.2" x 1/4" rods and have the 0.2" router bit. I route the channels for the rods in the neck-block and side anchor braces, epoxy the rods in and fill the gaps with hardwood pieces. Sometimes I put a veneer over the neck-bloc front afterwards. I keep meaning to make a jig - but just use the jaws of my 30 year old workmate bench to set the line I need to route vertical and build up a platform for the lam trimmer to do it as in the pics. You have to have calculated and marked the anglea well. The side brace anchors are easier. I cut hardwood blocks and notch them to fit into the top and bottom reverse kerfed linings. These blocks are wider than the final dimensions. I route the rod slots between the centre and outer edge and then angle the inside face on a belt sander until the slots are at the right angle for the rods to connect to the neck block. I then round off the back and top edges. Hope this makes sense.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010