Official Luthiers Forum!

opinions?

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I wonder if they will get that patent approved for the locations of the side braces....its obvious they didn't think of the concept of side bracing, so from my view patenting the exact location is a travesty...

You can patent anything now, there are probably at least 50 standing patents on the wheel in the US. People have shown that the system'll pass anything through. Defending them is another story, though. They'll get the patent, and they'll get laughed out of court on prior art if they try to sue someone with it.

My ratings are:
Presentation section - "Ooh, pretty!"
Conclusions section - "Hand-wavy"

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I think that I got the impression that they are coupling the braces i.e. top, side, and back all together. So...... a top brace terminates on a side brace that is terminated and coupled to a back brace. This is the idea of braces being meridians of vibration which in other implementations for say just a top is something that a number of builders subscribe too.

But this is the first time that I have seen all of the braces, top, side, and back coupled together. It's an interesting concept but...... not everyone believes that the sides are a notable contributor to the sound/tone of a guitar.

I guess that the way to test this concept would be to build two identical guitars and decouple the braces on one of them.

That top looks heavy

if nothing else it was a good sales pitch...arguably the concept of transferring energy from the top to the back and vice versa is solid and should result in a different sound...whether or not that would be a better sound (which is of course up to the listener) is up for grabs...

the concept of 'stereophonics' as presented I think is better termed as reverb of a very short term...

Sigh...

I wish folks would remember once in a while that half of the country does not have high-speed service, for one reason or another. It will take about a half hour for that video to download on my dial-up connection, running in short snippets of a few seconds. I might actually have something to say on this subject, if only it were presented in a way that I could see it and understand what's said.

Alan, They align the ends of the top braces with the ends of back braces and then connect them with a side brace. He said that this activates the back. I don't buy it. There is not that much energy at the end of tapered brace that could travel through the side brace and then activate the tapered end of a back brace. There is a lot more energy transfer potential in the air in the body to activate the back.

This is just another sales pitch targeted to an audience that thinks that sound waves only travel through solid objects.

I'm with you Barry.....take a good archtop guitar, lay it face-up on the bed, strum it, then pick it up and listen to the back come alive.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

Does this help any?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMZnXHffIPY

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

the first link I dont see, the one above this post is all of him talking, the top has what looks like several plates.. he says because he is linking the braces, the sound vibrations travel faster through the guitar . but why didnt he play a little on one of his guitars ? Jody

Stereophonic? That is so 1950's! If you listen closely to my guitars, I've gone to 7.1 channels--completely up to date.

Do they have a patent pending on the stereophonic guitar? I mean, if you put your head in the right position, of course.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

7.1 works well for fingerstyle but on a bluegrass guitar I prefer 7.2 for the extra bass.

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Jeremy Douglas

Those guys are doing something right judging by the way the guitars sound. I think it's a great design.

Marketing speak.
Buzzwords don't mean hooey, but I do have to wonder why he didn't say it sounded more "digital" instead of stereophonic.



I would have to see data proving that the alignment of all those braces actually does something positive for the sound. Right now, it's all conjecture, and it builds the case for it by more premise than factual data.

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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."

Sorry to be inconsiderate Alan. I don't, however, really know how to post the content of the video in any other way but to show the video. My apologies.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Barry Daniels wrote:
"Alan, They align the ends of the top braces with the ends of back braces and then connect them with a side brace. "

OK. I built a copy of a mid-18th century (iirc) Preston 'English guittar' that went together like that. So much for prior art.

Sorry about the compliant, guys, but, as you see, a simple description can go a long way for those of us who don't have the band width.

ive been following this thread, but have not posted because quite honestly, what do i know? but i just had a thought. it seems like we have an easier time criticizing a "factory" guitar or a guitar built by someone who does not frequent this forum. i wonder what kinds of things we would say if the builder was say... alan carruth or another one of our own. i dont mean to single alan out, just an example of someone that most everyone respects. i wonder what kind of questions we might ask instead of (let me get my "jump to conclusions mat" out) assuming the worst. ive never played a mcpherson guitar, but i am interested in what they are doing, as i know there are a number of great players out there using thier guitars. i think phil keagy would be a little more swayed by sound as opposed to marketing strategies.

while we do not have the designer of the guitar in our midst, we do have one john mayes. what are YOUR thoughts john? youve worked for dana, built im guessing a couple hundred guitars or more yourself, and you now work for mcpherson. what are you findings?

just my 2 cents. and like i said, what do i know?

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sweat the small stuff.

The trick with that is that John can't be impartial about his employer's instruments. (Not a comment on the man, but the situation)

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services