Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey everyone,

Here are a few photos of my latest. I was really excited to do a bevel cutaway after seeing it on a few people's guitars. I don't know who originally came up with the idea but I was inspired by guitars by Matsuda(I think) and Jeffrey Yong. I have seen it on others also but I never knew who made them. I recently found Benjamin guitars website and he utilizes it also. I think it looks great and allows for the back profile to be undisturbed, which I love. It also maintains over half of the airspace that a normal cutaway would lose inside the box. As far as how it feels, it does not give the complete access that a normal cutaway does. That said, however, it does give great access to the upper strings above the fret join. This is where I play mostly above the join and for me it is great. If someone is wanting to play 4 string chords up there, the normal cutaway would give much better access. I also realized on this guitar that I should have extended the cutaway lower on the side. The closer you can get it to the back binding on the side the less the meat of your hand below the pinky catches as you reach for notes. In all though i am very happy with it and will use it again for sure.

Many other things came together for me on this build also. I feel that my control over small gaps in the binding and purfling are less and less and since i have built with this shape a couple times now I feel like I can begin to exert some control over where the sound goes in regards to the body style. I kept much better records all along the build and started to use the Chladni testing and keep those records. I also feel, in an aesthetic sense, that the appointments all worked well together and while it doesn't contribute the sound, I am proud of how it looks and works together.

As always I am inspired by everyone else's work and appreciate everyone's help and comments. And thanks for looking!

Here are the specs:
EIR back and sides and binding
Red Spruce top
Walnut neck, inner sides
solid linings
Mun Ebony FB, headstock
Braz bridge
bone pins, nut, saddle
Curly maple and spalt purflings, rosette
25.625 scale length
Gold vintage Schaller tuners
French Polish finish on the body, waterlox on the neck

_________________
Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I like that cutaway a lot. I also like what you've done with the center of the back and the butt. Cool.

The shape makes it look jumbo-ish... how big is it (width of lower bout, especially)? And please tell us more about the sound.

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Very impressive, and beautiful, Burton!

I'm sure you faced some of the same issues in binding that a beveled armrest has. Can you tell us how you approached the binding and purfling where the cutaway meets the top?

Oh, and that spalted Maple against EIR really works well.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Very cool guitar Burton. I really like the head stock shape and it reminds me of a chess set.

From what I have seen your trademark seems to be the details and this one is no exception.

Very cool!

WoW !! I don't think I've seen a shape quite like that Burton. Very
beautiful guitar! The bindings are perfect and I really like your cutaway.
It looks like it might be a cannon of a guitar! Very Nice !

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

That's way cool. Great details and the french polish is awesome. Any shots of the inside? I'm curious about how you reinforced the area around the cutout.

SOUND CLIPS!!!!!!.............I'd love to hear how it sounds if you can manage it.

Chris

_________________
There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Now that's outside the box! Very impressive. How's it sound and play. Any Clips?
Terry

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Good to see something different, I really dig the peghead shape. Looks like a Stauffer on a bigger scale, how did you come up with the plantilla?

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Thanks guys!

Let me see if I can answer these questions. The body shape was designed as a golden mean project. I took the half scale length(nut to body join) and generated the mean above and below and then filled in between those numbers with the mean between. As an experiment I tried to make every measureable distance one of these numbers and even the curves are based off a circle or ellipse off of these numbers. The shape definitely came out larger on top than most (12 13/16 upper bout, 15 3/4 lower) but I liked the way it looked. It also has a large taper from 4 3/16 at the butt to 3 at the heel. Having the oversize upper bout has gotten me very interested in the buttress approach and I have a spec build planned to try that out on one of these size guitars. I am excited to see if I can get some upper register richness out of very light bracing in that large area.
The sound I was going for was dictated a little by the customer and some by the spec guitar he played (it was this shape). I really love the sound of the Maccafferri(sp?) and Selmer models, especially the power and volume you get as you go up the neck. I have found on some of those guitars that you can get this distinct cutting volume between the 5th and 12th frets on the higher strings that I have never heard from a normal x braced guitar. I wanted to try to incorporate that sound and not sacrifice the richer warm bass of a more traditional flat topped guitar. Obviously, the floating vs. pinned bridge would have a lot to do with that but with some of the early versions of this guitar I found I could move in that direction a little by incorporating a hybrid ladder bracing. I have some bracing shots on my computer at home which I can upload but basically it is cross braces above and below the soundhole and one that follows the saddle but goes all the way across. Below the bridge is a very open x brace whose ends mimic the starting points of the Larivee style 2 cross braces. There is a shallow x brace which runs under the cross brace that mimics the saddle. There is also a 3/16 arch across the top (from side to side at the widest point) and 5/16 for the back. Both the top and back go flat at the neck. On this one I also ran an A style bracing in the upper bout but ran those braces all the way down to the bridge tapering as they go. I had done something similar on another and found I was getting more of that power up the neck and extended it here and found even more. It could have nothing to do with it, of course, but it is something to play with and see where it goes when I change it. This is the most successful one yet, the lower notes do have a nice richness and some warmth but the mid highs and highs is where this one works for me. I love that cutting volume and it doesn't have a harshness to the sound, but more of a bite. I am not sure how to explain the difference.
As far as doing the cutaway, I did this one one way but I have another out for finish at Joe's that is better, where the purfling follows the bevel. I added solid lining all the way up the whole side for half of the upper bout and used some 1/4 spanish cedar glued on the top. I routed for the purfling (on the new one) and mitred it in after the box was closed. Then I sanded the bevel shape in just up to the purfling. The solid linings and the wood under the top give you a nice wide lining to glue to and then I add veneer layers epoxied with smiths all wood glue(I like the thicker epoxy for this application plus the west systems has stained spruce on me before). 3 layers (black fiber, white fiber, rosewood) all epoxied makes for a very stiff layer but I am still gald the a bracing is there to strengthen the top. Explaining it is kind of hard, I can post some photos of the next one that I do.
As for sound clips I am afraid that technology is a little beyond me at the moment but I am working on remedying that!

Thanks for all your comments! I hope I answered your questions.

_________________
Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Wow, Burton, that is a beautiful, and unique guitar. Great work!

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars