Acoustic/Electric Prototype

[Bob Connor]

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"Originally Posted on: Tue Apr 06, 2010 6:15 pm"

I've been threatening to build this for a while now.

An acoustic/electric for playing onstage. No soundhole, bolt on electric style neck.

Fairly hefty soundboard (3.5mm) Engelmann Spruce and two pickup systems.

K & K pure Mini Western plus an EMG UST pickup both wired to a stereo plug. i'm going to run the two signals into a Dtar Solstice pre-amp and from there to two channels in a desk or Acoustic amp.

Finished the neck today as well so I'm waiting on the pickups to arrive to install before I glue the top on.

Not going to bother with bindings or anything fancy on this. I'm more interested to see what it'll sound like (so it'll get trashed if it sounds like crap)

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FIL14179.JPG (128 KiB) Viewed 17382 times

[Nick]

bob wrote:
I'm more interested to see what it'll sound like (so it'll get trashed if it sounds like crap)

Could always gift it to Pete Townsend
Good way to use up the scraps by the looks Bob(although I do detect some of that lovely Blackwood!). Cant imagine it won't come up to the usual Connor standards. Pickup combo sounds good too I believe the K&K's like an UST just to even out the sound.

[Bob Connor]

The K&K's sound very much like a microphone Nick , so they are great for acoustic work but they don't cut through a band that well.

So the UST is to give it some ability to cut through the bass player and drummer.

I think the EMG under saddle pickup has the fattest top end of any UST I've tried. Turn it up and it just keeps getting fatter. In contrast the Takamine that I currently use on stage is quite thin and brittle in the top end. If you turn it up too much it just gets harsh.

I've got a K&K Powermix system in my 12 string (Pure minis + UST & pre-amp) and it's great for that. It's just not the sound I'm after for the 6 string

Yeah I've been using up any old bits of wood to build this one. Bits of kerfed linings, Coco fingerboard with cracks that sort of thing. There's actually a big sap pocket in that Blackwood.

[kiwigeo]

Now THIS is an interesting project.

[Antipode]

No vent at all?

[Allen]

Hell of a hefty back on that one Bob. Never seen the insides on something like this. I'm guessing that helps with feedback issues when you play it loud?

[Bob Connor]

That's right. No vent. The Takamine I play on stage has a dirty great lump of rubber in the soundhole (Feedback buster)

I was tempted to throw sound port on one of the sides but I'll try it like this first.

Allen - that big lump of blackwood down the centre is to take the back out of play as much as I can. The back itself is standard acoustic guitar thickness (.090")

Which leaves the top as the main influence on the sound.

This is very similar to what Rick Turner does in his Renaissance instruments and is where i got the inspiration to try something like this.

The top on this is dead flat as well - no radius.

[Antipode]

Mr Takumini might be getting a bit brassed with all the ways we spell his products

[Bob Connor]

The headstock of mine has Takamine written on it.

[Kim]

Indeed Bob, as does every single guitar I have ever played or worked on produced by that company, all without exception read TAKAMINE.

http://www.takamine.com/


Cheers

Kim

[Craig]

I'm really liking the look of this one Bob . The flat top sounds interesting. What type of bridge setup is going on ?

[kiwigeo]

Antipode wrote:
Mr Takumini might be getting a bit brassed with all the ways we spell his products

I doubt it. There actually isn't a Mr Takamine. Takamine is the name of a mountain near the factory located in Sakashita, Japan. Takamine translates as "high ground or mountain".

The main person behind Takamine is a Mass. Hirade who joined the company in 1968.

[Kim]

Ahhh so, that explains the mountain on the label Martin san.

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Axe looks good Bob, perfect stage fettle me thinks, no feedback from that little sucker.

Cheers

Kim

[Bob Connor]

Standard acoustic bridge Craig.

In this case it's Cocobolo because I've already got one made and I'm a lazy bastard. (the fingerboard and headstock overlay are Coco as well)

I'm treating the top exactly as I would a normal acoustic instrument that I would build except for the top thickness which I'm leaving a little thicker to control feedback.

[kiwigeo]

Precisely Hickey-sama.

Kim wrote:
Ahhh so, that explains the mountain on the label Martin san.

[Nick]

bob wrote:
I'm treating the top exactly as I would a normal acoustic instrument that I would build except for the top thickness which I'm leaving a little thicker to control feedback.


My Acoustic/electric Tele I made some years ago (my first foray into acoustic building) was played weekly infront of my Fender amp for 5 years when I was in a band Bob and it never fed back once (had 'f' holes in it). Mind you for a small top I'd probably overbraced it

[Bob Connor]

Nick O wrote:
Mind you for a small top I'd probably overbraced it

I think that is a requirement for something like this Nick.

[Bob Connor]

Finished the top today. Quite strange without the soundhole.

The aim here is to leave the top stiff enough so that it doesn't feed back but still has some bottom end so it sounds like an acoustic. As I've never done one of these I'm just guessing.

It's Engelmann from Graham Hein so it's nice and stiff but light. I left at 3.5mm thick which is about .5-.7mm thicker than I would normally. I left the Osage Orange bridge plate a bit thicker at 2.5mm instead of 2.1mm.

I didn't scallop the braces at all.

After much head scratching and looking at the spot where the soundhole should be I threw in a couple of braces the to counteract any rotational forces from the bridge in that area.

The Takamine has a Maple top on it and sounds pretty average acoustically (and quiet due to the weight) so I'm using that as my point of reference.

I also found a supplier in the US who would sell me an EMG AT93 UST pickup for this. Most of them won't sell OS due to some agreement with EMG.

[Luke]

Hi Bob, how is this one coming along? really keen to hear how it sounds when plugged in to your amp or PA, hope you can post some sound files.
Too bad the mando cousin has suffered a set back with the neck build makes me feel better though that the serious builders have there wows too

[Bob Connor]

G'day Luke

I'm waiting on a pickup to arrive before putting the top on this one - I'm expecting it next week.

That's why I was doing the mando in the interim.

The neck has just had pore filler on it so I'm hoping to finish it sometime this week.

[btjjdb]

Hey Bob,

How is the acoustic/electric prototype going?

I started a thread about small bodied chambered acoustic guitars, then I found this. I'm curious if it's finished and whgat sort of sound you got out of it?

Brenden

[Bob Connor]

I'm doing some live gigs with it later this month. I'll post something after that.

I can't really tell using it at home.

Regards

[Localele]

I can't wait to see the back and check just what sort of joint is under that back graft.

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