now I know this has nothing to do with new guitar design - or does it? Maurizio Arcieri
30 April 1942 - 29 January 2015
if I told you some of the things this man did you probably thought I was making up some kind of fake history. a tale of an alternate earth
opened for the Beatles
hung out with Hendrix
had a few albums produced my Niko Papathanassio
who you ask?
maybe you might know his brother
Vangelis with his wife Christina Moser, hung out at the Factory with Warhol had a keyboard player in his band Krisma who went on to make a few soundtracks in Hollywood Hans Zimmer for all intensive purposes, worked to the very end all I know was when I heard his music, when I heard the sound of his voice, the shock of the new embraced me. I thought if such music could alter my mind from so far away, what other music was there? all bets were off. and nothing has changed since if it is new and mysterious - bring it on. I leave you with a photo of Maurizio with his wife go look at the web or Youtube
well I strongly suggest you don't go to these people Xen Instruments first we will look at some amazing instruments HDC (headless dual cutaway)
the ergonomic shape and the edge curves make me feel comfortable looking at it. fanned fret (rapidly becoming the only way to go) did I say ergonomic? ERGO
look at where the strap holder is one third up the neck. the curve of the back of the upper bout.
look at the anchor points between neck and body! must sound solid! I am so comfortable I am getting drowzy... like I am in a recliner chair or a hammock. fantastic
OXC
now I deliberately showed this image because it has the holy grail of neck materials - carbon fiber. if you are a regular to the blog you are more than aware of my obsession with this material so here we go with this instrument I love doing this you want options? number of strings - 6 7 or 8 body woods Swamp Ash Mahogany Walnut Black Limba top woods Flamed Maple Quilted Maple Spalt Maple Black Limba Figured Walnut Massacar Ebony neck construction 3 piece 5 piece 1 piece flamed maple primary neck wood Maple Walnut Mahogany Rosewood Ebony neck accent (stripe) wood Maple Walnut Rosewood Bubinga Ebony
fretboard wood Rosewood Maple Ebony Flamed Maple Birdseye Maple Zebrano Ziricote Luminlay side dots color Blue Green fingerboard dots None Black White Mother of Pearl Abalone Luminlay (same as side dots)
fingerboard dot position
Center Bass Treble Offset (low bass/high treble)
custom 12th fret inlay No Yes neck profile Standard C Strandberg Endurneck Rick Toone IPNP
neck pickup
Lace Alumitone X-Bar Lace Alumitone Death Bar EMG X-Series Bare Knuckle bridge pickup
Lace Alumitone X-Bar Lace Alumitone Death Bar EMG X-Series Bare Knuckle pickup color
Black Chrome Gold hardware color
Black Chrome Gold
neck finish
Satin Color to Match Body
body finish color type
Translucent Solid
burst
None Yes case None Yes after all that you want to put in some special notes and instructions?
let's see one in action - clean
not so clean
a "standard" guitar? I remember, they used to make them.
That Joel at Cycfi Research is one tricky fellow 1. shows off his wares at the latest NAMM 2. for all intensive purposes, blows people's minds 3. the dust has barely settled and he goes and does this!
It's not so much that you can't keep a good man down - it's kind of pointless trying to keep him still! he's only gone and brought out an entirely new version of the Neo pickup. the first thing that jumped out at me was the curvature adjustment. whatever radius or setup you have complete control on two axis. the dedicated covers look so new guitar design I can barely contain myself.
want a seven or eight string version? I can't believe I didn't scroll down.
here is a message to other pickup manufacturers - just because we play more than six strings, doesn't mean we want to shred. maybe we want a versatile, clear and low noise sound. I am sure there will be more news soon so go on over to Cycfi Research and get the scoop. click here
Rick Toone guitar Q Tuner pickups but most importantly - a fan of new guitar design in every meaning of the term go like him on Facebook click here or just look on the web and go like him whatever he is doing way to go, Fabio!
where do I start? Ambrosonics first off Pickup Director Standard
for instruments fitted with 3 single coil pickups allows up to 23 different Series, Parallel, Series/Parallel and In Phase/Out of Phase pickup combinations
Pickup Director Deluxe
for instruments with 2 humbucking pickups or 4 single coils. supports: (H/S/S), (H/H) or (S/S/S/S) type guitars. allows up to 49 different series, parallel, series/parallel and In phase/out of phase pickup combinations on board. programmable from over
80+ total pickup combinations with pickup composer software application
and optional AMBROSONICS cable and connection kit.
let's see this in action with Mr Ambrosino himself!
what I love about this design is whatever combination you have chosen, it is stored in memory in relation to your 5 way switch! so that isn't enough for you? still want more? HD Hybrid Analog/DSP-45 Preamp Board
an on-board guitar or bass preamp system with HD Audio and 24 Bit digital signal processing effects. The HD DSP guitar preamp has fabulous
sounds and is a high quality product designed and made in the USA. It
features 15 DSP Effects, stereo headphone outputs and optional iPOD
inputs. A mini toggle, 3-position switch provides clean, analog distortion 1 and analog distortion 2 allowing for 45 different sounds.
The analog distortion levels and DSP effects levels are also under your
control! The preamp has a true by-pass switch for a passive non-preamp
mode of operation. There is no 9 volt battery required in by-pass mode.
DSP Effects: Stereo
Chours with Reverb, Deep Hall Reverbs, Delay 1, Delay 2, Room Reverbs,
Tank Reverb, Vintage Reverb, Stereo Chours, Flanger, Slight Lesley and
others.
Distortion Modes: Real Analog Distortion 1, Deeper Analog Distortion 2
here is the man again.
surely you must be more than happy now? you want what?
pots that glow in the dark? well they have them covered too! surely that is enough I feel confident in saying I have barely scratched the surface here there is so much information to keep you busy for hours go have a look at Ambrosonics click here
a set of solderless connectors for your guitar! why anyone hasn't come up with this sooner has got me stumped let's have a look at the front of the guitar. notice the set of Cycfi Aura Sidewinder pickups
now here's the back all hooked up and ready to go
it looks tidy and simple. no more solder fumes for technicians anymore! now a lot has been going on at Cycfi Research, especially now it is NAMM time go read up all about it on their blog click here I have read half their entries and that has taken one fascinating month, links included!
if I owned one of these I probably would spend more time looking at it than playing it Di Donato Guitars front
back
everything is hand made the aluminum frame, neck. body (for want of a better term) and pickups looks like ABM tuners but all the rest is bespoke the first time I have used that word. probably the last look at the pickup covers. I love how they are mounted
let's take a closer look at the back of one of these fine instruments
more like a sculpture let's see one in action
rather than spoil the fun, go look at Di Donato guitars website there are a lot of lovely images and it is very informative click here
has so many elements of what I want. aluminum neck. fanned fret. ergonomic shape. headless. can be a six, seven or eight string. bottle opener. but look at the neck profile!
moreover it has an interesting variant on the Z glide design that Dean Zelinksy uses. grooves that minimize the amount of tactile surface of the thumb.
my ultimate guitar is based on the posts I have made on this blog if i could describe it it would be this
7 string an aircraft grade aluminum neck no frets - the frets and the fret board would be one anodized fretboard- for durability
scalloping? dunno. neck through construction the body would be made with carbon fibre neodymium pickups some kind of synth pickup - the jury is out controls would be volume/tone/5 way switch/pickup synth blend maybe a kill switch - I have a pedal that does this ergonomic design a way to incorporate the body to be joined to the neck see Teuffel/Forshage/Canton/Conklin guitars fanned fret true temperament an intonation adjusting nut a way to incorporate a Livid Instruments Guitar Wing without it getting in the way of controls now let me think about the other variables so much to think about.... I feel a white board session about to happen.
I'm glad you asked I hope that I have mapped out all that needs to be described. probably a few things anything I have missed- have I missed anything? the best designs from what I have gleaned based on the elements I have described neck frets/fretboard
controls
body
bridge
pickups
so based on what I have described - that is the way ahead
the elements are the same
by the way, I never said I was building one guitar.
what does a cello have to do with new guitar design? well, I'll tell you. lift your game, guitar designers, the cello/violin/viola/bass community has advanced via one designer watch the video to get up to speed
I want to display the design process. this designer has compiled an awesome case for the defense plus it is not only dual purpose but multi purpose
go to their site I would describe it as an adventure so much to look at! click here
I felt somewhat out of place for not mentioning dedicated tapping instruments but none of the tapping instrument companies got back to me however, one did and I happy they came to the aid of my humble little blog home Mobius Megatar
what I like about this design is the specific options at your disposal. If you fill out the order form, you better do your homework. built with computer aided design, the future of guitar design, to all your specific needs.
so let's go through the process. time to build a dream guitar! standard quarter sawn sapele 9 piece neck and body with wenge fretboard add paduak/wenge/purple heart/maple/bubinga stripes? yes, all of these! figured core? no idea but throw that into the mix 3 full length carbon fibre re-enforcement rods (yes! carbon fibre!!) fanned frets
abalone or mother of pearl fretboard inlays
crossed string arrangement with bass strings on players right
abalone or pearl side dot markers. maybe alternate as I am feeling highly individual today bartolini humbuckers
a bartolini dual channel active preamp acoustiphonic piezo output and dual midi output
3-way humbucker switches (series, parallel, coil cut) graphtech string saver saddles gold hardware an oil finish a case a customized folding stand a luxury strap that was extensive! I wasn't kidding about being specific. let's see one in action
now take some time and have a good look at the Mobius site a lot of information, photos and videos. click here
