Overview.
Over the years,
this subject has been very well
documented, and in this section I will be giving
you my own
personal opinions.....
this particular topic is after all very subjective.
I would not
say that I'm by any means an expert in the history of guitar design, and I'm not
going to go into 'exact
dates' and 'specific
designers', apart from maybe a
couple of the obvious names in this field, that would 'immediately spring to
mind' - this would really be a potential 'minefield'
as the 'experts' themselves have found out over the years. I have no intention
of making the 'same mistake'.
Methods of
Construction.
The Electric
Guitar
essentially
was born out of the old tried
and trusted methods
of making stringed musical instruments, which goes back centuries. The only
difference was to make an instrument that could have it's sound amplified so it
would be able to 'come
across' and be heard along with a large band consisting
of potentially many wind instruments with also piano, drums and percussion
etc, as
very often the lone guitarist would be
'hammering along' with the
rhythm..... and nobody could hear him - including probably himself !
The original electric guitars were essentially as I have said above - of traditional design and construction with pickups added, quite ornate and with the main structure glued together, in the time honoured fashion using very labour intensive methods. None the less though, by amplifying the traditional guitar - a New Virtuoso Instrument was born..... and popular music itself would be moulded by it from then on.
Early
in the development along came a True
Genius - Leo
Fender, who
designed a 'solid'
electric guitar that could be mainly made with large machine
tools, on a production
line, in a factory.
The rest is
history..... the same
basic methods
have been used worldwide ever since,
although modern technology
has moved on to make the process far more efficient
than it was originally - new body and neck designs and profiles come along, but the method
is essentially the same and has been since 1948
(approx) when the
Fender
Broadcaster
was first produced. The only difference in the intervening
50 plus years is
that machine tools have got
more complex,
much quicker and
now computerized.
The only guitars that are possibly 'made by hand', in this type of environment,
are the ones used for the original
patterns for each model, and then for any potential
modifications
or changes
in body or head shape, neck profile or hardware. Doing it any other way would not be
logical.
This type of design is perfect for mass
production as
different 'workshops' each make, finish and complete specific items : -
Body, Neck, Scratchplate, pickups, assorted hardware and fixings etc, which are
then all brought to an 'assembly
shop', where all
the component parts are fitted
together (assembled).
In this respect, it doesn't really matter where all the component parts come
from, as long as they reach the assembly shop in the correct quantities -
complete guitars
(or any other product, for that matter) will come out the 'other
end'.
Brilliant !
Due to the vast quantities involved, the materials are purchased at very low cost and therefore.....
The product can be made cheaply for a mass market !
* * * * *
As a luthier, I can honestly say that using reasonably basic hand and machine tools (which is the way I do it), it is far easier to make a traditional style guitar with an angled headstock than it is to make a guitar with a parallel headstock that was 'designed' to be made in a factory using mass production techniques.
* * * * *
Once
the 'cat was out of the bag', so to speak, the more traditional
companies had to try and 'compete'
with the competition and worked out various ways around the problem of mass
producing a product that was originally designed to be made in a different way
entirely, but still keep their own distinctive
style.
The Gibson Les
Paul was brought out in 1952
(approx).
* * * * * * * * * *
I should probably point out here, that the Rickenbacker company had produced 'Hawaiian' style guitars with pickups as early as 1931 (approx). As a company, they have 'ploughed their own furrow' since inception, using traditional type techniques, and over the years have had many innovative ideas which has given them their own very distinctive style, the most notable probably being the sound of their 12 string electric guitar models.
* * * * * * * * * *
In Brief.
Here
then is the basis for the two
main styles of
electric guitar that are still available today..... the 'fixed'
neck (set neck) and the 'bolt-on'
neck. (
I'll
mention the 'Thru-neck'
type a bit later on - which I also use myself ).
The Fixed neck
being..... 'this is the way it's
always
been done' - approach.
The Bolt-on
neck being..... 'if we do it this way, it will be so much
easier
to produce, we can cut
costs and make a
product available to a far wider
market' -
approach.
That is essentially - the way 'it' is.
Personal Preference.
Personally,
I have designed the majority my original
guitars around the traditional
approach - with
the fixed
neck and angled
headstock. Aesthetically
I believe
this method works better and also allows for
a nice smooth
and flowing
neck/body joint, but also I have always thought that
body contours
play a very important role too, and are an advantage as they do make guitars
more comfortable to hold over longer periods of time.
Designing and
Building a Guitar for Me. (
Thought process - start..... 01.05.02)
We are now in
2002 , and this year I got around
to playing on a more regular basis for the
first time
in a very long
time,
and am currently at the start of doing some work
in the studio with
a Mate
of mine - Tony. We are in the
middle of doing the first
track of hopefully
quite a few, and I'm actually sitting in that great environment for
a few hours at a time, for the first time in a long-long time and am thinking of the
sounds I want to
get down on tape/disk.
We've been working on this for about 6 hours a week for
the last couple of weeks and hopefully we can get this one mainly sorted after
another couple.
Currently
I'm using :
-
AMP
My Marshall JCM
800 Super Lead Head 100W
Split Channel Reverb (2210),
through a 1 X 12
Mini-Cab (Open
Back),
with a Celestion
150W Sidewinder at
8 ohms.
We're D.I.-ing
it to the desk straight
out the back of
the amp; and using a little bit of reverb on the amp too.
* *
* * * * *
* * *
[ 29.05.02..... I've just picked up a little Orange Crush 15W
Reverb Combo (solid state)..... the
reason being, that Lyn (my wife) has to 'cart' my Marshall
Head out to the car every time I go over to Tony's,
which is getting pretty regular - I can't lift that sort of weight anymore due
to my disabilities. Tony has to 'lug' it in at the other end too. The Little
Orange is a terrific little amp, (that you can lift with a finger).....
it's got a 'funky' fuzzy overdrive, but I think the
clean channel lacks headroom - even in a studio environment, but I did stick my 'Big
Muff' through it and it's great. The only other thing it lacks is a 'preamp-out' jack, but I am intending to get a switched jack put in the back to
bypass the internal speaker to go to a 1x12 and also use a Hughes
and Kettner Red Box DI to the desk.
Hopefully that combination should sort me out for the time being, but I would
still like to get hold of a
little Laney
LC15 Reverb Combo for the valve side of
things. Hopefully that will have me sorted out in the studio.
Back to the little Orange
Crush 15 Reverb..... I reckon, if they made
a 45W foot switch-able version of this amp
(Suggestion.....Orange Crush 45 Reverb
and even an Orange Crush 75 Reverb and
in this case also offer a Small Head (
size) and
separate 1X12 or 2X10 Cab),
and could keep the same basic
characteristics, with the addition of an FX loop, preamp out and have a suitable
12" Celestion (or a pair of 10" Celestions), and speaker bypass too, they would be real winners and I
could whole heartedly recommend them, if
they were at the right price..... It might
be worth an e-mail ?
BTW... They have recently
introduced an Orange Crush 30R
which is excellent.]
* * * * * * * * * *
Currently we are now using a Marshall DRP1 (Direct Recording Preamp) straight to desk for the clean side of things. That certainly works exceedingly well.
PEDALS
A Electro
Harmonix Big Muff - I've just fixed my
Electro
Harmonix Big Muff pedal, (it's an original
from the '70s)..... I think it is
probably the best pedal of that that type available.
Without doubt - My favorite.
A Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
-
Have just got this one S/H, and I think it is
excellent
and
very versatile, much more so than the other 'Blues' type pedals I've tried -
in my opinion.
A Marshall Guv'nor Overdrive
- You can get a great
"Gary Moore"
type drive from this one, but that is all I really use it for.
A Boss DS-1
- I've just picked this one up secondhand in mint condition and boxed and gave
it a whizz the other day. A very usable
pedal with 3
basic controls allows you to dial in quite
a variety of distortions. Great sounding and quiet..... I like it but will need
to trial it a bit more first before I could rate it.
A Jim Dunlop
Cry-Baby Wah GCB 95 - A 'little' noisy, but a
great
Wah tone. I'd like to give a Morley
a try sometime and a
Mutron as
well, if I can find one. I have an old Coloursound
from the '70s as well which
has a slightly different sort of mechanical action and sounds more 'Funky' to
me. I think on balance I prefer this one as a unit as a whole, but she's rather
fragile now so she's been put into 'semi-retirement'.
I'm currently looking for an Ibanez Tubescreamer (or reissue) and a Pro Co Rat.
GUITARS
Firstly, Tony's really
nice old CMI
Natural T*l*caster with
Ash body and Maple neck.... for the rhythm
cut - Great sounding guitar.
Then, My
old battered Gold
Korean
Squire St**t through
the Wah to
get a..... Funky/Shafty feel..... its funny, it sound just like a
honky
St**t should - Great.
Next
week I'm probably going to take my Tokai
'V' and stick it
through the Big Muff
or Guv'nor to get a
bit of overdrive for a lead
segment.....
fingers crossed all goes as well as it's gone so far. I might try the Boss
BD-2 as well.
[29.05.02.....
I did take it, but stuck it through
The Big Muff and the Little
Orange's clean channel - sounds great.
We'll have to get the speaker bypass jack sorted
so we can use the 'Red Box'
and get the sound direct to the desk - can't wait ! ]
* * * * * * * * * *
All
this has made me think about making
myself a guitar,
for me to do the sorts of things
I'm into.
It will
not be possible to achieve all the sounds I want in one
instrument, but it will enable me to cover a
mixture of Humbucker and
Single coil sounds that I will need in a live
situation.
I've initially decided to go for a : -
Royale Huntress.
Vintage White (Cream), or 'Limed'
with Black / White / Black Scratchplate.
Body and neck..... Mahogany
Fingerboard..... Rosewood
- possibly bound.
Head veneer..... Ebony
- possibly bound.
Scale length..... 24
5/8".
Frets..... 22 heavy gauge.
Hardware.
Bridge Humbucker (Tapable).
Middle Single coil.
Neck Humbucker (Tapable).
5 way selector.
1 volume and 2 tones with black knobs.
Bridge
Tremolo...... of some sort - Kahler
Pro (Chrome)..... possibly !
Machine
heads..... Schaller or
Gotoh
- Chrome.
Strap locks -
Chrome.
Coil tap switches.
As a Second guitar, I will hopefully make a Sister for his one.....
The same basic concept : -
Royale Huntress.
This time with a Translucent Cherry
finish.
2 P-90 pickups and a Single coil in the middle.
( The same hardware as the above.)
With these two guitars I should be able to get all the sounds I will need, apart from a T*l*caster type sound, and I think the only way to get that is to get or make a T*l*caster, or just borrow Tonys' !. Ha !
..... I'll continue this section as soon as I can.
I'd also like to do this section bit by bit with photos of the whole process from start to finish. It is something I have always wanted to keep a record of, but have never been able to for various reasons.....
Please
pop back every now and again to see how it's
going.
You can get to
the section from the Homepage or
here below : -
DESIGNING AND BUILDING A GUITAR FROM SCRATCH
( Click Above )
This will be an on-going project in "real time" alongside the other things I will be doing.