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I’m sure you guys didn’t ha..
I made a choice on my current build… # 24
And I’m thinking.., hmmmmmmm:)
It looks good and taps out good, but I probably don’t see this often for good reason
So the question is.. what have you done (when you were new) that was … a lil different haha


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I think this could classify as different. It was built in the 80's.

If something like that is sketch, it is only because of narrow minds.

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Why be normal?

You know, The nice thing about building guitars is when this one is done you get to make another.....

Yes … unless the guitar lords contact you and say “ya know … after that last attempt… we think it best for you to find something else to do “:)


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Well, what did you do?

Pat

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Pat

Why wait?

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I still do things sketchy as an old builder.... this ain't brain surgery. None of my failures have killed anybody (so far).
If I am building something for someone else I stick with things that are tried and true, but if I want to try something different I'm only wasting my time and a few pieces of wood.

It’s only sketchy if it doesn’t work out. It’s part of the way we learn and develop our place in this craft. And like Clay, I keep on trying things too.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Well I mixed brace wood for the spruce top
For the x brace the upper transverse brace and one of the time bars I used spruce as normal.
For the finger braces and the other tone bar I used cedar.
My reasoning was that some of the less structural braces would be lighter and require less energy to move while still being strong enough to support the radius of the top


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Early on I did some experimentation in the spirit of Kasha Snieder designs. They all ended up retopped at some point. l learned that for me sticking to traditional designs is best. Sketch seems to be the wrong word but I think maybe that is what you mean.


I did that on several classical fan braced guitars. The middle 3 were spruce and the outer fans were cedar. I resolved that I could do the same thing by simply making the spruce braces thinner

I have to admit I have two of my earlier guitars sitting in line to get retopped. Fortunately they didn'g go to clients! I had thought that building a very light and thin top would be responsive. Turns out there is a limit

Then there was my first electric guitar ...

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

This is a 8-string bouzouki guitar (strung like a guitar, with octave courses on the 4th and 3rd strings), multi-scale, fan fret. After building five conventional guitars I figured that I now had a few basic skills and I wanted to try something original and different. I learned a lot, and I find it fun to play an instrument with a different voice and character. I think if you are going to put your skills and a couple of hundred hours of effort into a project why would you build something that is just like a factory-built guitar. That is like having skills as a painter and spending all of your time making quite nice copies of the Mona Lisa.

Hi Mark,
I've built a few 8 string instruments. One nice thing about them is that with a few extra notches in the bridge and nut they can be strung as 4 double courses or 6 courses, two doubled.

I just saw this on the side of YouTube. I think that this one has 11 strings? I don't know that you need 11 strings, but it sounds good.

https://youtu.be/Cp1-bAceoCo

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Why be normal?

Clay, that is a great idea to have flexibility in how you string it up! I made two nuts to be able to switch it to 4 double courses, but your arrangement is more easily changed from one configuration to another.