Official Luthiers Forum!

Has anyone tried building an Archguitar or know if plans are available somewhere?

For those of you who may not be familiar with this instrument check out archguitar.com. It is the website of the virtuoso player Peter Blanchette. I've had the good fortune to see Peter play in person several times and have a number of his outstanding CDs. The sound that comes out of this instrument is very large and due to the high number of strings it has an incredible octave range, making it possible to play with voicings that would not be possible on a conventional guitar.

It might be an interesting project to build one at some point, although it appears to be structurally more like a lute than a guitar.

Apparently, Peter's instruments are built by luthier Walter Stanul (http://www.archguitar.com/walter.html).

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Ric Hollander
Kings Park, NY
http://www.hollanderguitars.com

Ric,

Hmmm . . . that looks interesting Ask over on Harpguitars.net.

If you know the scale length you could come up with your own plans without to much trouble. The tricky bit will probably finging fingerboard and neck wood wide enough.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

I spent a couple afternoons with Walter talking about instrument making. He seemed very concerned with the wood choice, I think he was using pearwood for these instruments. He was very willing to talk to me and share ideas and I just stopped by unannounced. The range of sound that comes out of these, especially by Peter, is really amazing.

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