Attaching Wood To Metal.

[Whappy]

Hey,

I'm completely new to guitar making. I've never done it before. I've often thought of making my own musical instruments but I haven't yet got around to it until now. I'd like to make a 12 string guitar with a horn coming out of it. In case you're wondering what the hell I mean, it was inspired by this: http://www.springersmusic.co.uk/Library/In...ophone%20fs.JPG

I'm sure I could follow some instruction book to make the guitar, so my main question is how would I connect the wood to the metal? My assumption would be that I'd have to glue it somehow? Any ideas?

P.S. How cool is Pat Metheny's 42 string Pikasso guitar!

[Nitefly SA]

glue or rivit or bolt, why the hell do you wany a horn on it?

[Southpa]

The horn on the violin is to amplify the sound. I can see it being effective on a violin because the violin is played with a bow. This sustains the notes enough to allow continuously strong soundwaves to pass through the length of the horn. I don't see it working all that well on an acoustic guitar because the energy produced by a plucked string isn't enough and dies out too quickly.

[Whappy]

well, a guitar can play as loud as a violin, so i don't see how that would affect anything in any way?

[Mattia]

well, a guitar can play as loud as a violin, so i don't see how that would affect anything in any way?

Uh, no, it certainly can't, not without amplification. You've clearly never listened to a violin properly. Look, a solo violin can, without problems, fill a concert hall without any amplification. An acoustic guitar cannot, not to the same degree.

Other than looking silly, I'm not sure this would give you much of any sound benefit.

[Nitefly SA]

how can a violin be so loud with its little size?

[Mattia]

how can a violin be so loud with its little size?

I'm no expert on the things, but size has little to do with how loud it can get. Are Jumbo acoustics necessarily louder than OM's or OOO? In terms of decibels...no. Because there's only so much string energy, and it needs to get the top moving. More mass to move, less energy per unit mass. Gross simplification, but still. This is about volume, though, not percieved loudness. It's probably also got to do with frequency spectrum, but an acoustic guitar's sound doesn't 'carry' as far.

Re: violins, from what little I understand about them, it goes something like this: it gets constant energy from the bow (pluck a violin string and a guitar string, guitar's gonna be louder; bow the violin, different story), driving the frequency response, having the whole thing resonate. Simply put: more energy in, more energy out.

[Supernova9]

I'm completely new to guitar making. I've never done it before. I've often thought of making my own musical instruments but I haven't yet got around to it until now. I'd like to make a 12 string guitar with a horn coming out of it.

All I really want to say to posts like this is:

Don't run before you can walk.

Seriously, you're completely new to guitar building? Start with something SIMPLE! Do you really think people like Bob Taylor/Paul Reed Smith etc. started by making the kind of instruments you're talking about?

[tirapop]

You might be inspired by that violin, but, I don't think you really understand how it works. This isn't just a horn attached to the body of the violin. Look at the bridge. It isn't sitting on the violin's top, like a conventional violin. That metal contraption is probably driving a resonator, like on a Stroh violin, that's connected to the horn.

Sticking a horn on the side of the body isn't going to do very much. Most of the string energy is going to be driving the top and moving the air in contact with the top.

As far as attaching a metal horn to a wood body... if you have the metalworking skills to make a horn, make a flanged metal plate you can bolt to the wood body and attach the horn to.

You could make the horn out of wood.

Specimen makes theirs out of "specially impregnated cellulose fiber". You could make a form (mold) and cold-mold veneer to the shape. Check out books on lightweight boat building.

[Stickmangumby]

Try building a normal guitar first. There's no way in hell you'll be able to successfully make something like this on your first build. Ultimately you will waste time and effort, and possibly even be so frustrated that you will abandon all future attempts at building instruments. Without a background and skills in woodwork and metalwork this project won't even get off the ground.

Sorry, I'm not meaning to be harsh, but I think that's just the plain truth.

[Hoser Rob]

Yes, a normal violin is much louder than a guitar. If you don't know that you haven't been around them too much. For that matter, a mandolin is louder too. That's why bluegrass players have heavy strings and high action ... they have to play hard to get heard over them. Just because the guitar is bigger doesn't mean it's louder. Having a bigger box means more bass response but not more volume per se.

For one thing, they're moveable bridge instruments. It's more efficient ... if you've ever tried an archtop guitar you'll notice they project pretty well. Also, with guitars only the top is making sound. The back of a mandolin acts as a sound pump, not just the top. And violins produce sound over their whole area.

As for building a guitar with a horn ... what the hell for? There's a reason you don't see violins with them very much. As was said before, make a real guitar (or 2 or 50) and then start inventing.