One-piece Guitar

[eternal_metalhead]

Is it possible to build a guitar from a big slab of wood (white korina, or mahogany for example) and then add the truss rod, the fingerboard and etc.? If it's not, why?

And what are the biggest advantages of this design ?

[tubab0y]

the sustain from doing something like that would be simply insane. i'd do it in a minute if i could find a piece of wood big enough.

it's definitely possible, though.

[eternal_metalhead]

Thinking about it, I think it would be really tough and pricey to do because

- A perfect piece of wood (no knots or anything) of this dimension is tough to find

- It would cost too much

However, I really like the idea. Anyone done it ?

BTW Thanks for the reply.

[verhoevenc]

White korina in those types of deminsions is VERY easy to find all over europe from what I saw when I was there. And not to mention, perfectly quartered pieces. Hell, the slabs I saw, perfectly quartered, would have been thick enough, wide enough, and long enough to pop maybe 3 of the above mentioned guitars out. HOWEVER, cool, yes, but logical. Not really. There are reasons to the madness in guitar building. Doing this would make running wires very hard, carving some places very hard, solid white limba would probably get kinda boring, tiltback headstocks are weaker than scarfed ones,... the list goes on. Would it be a cool finish product? Yes. Would it probably work and sound great? Yes. But you could get something just as cool and functional in the traditional ways. I guess it jsut depends on what you want. When I was a noob I really wanted to do this exact thing too... but it'll go away in due time, fear not.

Chris

[Jon]

Oh, you guitarists and your sustain.

Here's one of my favorite guitar builds done with 2 glue joints total.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=294782

[Prostheta]

What about that pure cocobolo guitar? That was insane. IIRC, that was one or perhaps two glue joints.

[mattharris75]

I believe that's the one Jon's referring to.

[Jon]

What about that pure cocobolo guitar? That was insane. IIRC, that was one or perhaps two glue joints.

The point is it's possible, but not practical to build a guitar out of a big slab of wood. At least that's the consensus.

[thegarehanman]

How about this, how about you just send me that huge slab of cocobolo, and instead of building 1 solid guitar, I build 2 guitars with set neck joints that sound the same as or better than some 1 piece guitar? eh? But seriously, in a blind test, I'd bet money that you couldn't tell the difference between the solid guitar and a set neck or neck through if it was the same wood from the same tree with all of the same hardware etc.

[Prostheta]

I believe that's the one Jon's referring to.

You're right...the link opened the thread halfway down at Hooglebug's purple mirror-top :-D

As for a blind test, I agree! There aren't enough fundamental flaws in our exalted instruments at this stage in the 21st century to warrant going back and inventing the wheel again.

Edited June 16, 2007 by Prostheta

[Jon]

I've done the blind test, neck-thru's feel great on the upper registers. But other than aesthetics, I can't say there is any tonal difference.

[Jon]

There aren't enough fundamental flaws in our exalted instruments at this stage in the 21st century to warrant going back and inventing the wheel again.

Blasphemer! I will re-invent the guitar so that it will have a mobile camera built into it. So rockstars can take pictures of the audience! I will call it the "iTar". I'll make millions! Maybe release a later model that plays the guitar for the player. I see your lip-syncing and raise you an iTar!

[weaponepsilon]

I guess if you were able to leech wood from a solid table or even a piano top you could. It doesn't seem like it would be very cost effective to walk down to your local wood shop and get a piece like that. Go find a solid, one piece table or something or look in the paper/craigslist/etc.

[Prostheta]

There aren't enough fundamental flaws in our exalted instruments at this stage in the 21st century to warrant going back and inventing the wheel again.

Blasphemer! I will re-invent the guitar so that it will have a mobile camera built into it. So rockstars can take pictures of the audience! I will call it the "iTar". I'll make millions! Maybe release a later model that plays the guitar for the player. I see your lip-syncing and raise you an iTar!

Nyaha. My hand wins. A full house of pair of USB ports, full of MIDI jacks.

[Woodenspoke]

Is it possible to build a guitar from a big slab of wood (white korina, or mahogany for example) and then add the truss rod, the fingerboard and etc.? If it's not, why?

And what are the biggest advantages of this design ?

I have seen pieces of wood big enough to make into a single guitar. Honestly other than as a "how can I waste my wood project" I see no point other than to see if it can be done.

Sustain, will it be better, who knows really, A neck through seems like it would do about the same and others claim it does nothing anyway.

What we need is some super rich person with no life to document all the factors for each species of wood, its construction, and hardware selection, so we can make an informed decision on what sound we will get at the end of a project.

Your idea just may just turn out to be an expensive block of wood which sounds the same as every other guitar.

My 2 1/2 cents worth of no advise. I like the ITar quote Jon, but now they will incorporate it into the iphone so no more guitars, Thanks a lot buddy ,LOL

Woodenspoke

Edited June 17, 2007 by Woodenspoke

[Woodenspoke]

Turn the camera around and call it the ICrotch guitar; the vid feed is directly uploaded to Utube during the show. Makes a real statement

Woodenspoke (sicko)

[Daniel Sorbera]

Remember that if you just glue the fingerboard on the neck the bottom of it will be on the same plane as the body, because of this the strings will be much closer to the body than with traditional designs. You'll have to either angle the neck (which would require a very thick piece of wood) or recess an already low profile bridge.

It can be done, but it's a pain in the butt to build, and offers no real benefits. Your sustain won't be any better than a well done neck through or set neck. The only possible advantage to it is bragging rights and cosmetics (and even than you could build a neck through or set neck that looks just as good or better).

It's an interesting idea (one which I had when I started building) but doesn't really hold water.

If you want to talk about insane, I was going to build a 1 piece (including fingerboard) out of wenge That would have been, oh, about 20 pounds

[eternal_metalhead]

Well thanks for all the replies. I'm sorry, I was away from home so I couldn't reply. Thanks again. How do you think a white limba body and neck neck-thru would sound ?

Rich like mahogany with more highs ? That's what I'm looking for.

[SoundAt11]

I don't find Limba to be any brighter than Mahogany, just a little clearer and resonant (sometimes, Mahogany sounds more stiff and compressed to me).

I say go with the 1pc guitar idea. I've wanted to do this for a while. Alternatively, you could glue 2 pieces side-by side and be able to route your wiring channel on the inside of the joint before gluing it up.

Main things to look for:

Recessed or Flat-Mount bridge, due to the fretboard not being very high off the body.

If you go with one piece, you'd need to drill your wiring holes creatively. My suggestion:

Drill from the end strap hole all the way to the neck pickup cavity. Then connect your bridge pickup cavity to your control cavity by drilling from your jack location.

Go with Quartersawn wood to make sure it stays stable.

[eternal_metalhead]

I don't find Limba to be any brighter than Mahogany, just a little clearer and resonant (sometimes, Mahogany sounds more stiff and compressed to me).

I say go with the 1pc guitar idea. I've wanted to do this for a while. Alternatively, you could glue 2 pieces side-by side and be able to route your wiring channel on the inside of the joint before gluing it up.

Main things to look for:

Recessed or Flat-Mount bridge, due to the fretboard not being very high off the body.

If you go with one piece, you'd need to drill your wiring holes creatively. My suggestion:

Drill from the end strap hole all the way to the neck pickup cavity. Then connect your bridge pickup cavity to your control cavity by drilling from your jack location.

Go with Quartersawn wood to make sure it stays stable.

I am sorry I won't go with this idea. Looks a bit "too much" to begin with. But hey SoundAt11, aren't you an eBay seller ?

[Prostheta]

Not for much longer - Will is winding up his selling activity! If you're implying that Will is pushing his trade in some obscure way, he isn't. I agree, the idea sounds a bit "too much" but hell - so did the Steinberger headless and the Parker Fly. I don't see why an independant luthier couldn't concoct and manage this idea :-D

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole because it's a huge-ass waste of wood, but imagine the bragging rights (etc) :-D

[Cherryburst]

If sustain is most important, you want the wood along the path of the strings to be as dense as possible - that means hard maple.

A maple neck through with a maple or ebony fretboard (regardless of whatever wood is used for the sides) will probably give you more sustain than all-Korina or all-mahogany. (anyone else agree or disagree?)

[Prostheta]

IIRC, ebony is actually a fairly "dead" wood compared to most....

Density doesn't necessarily translate to sustain, and realistically why iterate wood choice so much when sustain is purely an acoustic phenomenon? I can't see anyone holding a LP up in the air and telling you it'll sustain for weeks. Or you'd hear it if it was being played.

Maple is a better choice for sure, but sustain is a pointless goal when a compressor and/or a little feedback achieves that aim much better than an instrument will.

Unless you want to hold a note for a day out of pure aesthetic minimalism :-D

Just me being silly here. One-piece would make for infinite bragging rights, as mentioned previously, but would be a huge case of diminished returns on the acoustic properties.

[GregP]

Every time someone uses "sustain" as a selling point for a product (cue TonePros bridges... etc....) I just about want to bash my own skull in, for the reasons Prostheta gives above.

I can't even remember the last time I held a note longer than the length of my LEAST "sustaining" guitar. If you have music that requires that many sustaining notes, Prostheta's 'compression and feedback' will do just fine... and add Ebow to the mix if the sustaining effect is for orchestration of a song....

I'm inclined to believe everything I've read here from pros and amateurs alike, about multi-piece guitars, mixing and matching woods, glue joints, neck laminations, etc... and I don't see any benefit to a one-piece guitar.

[Jon]

Maybe I don't understand one's need to have a guitar that will ring a single note out for an entire minute. But I play a little faster than that.