Helldunkel

It's a Toona, here found this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toona

I dont think that anybody can really reply to your question, the final sound of a guitar comes from multiple factors, the woods are only part of the equation.

The stiffness to weight ratio can also vary tremendously from a board to another so the "weight" and "produced acoustic sound" can be totally different, even from a piece providing from the same blank.

I would say that right now, your most important concern would be to actually ask to that dealer if he can provide you with any proof of the wood's internal moisture content, because you want to make sure that the wood is properly seasoned unless you are prepared for that. Preferably 10-12% but before using it you must leave it stacked until it drops down to 8-9%

And if you get a good deal on blanks which are properly seasoned (preferably quatersawn), then that's all full of win

I wish people would stay off of their necks.That sort of a test proves nothing at all about the strengths of different construction methods.

And I totally agree, I was just braking a stupid stereotype of guys who say that "mahogany necks" are not strong enough...

I could even be a little picky by saying that the neck on the video was built using SIPO mahogany which is a significantly stiffer specie then the Sapelli...

But we all know anyway that "mahogany" is all the same...

The epic thing about posting these thype of videos is when you read the comments like this one here:

Youreallysuckguy wrote:

"Did you use the neck on a real guitar after that?"

Reply:

@Youreallysuckguy dear customer, thank you for purchasing this unique creation! BTW we are proud to announce to you that the designer and creator of this guitar has made a video in which you can clearly see him jump on the neck in order to test its strength, we hope that you wont be bothered by this little minor detail... Best regards

hufschmidguitars1 il y a 1 mois 12

:D

You live in a beautiful country.Seems so peaceful.Around here it is "hurry,hurry,hurry" every waking hour to get some unknown "thing" accomplished,and in the end all you end up doing is making some other guy rich and getting to be part of the rat race in return.

Peaceful? Switzerland is probably one of the greatest places to get stressed, no kidding, you wont like living here unless its only for taking pictures, not only because its exactly what you describe above but also because of the living expenses which are absolutely insane...

But yeah the country side is epic for taking awesome pictures but that's about it, I've had a customer visit me from Paris - France which is supposed to be the mighty expensive place to live, well he was pretty shocked by the living expenses in switzerland after his short visit

More pics here:

http://www.hufschmidguitars.com/aigle.html

Ok Patrick, I would like to congradulate you on reading wikipedia and quoting almost verbatim. Next time do some real homework, so you know that a compression truss of metal inside wood has been used in building since the inception of metals.( Se roman aquaduct construction).

Btw....when you were 5 yrs old, I was working at Gibson. So go easy with the feigned indignance. I wasn't belittling you, just wanted you to elaborate on your opinion...which I do agree with.

Congrats for trying to show me your infinite superiority for working at Gibson when I was 5 years old. And so what?

Would be a little bit more interesting and honnest to talk about your function at Gibson as an employee instead since you are using their name to add more credibility to yourself

Funny that you talk about reaserch and homework otherwise you would have not started your arrogant quote by saying that Thaddeus McHugh invented the truss rod

Elaborating my comment? I dont think so, check back at your post. Next time dont start a quote with such arrogance as you can see that it brings nothing at all, just another page of bashing fest which is indeed soooooooooo productive and interesting. I wasn't belittling you either, just reacting to your "so your telling me that..."

most "classical" builders use graphite in their necks these days because Quartersawn wood is more costly than adding a $4 piece of graphite, so can the classical guitar crap, guitars are made as inexpensively as possible for maximum profit potential.

Not at all, they buy flatsawn stock, cut out the necks, flip them over, and glue them together so that they become quatersawn.

Quatersawn stock is just as cheap as flatsawn if you buy it first as flatsawn stock and use this technique ...

Here a diagramm to visualise. Could have also been a 3 or two piece neck...

Dr. Hufschmid, you make beautifully crafted pieces of musical machinery. I can only hope to be at least 1% as talented as you.

Thank you for your kind words, that made my day

What is up with the castle on page 2?

château d'Aigle

As for angled headstocks vs flat headstocks. To each his own.

I made this funny video couple weeks ago, I wanted to brake a myth about people who say that "mahogany" necks are easy to brake...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzg992kkF1g

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Oversized template, straight bit, no bearing and a guide installed on the router base.

But as soon as you start posting stuff here you are directly providing the same bunch of builders with ideas and inspiration...its quite natural that somebody coming here to learn how to build guitars will look at the way better builders are doing it and copy certain things.

Yeah and I enjoy posting to help guys see how its done BUT I dont share everything

One of my very last laminated necks and lacquer finished guitar was an 8 string

cant find any more pics, sorry

and here is my last lacquer finished instrument, after that I totally switched to oil finishes... another BC Rich ripp off! hahaha

The biggest majority of legendary guitar players in the world play or have played on flat headstocks, even satriani had his ibanez designed with a flat head.

Maybe so,but that would fall into the same "hype" category as buying a set of pickups because Metallica uses them,would it not?

Just teasing.I never noticed your headstocks were flat,I think because of the graceful volute you use.Nevertheless I prefer angle headstocks,because I always use a Floyd locking nut,and I match the radius of the nut with the angle of the headstock so I don't have to use a string retainer...I don't always get it perfect,but I try.

I realize this is a piss poor pic,but it should show what I am going for(which is nothing new)

Yeah that looks sweet. I've built several angled headstocks in the past, I always came back to the straigth heads, again because I dont like scarf joints and grain runout, but that's just me...

... the hype is actually the angled heads! hahaha

yeah - seen the Benedetto vids, it does make a lot of sense to me doing it that way - never sure about the way he tapers the headstock thinner though - especially with equal height tuners :? - yes, i would even go as far as questioning someone like benedetto on the odd small detail

i think my main issue with a non-angled 3-aside headstock is that it usually requires the addition of a string retainer, well even the fender way usually requires string trees - and i like to keep nut to tuner as free as possible... only time i really move from that is on stuff like low tuned guitars/baritones where behind the nut resonance can be a negative issue.

if you fancy having a go with a piece of quartersawn macasser ebony for a neck then give me a shout - i had enough for two necks, built one and dont know when i will get around to doing another! Bit undecided about whether i want to keep it or not

One other thing which is very interesting especially when your an artisan - immitations....

See anybody who wants to rip off your idea on internet, you know those smart guys who say "I want to build a hufschmid clone because I cant afford one but I like them" or the perfect case of the person who really wants to rip off your ideas, you know?

Well he cant unless he builds a one piece quatersawn neck and a straight headstock...

I mean by that, anybody can laminate pieces of wood together to some point and get a good result BUT most of those guys who ripp off ideas always seam to enjoy building laminates and neck trought guitars - HA

Get my point? If you want to lets say copy or rip off a hufschmid clone, why not BUT it wont be a hufschmid unless you build the same ways using the same selected wood (which require considerable resource) and building techniques like bolt-on (which I dont see very much because most of those guys are not precise and good enough to cut a clean neck pocket...

hehe

And even thou I share Wez view of the head construction I do understand that you have a solid customer base that like you style and that headstock design, so just keep it up. This is my favorite this month

Thanks

Just to clarify: I am not a custom shop and I take pride building one piece necks since the very first day. Adding an angle to the headstock on a one piece neck would be a huge waist of mother nature but also would not be strong enough because of grain runout.

I am also using an exclusive material for the string retainers and nuts which I am the only to be using + a new neck reinforcement system which I invented so its not JUST a regular non angled headstock.

I also cant stand the looks of a scarf joint (which I have built in the past) I also dont approve that building method - and that is also my opinion and the opinion of many other guitar builders who dont like angled headstocks haha

Like you say each their own style

yea - each to their own!

Completely agree about 1-piece angled necks being a waste and weak - thats why i went down the laminate (usually 3 or 5 piece) route. I find this to be the best use of mother natures resources as looking for 1-piece blanks around here led me to reject a lot of wood!

I went off scarfs a few years ago. I still think they are preferable to a one piece angled neck though... a did experiment with a few laminate centre/scarfed outer necks a few years ago but mainly as a way to use up smaller pieces of decent wood

again - it comes down to a style thing as with my comments to boggs above. I just dont think the flat headstock back/volute on your necks looks as graceful as the angled version would. Again i will point out how i find real critique more useful than "wow, i want to have your babies" comments

Laminates are so much easier, you can actually buy a well seasoned flatsawn board, cut out a bunch of necks, then you flip them over and glue them together and you have quatersawn stock. Benedetto shows this technique in his videos (you must check them out, epic!)

However I dont personally like building my guitars like a sandwich, I do hunt for one pieces and quatersawn stock

Also, some makers / companies dont even bother to carve a volute when they build flat headstocks... (fender?)

I agreee, I dont care either for "I want to have your babies comments", and I dont care about Hype, this is why I do things against the grain and run away as much as possible from hype.

There are also several things that I dont find graceful AT ALL in most builds I see on this board, but I also dont critique other collegues work, because I respect their style (like you say each their own) and even if I dont like what they do, I keep it for myself.

The biggest majority of legendary guitar players in the world play or have played on flat headstocks, even satriani had his ibanez designed with a flat head.

I've also never seen a damaged broken flat headstock, have you?

However I've noticed that as soon as you post a flat headstock guitar (which is not vintage picture in a forum, people wonder why you dont add an angle AS IF an angle is the only way to go for... funny

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/6756/photo524.jpg

What bit did you use inside the f-hole? Must be tight.

The bit was custom built for me by a local company, its a little smaller then the one from stewmac for routing the truss rod channel.

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So you're saying that before truss rods were invented in the 1950's by Ted McHugh, that guitars couldn't survive without bending drastically?

So you're saying that you are not aware that classical guitars have a huge fingerboard thickness when compared to any steel string instruments and most of them have been strung up with either nylon or gut strings which has nothing to do at all physically when it comes to tension - period

Most classical guitar maker of our days reinforce their necks with either a strip of ebony OR a strip of graphite because bow in a neck is inevitable under string tension.

The backbow your talking about after fretting will go away by itself in only a couple of days or months, but it will be gone...

Also if your expecting to make a living out of building guitars and shipping them all over the world, you must also consider climat change and moisture exchange differences which your little neck without any rod will never be able to face, reason why most classical makers use graphite inside the necks of our days

edit: a few notes about what you call truss rod:

The first truss rod patent was applied for by Thaddeus McHugh, an employee of the Gibson company, in 1921 [1] , although the idea of "truss rod" can be encountered in patents as early as 1908

and I shall add to this - and also a couple hundered years before 1908, the idea of neck reinforcement has been arround since the early lute days...

truss it, a neck without a truss rod can not possibly face string tension on its own and not on the long run

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That is one well seasoned chisel. What is the hole in the first fret slot for? It looks like it was drilled on purpose.

SR

15 years old chisel mate Have used the same chisel on all my builds and I love it

The two holes are used when gluing the fingerboard to prevent it from shifting, the small nails have been removed now.

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