Svento

Visually I'd like it to be a bit longer. More wood at the upper end.

If humans were 100% rational yes, but I understand the desire. There's something special with only one pu. No, that became wrong - Specials are actually the ones with two pu:s... However, making a pick-guard covering the cavity should be a good solution.

I've been talking with some makers, players and sellers of electro acoustics. The big problem doesn't seem to be the jackplate, but that the sides should be reinforced around the jack. This would require taking off the soundboard which I'm not very interested in. Best compromise is probably a chinrest with integrated jack. The main reason for all this is the aestethical issue. I wan't the instrument to look electric. I'd like a volume knob in the soundboard too but I've dropped that idea because I'm not willing to sacrifice the acoustic tone. First I had the idea of an opening on the backside, then it would be easy to attach the volyme knob and reinforce the ribs, but it's a bit troublesome to make such thing on an arched bottom and besides I might damage the acoustic tone. The fiddle looks a bit like old jazz guitars or some semi acoustic Gretsch or whatever. It has a bit of rockabilly look to it and my idea is to go somewhere that way. I want an electric with full acoustic tone, not an amplified acoustic... In the future I also intend to replace the pegs with machine heads. http://www.sdc.org/~acahay/booklet.html, see the bottom of the page.

Yes, I have considered a chinrest with integrated electronics, it's just that I'd prefer a jackplate in the ribs for aestethical reasons. I don't have the skills necessary for making my own chinrest, so I'll have to spend some hundred dollars on one - that's an other reason I liked the idea of a jackplate in the ribs...

Indeed there are quite a few ways to handle this without doing any damage to the instrument. That's how I'll handle it if it turns out that I can't install the electrics permanently without destroying the instrument tonally. However, I'd prefer integrated electronics if that's possible. I'd like this instrument to become a true electric one, though with full acoustic tone ad output volume. Chinrest mounting is something i do consider but a normal chinrest wouldn't have room for anything like that. I'd need to mold the jack into epoxy or something and stick it to the chinrest. Acceptable but not elegant...

The only reason is that I don't wan't that. If electronics can't be integrated without ruining sound, of course I'll use some external electronics, but I'd prefer it permanently installed. Those electric chinrest cost fortunes too, I'd have to save money for some half a year... Compare that to a jack plate. Preamp won't be needed. I plug right in to a guitar amp. Done that for years and it works very fine.

I usually don't react much to how guitars sound. they sound strat or LP or hollow. More or less fat/sharp... But, man... I think this tele has a truely amazing tone. Maybe the best electric guitar tone I've ever heard. I'd like to make a semisolid fiddle with a solid neckthru centerstock and a singlecuttaway body made from bent and molded sheets. Carbonfibre fingerboard, singlecoil PU. Wood sucks!

No, "Tulip poplar" is not the same as the "Tulip wood" that is being discussed here. Confusing, yes, but they are very different woods. You're probably right. I made a search on American poplar and read somewhere that it's actually tulip wood. So that confusion seems to be well spread.

Looks very good. Would probably be even better without the wood on the body, just plexiglass glued to plexiglass.

I've seen Armstrong's stuff. My idea doesn't look the least fancy, as it will have a wooden block between the plasic... Didn't find the archtop, but I've had some semi-solid idea flashing around in my head the last few days, and it seems like I contamined some guy on some other forum. I don't believe my project will start to happen for quite some time yet. It's many different things about the overall construction that I must solve first, and then there's economy.

My latest idea is balsa with top and bottom of plexiglass.

Not if it is glued to a nice stable piece for the main body... If it's tulip wood it should work fine for a body. Tulip wood is what's called American poplar and it's commonly used for bodies as far as I know. They say it has a sound similar to basswood.

Should be a lot heavier...

It's built and I want it amplified. Ideally I'd install electronics permanently and integrated, but I'm not willing to sacrifice acoustic sound quality for those operation, for I really need a loud acoustic instrument that can be heard unplugged over the drums and over my voice. In that case I'll have it be an acoustic instrument with a pu instead of an electro-acoustic.

I think the sides are stiff for a different reason. I don't think that energy goes from the ribs to the soundboard. However. the sides should be fairly stiff not to absorb the vibrations of the soundboard. The bottom and the sides - as far as I know - are meant to contain the air amplifying the vibrations of the soundboard. A less dense material like mahogany would vibrate more than for example maple and some energy would be lost. Some of the highs would be cut and the sound would be warmer and less pronounced. There's a problem with the cylinder jack, I believe. Isn't it supposed to be fixed with one nut on each side of the wood? I can't get my hand into the body... The good thing with a jack plate, is that I can attach it there first, then attach the plate into the wood. I believe I'd have a slight extra reinforcement of the thin wood too.