Carved archtop

[lawson-stone]

I like the placement of the thumb-wheel controls. Never seen it done like that before.

[JazzNote]

Matt, what a gorgeous looking guitar, very beautiful!

I was a bit surprised that the port had the effect of adding volume from the f holes and very little sound from the port itself.

I don't really understand - what do you mean by that? Do you hear more sound from the f holes than from the port, or is there more sound coming out of the f holes because of the port? (sorry my english is not good enough to comprehend)
And another question: what exactly would one call the color of the guitar?

[neatomic]

beautiful in every way...love the schatten positioning...interesting about the port driving the f hole volume!!

great work!

cheers

[Matt Cushman]

I like the placement of the thumb-wheel controls. Never seen it done like that before.

Thanks Lawson! The first time I used this location for tone and volume was on the AT I built just prior to this one. You must have missed some of my earlier posts about that guitar. It seems to be popular with those who have tried it out. It makes for easy access for the player and allows for a very short wire run to the pickup which I think helps keep the circuit nice and quiet.

Matt, what a gorgeous looking guitar, very beautiful!



I don't really understand - what do you mean by that? Do you hear more sound from the f holes than from the port, or is there more sound coming out of the f holes because of the port? (sorry my english is not good enough to comprehend)
And another question: what exactly would one call the color of the guitar?

Thanks JazzNote! Yes, the guitar is loud with most of the sound directed out from the top of the guitar. I used a microphone for some testing and there is sound coming from the port but the levels of sound are much greater at the F hole area. There is no doubt that somehow the port has increased greatly, the amount of volume produced when compared to my non ported AT guitar. The color of the pictures are a bit off and I considered taking some new ones. The photos have a greenish tinge from the green room I used for the photos. The color is a blend of amber and yellow dye. The color is best described as light amber.

beautiful in every way...love the schatten positioning...interesting about the port driving the f hole volume!!

great work!

cheers

Thanks neatomic! I was delighted and surprised at the tone of this guitar. My theory is that the port allows for a free flow of air in the box which helps the back reflect its sound through the f holes. I was also able to thin the f holes by adding extra binding without restricting or reducing the total volume of the combined sound holes. There are some who think a narrow F hole is at an advantage over a wider one.

[Papawooly]

Matt,
That guitar looks amazing, the effect you witnessed about the port making the overall guitar louder
was described to me by Robert Garcia (San Jose, CA Luthier of Classical Guitars)
I recently met Robert and his guitars employ Ruck style porting...

Robert told me that he had invited some of his fellow audiophiles over whereupon they measured SPL
with ports opened and plugged. At normal paying levels, the open ported guitar was +3dB compared
to same guitar, same room played seconds later, but plugged. With exaggerated forte the difference
was even more dramatic, with peaks in the 7 to 10dB range!
When I thought about it later, it seemed obvious, much like how a silencer functions...
Added benefit of this porting (and also why Robert's guitars sound so amazing while you are playing them)
is the ports allow the player to have an added monitoring effect.
The guitar shown is Robert's latest, a Hernandez inspired (but using Robert own design)



Only issue I have, is (I'm not kidding) when I play all of my other guitars, it sounds like my left ear is missing...
I'm about to get out the holesaw!!!!!(kidding this time)