So I'm the original owner of a strange Takamine bird from 1985 an EF-381 M.
It's an archtop per se, but equipped with a flat top glued bridge and round sound hole.
I have a historic attachment to it. However, acoustically it's nothing spectacular.
Originally the piezo system made it come alive when amplified.
In 2009 a reapir job ended up replacing the bridge and killed the piezo.
My main question is,
can I remove the glued bridge, fill the holes left by it,
add a trapeze tailpiece and a floating bridge + electric flatwound strings
and try to add a pickup to get as close to a floating humbucker pickup sound
as possible?
Are there laws of physics here I am unaware?
I know the floating neck pickup would be tough to pull off
I am including some pics including a bad photoshopped mockup of the end result that willupset the photoshop gods out there.
Any repair/luthier hands on ppl opinion would be welcomed.
MUCH more trouble and work and expense than it'll be worth ! This is actually a rare bird, the prototype of which was made for Ry Cooder back in the day....
- In order for a floating bridge to function properly the neck-angle has to be more steep than on a regular flattop.
- There won't be enough clearance for any floating pickup. Have you tried a soundhole pickup ? The old DeArmonds are quite cheap and sound absolutely cool !
- The bracing of an archtop guitar differs radically from that of other types.
- I've not handled this guitar personally but my guess is that the top is pressed, the arch quite shallow and it was never designed as an acoustic performer.
Let this one stay as it is and save up for a real archtop- plenty of affordable and good-sounding/playing models are available. The easiest and cheapest solution : get a soundhole
pickup designed for steelstrings (with adjustable poles) and plug in !
Probably there is not enough room vertically for a typical archtop type bridge. I would expect that the conversion, various customizations, and costs would be much more than the result would be worth. The OP also said, "acoustically it's nothing spectacular." If it's nothing spectacular now, then extensive modifications will just make it an expensive "nothing spectacular".
Additionally, the OP wrote "Originally the piezo system made it come alive when amplified." Why not have someone install a new, high-quality piezo system? That would be cheaper than the extensive modifications the OP described, and would be more likely to have an acceptable result. You could instead install a high-quality soundhole pickup like a Sunrise - relatively modest price, minimal modifications, likely acceptable result.
This Tak is not an L5 and will never approach the sound of an L5. If an archtop is what you want, buy an archtop.
Well, you've cleared the fog in my mind. Although there is a slight downward angle, it would not be sufficient to accommodate a floating bridge, you are right. And, yeah, a combo of flatwound strings and a sound hole mag pickup, may get it to sounding decent. Thank you for your advice.
Yeah, sure don't want a "an expensive "nothing spectacular" " ! Lol. I don't know where this category of guitar falls into.
Reminds me of an austrich. A bird with wings that cannot fly. That being said, a good mic would give it a boost. Thank you.
A soundhole pickup, as has been noted, will get you amplified in a economical fashion. Radically changing the basic geometry of an acoustic guitar is not advisable. Reversible mods are best mods, IMHO. Get the most from what you have, and save coin for something else - there are many, many good options these days. good luck in your quest!
Unfortunately I can't notate open strings with the Chord Writer app I have, but the top strings are open, so all the chords I posted, except for two, contain the 5th of the chord: the open G string.
The OP's question is voicings of #11's with the 5th. I gave one example.
There are others but the chord charts you posted seem to omit the 5th. Also I don't see any open strings in the charts.
And there are many C Lydian voicings with open strings - more than any other chord if you count Am7 & Em7 voicings.
A couple of duplicates there but I can't edit the image....
Bluegrass players, almost without exception, will put the strap button at position 5 on their dreads.
My first archtop, an Eastman AR905CE, had the strap button at position 1. I really like it,...
I have a Ruck 2010 classical with a sound port. Ruck provided wooden plugs so you can plug the hole and tell the difference. There is a huge difference in the sound you're hearing as a player. ...
This isn’t what you asked, but I’ve had an AR810CE for 17 years and I never put a strap button on it. I thought about it many times but it’s never been a priority. Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Barney...
On a daily basis I’m often switching from classical/flamenco necks with wide FB’s to my Tele, with a moderately full C, to the full D of my Martin, to my archtops which have a moderate D. Plus, the...
I always care about neck shape and size being somewhat ambidextrous,and writing with my left hand. Playing a right handed I’m sensitive to the feel, and having a large enough shape to feel...
Yeah! Apparently the Hammond, invented in 1935, was the very first synthesizer. It's just more dang skills to have to work up to work the switches throughout the tune. shreddin'
All mine are 2 and 3. They both work great. Maybe I slightly prefer 3. Drilling thru the heel cap into end grain is fine as long as you understand proper screw counterbore. The right size drill is...
I have Martin's duo course. It's great. He makes it look effortless.
We refer verbally to the course during our duo practice ( I took notes and discussed with singer ).
I've only played with an organist about twice, and long ago. Just hit me that you guys were tweaking all those switches and stops long before us guys had all the dang stomp boxes!
Peter Sprague & Leonard Patton "Can't Find My Way...
Today, 07:47 PM in The Songs