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The backstrap is a great idea, but I don't have any instuments with that feature. I do have a few German archtops and almost all German-made archtops have volutes. I don't play behind the nut, so they usually don't get in my way.
Here are a few:
Last edited by Hammertone; 09-11-2014 at 12:58 AM.
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09-11-2014 12:49 AM
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That's what she... ahh, too easy.
Originally Posted by Hammertone
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Never had a broken headstock. ..would never let a guitar fall over. The volute appears to be a nod to violin/cello head box construction--and functionally a way to add wood around the truss rod nut box. NBD.
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Yeah, those volutes really suck
http://mandoweb.com/Images/Instrumen...umbs/32140.jpg
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That one particularly does because it's under the first fret. A number of buyers of that model have had the volute removed and the guitar refinished. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
Even when a volute is made attractive, as on the Citation, it's hard to show that it improves the playing experience.
Danny W.
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Cool. I just pulled it off the web in a quick search. It's a gbase for $19k. Yikes! Originally Posted by no disclaimer
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Wow! That's really beautiful. Originally Posted by Tom Painter
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I love the look of volutes, but I learned the hard way that they really don't offer much protection. I had a guitar with a volute that was knocked off the guitar stand by a fellow musician at the gig. There was no breakage at the location of the volute; it broke just below it.
Oh and the guy was very sorry and offered to pay for the damage, but I insure my guitars and it was handled.
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Originally Posted by monk
Howard Klepper, a very fine luthier indeed.
Howard Klepper: Unique, handmade guitars
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Again, I loves me some volutes just fine.
But,...
>>> There was no breakage at the location of the volute; it broke just below it.
While I have seen a few breaks right through a volute, what you mention is the common classic with a volute. The guitar pitches forward, hits the floor, and the headstock continues on with a split starting right where the volute begins - so right where the end grain is exposed as the volute and headstock angle rearward from the back of the neck. The split then runs along the grain lines and exits at the head veneer a few inches north of the start.
Fortunately, it is a very fixable disaster. But what a mess, with some notable finish costs involved.
Gotta love the post mentioning volute weight as an issue. Think of all those good solos that could have been great if the player was not weighed down by the 4.738 grams of volute wood!!!
Actually a US nickel is around 5 grams, so a volute is probably under my estimated weight above.
ChrisLast edited by PTChristopher2; 09-11-2014 at 12:32 PM. Reason: contemplated actual weight of volute
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volutes have been around forever.
the early 1930s Epiphone Deluxes for example
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That Epiphone headstock is beautiful... very elegant design.
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Yeah . . . the early Epi's don't get nearly enough love.
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Originally Posted by Hammertone
Yes, easy but well played. A strong straight line requires a suitable punchline. Originally Posted by Jehu
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rimshot, kick drum, crash
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Always liked those pointy volutes..
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I have no problem with them, then again I have no problem with hockey stick heads, triangular "F" holes, a bridge pup, tuner buttons, head inlays, or anything that doesn't make the guitar sound or play better.
The volute was IIRC designed to strengthen the weakest part of the head, behind the truss rod nut. If it actually worked, players were fools to decry them. Only Gibson would have known how effective they were, but... doesn't Ibanez use them? and others? GOTTA BE A REASON!
Here's myAF100 neck, no prob there.
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This argument reminds me of a discussion I had with another motorcycle rider. I asked if the air cooling didn't limit his ability to ride sometimes and he said "air cooling is tradition" I answered "So are drum brakes, carburetors, kick starters, cable brake and clutch actuators, why not go back to them?"
No logic in the world... cut off your nose to spite your face... goodbye volutes, from some makers anyway.
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My Campellone Special...
Keith
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Sounds like a knuckle head? (Not the guy . . the bike) You forgot the suicide (jockey) shifter. Originally Posted by GNAPPI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=kX0eWaWl9eA
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"volutes have been around forever."
Yeah, violins too IIRC :-)
Just imagine the breaks that did NOT take place due to a volute. ANY trauma strong enough will force a break somewhere.
So I wonder if Fender had as many neck breaks when the truss rod adjuster was at the base of the neck as today with the adjuster at the head?
Suggesting that they don't help is like saying if I used a telephone pole for a neck and then ran a truck over it the telephone pole was too weak.
Rifle cartridge cases have the EXACT same problem. Strengthen one area and the next weakest area breaks given increased pressure... simple rules of force applied versus ability of material to survive such additional force are at work. Weakest link analogy?
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+1 GNAPPI
Volutes are both a cosmetic touch and a reinforcement.
Guitar necks/headstocks will break--if you let them. A guitar cannot possibly take care of itself. We can largely prevent guitar related accidents from happening, however. I have had only one--when I was seven, my first guitar was damaged by my mother's best friend when she smashed it into the coffee table as I watched in dismay/grief. You can't tell adults to be careful. It turned out to be an easy repair and a lesson learned early.
Between sets, my guitar goes back into its case. Call me hyper-cautious, but I have very clean, unscratched guitars. Gawkers don't come up and play them; bandmates don't trip over them; they don't fall over on stands or when leaning against amps.
Just sayin'.
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My impression is that without context, very few people really object to a volute. We had a small valute on our necks and I never heard a singe comment about it one way or the other in all those years. Most of the comments I have heard have been in regards to Gibsons, as noted by others, from the Norlin years. I think the valute became short hand for overbuilt without having to mention the increases in weight and general rigidity and general sense of clunkiness.
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Damn, man!! Your mother's best friend smashed your guitar into a coffee table?? What the hell were you playing on it to make her so mad?? lololol Originally Posted by Greentone
I had only one head stock breakage. I had a Gibson Les Paul, which is the one I was shown playing in a recording studio in Manhattan back in the late 1970s, in photos I've posted here. My wife and I got into an epic battle one day. She picked up the guitar case . . with the guitar in it and threw it at me. It landed in a face plant and I heard the dreadfull *ka-twang* even from within the case. She heard it too. Her look of anger turned into a look of fear and regret. I walked up to the guitar case as apprehensively as if I was approaching a suspected land mine on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Turned the case over and opened it up. "Aw-shit!!!!!"
She started to cry and apologize. I was even more surprised at how well I took it than she was. I really kinda just blew it off and summed it up to our mutual stupidity and childish fighting.
The following day, I took the guitar up to Ronaldo. The repair job he did was nothing short of amazing. The back of the neck and head stock was an unshaded mahog. Yet, you almost needed a black light to detect the breakage repair.
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Well, Jim . . as I see it . . maybe your customers didn't object to yours because, as you indicated . . it was a "valute" and not a volute. ;-) Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
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