innerware Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Just thought I would share what I have been doing. Just finished it. It is a travel guitar that a friend and myself designed and I built. The rhino rendering is his and the actual guitar I built. It is a three piece hollow neck composit travel guitar. It is a one piece back (fiberglass) one piece carbon fiber top (5 layers with baltic matt) and the head was carved out of hard wood and plugged in and painted. As a one off prototype proof of concept I am very happy. It sounds great for it not being totally trued and the action isn't fully set yet. The sound hole was a pain in the *** to cut, but we dig the way it looks. This was my first time making an instrument and I had a lot of learning to do. Well, anyway here is the link to my album: http://album.hybridz.org/showgallery.php?cat=617 I'd love to hear what you all think of it. Thanks for looking, Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Very, very nice work Kyle. Real clean design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdmz Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 I like it. Nice shape and compact size. I have been trying to teach myself to play guitar for a while and am not progressing very well. I think I dabble in too many things to be good at any one thing. Any plans to produce anything like your guitar for sale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 thats really cool, are you planning on manufacturing these at some point in time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Man I wish you were not out in california I would love to try that out being a guitar player myself. It looks very marketable as well. Looks fantastic....I think a sound clip may be in order as well as information on I get to buy one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Wow! From what I can see from the pic, you ceratinly have the old school wood working skills......very nice! Used to play music myself, although I play a drum kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Wow, you're a man of many talents! Nice work, Kyle. Looks very marketable to me. Be that carbon fiber I spy?!? Time to CF some Z components... Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnutthehutt Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Very nice, you should contact a boutique manufacturer and see if you can get them to license it. I'd expect something like to go for around $800 due to the "exotic" materials you're using. Doesn't Ovation make a carbon fiber topped acoustic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 HAHAHA 800? Try 2k. Most hand built custom guitars that are low production number will never see numbers south of 2k simply because it takes too much time to charge any less. But I AM in the east bay and would love to check it out sometime, not that I could afford to pay you to build one, but I love guitars. I actually have one in my lap right now. I'm more of an electric player, but I dig acoustics as well, just can't play them like I want to. But really, i'm head first in love with guitar playing. For example, i'm sitting here playing a F#sus2/E (or least that's what I think it is) to a F#9. I'm practically putting myself to sleep. I love it. I want to build a guitar in the near future, but money is the main hinderance. But I've love to bounce ideas back and forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerware Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 Thanks for the positive feedback. I designed it with a friend of mine and he is really pushing for us to try and get it built and sold. I will also post a sound clip or maybe a video clip soon. We entered it in the IDEA design competition and also the ID magazine student design competition. Remarkably it sounds pretty good. I have yet to go thru the fine tuning of the guitar and yet it is still playable and sounds fine. I am really pretty excited since it is my first instrument that I have built. It has taken so long to design and build too. We started designing it a year ago. I then took an incomplete in the independant study I was deisnging it for. I ended up taking some months off not working on it at all. Sounds like my Z. Anyway I got lucky a lot with materials. Technically this was my first time doing any kind of hand lay up of fiberglass and carbon fiber. There was a ton of research in materials and resins. The carbon top is held together with Vinyl Esther resin as it is good to 240 degrees F. before it starts to chain slide. The back was laminated with an industrial epoxy which I thought to be really strong untill I learned about the vinyl. It is still really strong though just stable up to 140 degrees not 240. I made the carbon top in one shot hand layering all materials with resin in between. This was done between two sheets of glass with mylar taped to them as a release and then I stacked about too hundred pounds of weight on top to squeeze out all the extra resin. First try and it worked. Oh, and the whole thing is hollow intill the third fret. That is where the head that plugs into it ends. Anyway, I'd love to show it off to any member who is interested in seeing it or playing it. I am just keeping my fingers crossed I win something for it cause I'll be looking for a design job soon and that would certainly help. I guess I need to teach myself how to play now. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnutthehutt Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 HAHAHA 800? Try 2k. Most hand built custom guitars that are low production number will never see numbers south of 2k simply because it takes too much time to charge any less. Well, admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about the low production companies, but considering it's a travel guitar, I guess it would depend on sound quality and production run. I've only ever played one "travel" guitar that sounded better than a fullsize from Kmart and it was made by some company in San Diego and is sold by... some shop in downtown Santa Cruz. Innerware- Definately a good call entering it into both of those competitions. ID could use an influx of real life cool stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I'm sorry if it sounded like I was mocking you. I only meant to inform. Looking back on it, it did sound harsh, so let me say i'm sorry. And here's probly the most technically advanced portable guitar on the market. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Electric?sku=519146 And that's 1k from a large scale company. But that's penuts. Now, a company like carvin has got it figured out. That steinburg probly only made the factory about $200-$400 worth of profit depending on thier expence into making it. A company like carvin is making guitars in insane numbers all built to custom spec and selling them direct for comparable prices. They cut out the middle man and save the buyer a dime WHILE making more money. That's a buisness to model after. And I actually know of the shop and guitar you speak of. I know all th shops in santa cruz. That little town has quite a music rep. Ther martin acoutic travellers are a joke, in fact, every main brand portable acoustic i've played where horrible. The only good ones are the ones made by small companies. One of these days I'm gonna buy a parker and figure out how they're put together. Then I can actually make a "real" guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerware Posted February 16, 2006 Author Share Posted February 16, 2006 The Parker is a pretty guitar. Even though it is an electric. Don't get me wrong. All musical instruments are beautiful and amazing. But when you get into electrics the nuances are all in the electronics. I know two guys who build electric solid bodies and the body is so easy to make it is sick. It is easy to make a good electric is what I am saying. Well, compared to an accoustic anyway. There are so many damned variables with accoustics to consider when building one. To name a few: Sound chamber size, sound hole location, material choice, material thickness, overall depth, bridge location, saddle height, finish used, etc etc. I wish I could say I built the best guitar out there. But who believe me? I know I woudn't. But this exersize has taught me a lot. I have a ton of respect for luthiers now. A also know why pretty much all accoustics follow the Torres design. There are so many variables to get wrong that it is just easier to stay to a proven design. Oh, and no travel guitar(accoustic) sounds as good as a full bodied one. Blanket statement as it may be it is true. You just need the size to reproduce the sound. As for electrics they do make nice small ones that sound equally as good as full sized ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnutthehutt Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Gollum, yeah, you came off as a dick, but having seen your postings before, I figgered it was just the music snob in you coming out and didn't take it personal. I'm one too, I've moved on. Can we be friends? hahaha. The Steinberger came out in the 80s and was actually played by EVH for a little while. They look cool, and play alright, but strings are expensive and there's not too much variety. Yeah, Carvin is an awesome company. I went to their shop in Hollywood and was amazed at how beautiful their porducts really are. Innerware, yeah, it's 1000x easier to build an electric, or solid body guitar. Kudos to you for going the hard way and doing it with style. I'm redoing an older yamaha bass that was given to me and it's really brainless work. I also have a Carvin neck for an electric that I'm going to build someday, but once I have the body blank cut up, it's more like making Mac 'n' Cheese than Creme Brulee' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 alright lets be nice. Hey as far as designing for the market, I would highly suggest that when you get this one tuned that you make a full size version. I am sorry if I missed this but did you make a truss rod for it? I definatly agree with the marketability once fine tuned. Careful putting your ideas out for everyone to see lest they get stolen. If you get a patent pending deal going you dont have to worry about it and you dont have to actually pay the 10000 dollar patent fee upfront. Good luck and keep us posted for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerware Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 For now it has no truss rod. I have other means to adjust for play. That and the guitar shouldn't tweak at all because of its design. But I haven't yet installed a way to adjust the neck. For now the fret board isn't permanatly attached. As for the patent, if we feel it necessary we will file a provisional patent. Haven't really gotten much feedback yet and we don't want to waste the dough even though they are cheap. It has been documented thoroughly through the process and there are many witnesses to its creation. I'm not too worried though. I would like it if it was something that others wanted made. I am just glad that you all haven't hated it. Sometimes it is hard to see the trees through the forrest. I have been so invloved with it for so long now I feel like I lack any perspective on its design likeability. So, thanks all for the kind words. I still have to find the time to upload some video or sound. I haven't forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 What ever happened to this great idea...when do I get to demo the full sized version? How did the competition go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 How do I do the " THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT AUDIO" thing? Beautifull Gee-Tar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 huh, must have missed this one when it came out. What a cool project! I took a theme studio course in college that dealt with incorporating sound into art (but pretty much turned out to be an electronic media course). What was cool about it is we went to visit a guy in Palm Harbor FL (30-45minutes from Tampa) that restores classic instruments (mostly guitars, but other guitar-ish instruments as well) and also builds his own from wood. It was extremely interesting to talk to him, and see his home and collection. He said that almost all of your sound quality in an acoustic comes from the fretboard and the top piece where your sound hole is. I don't remember which manufacturer it was set out to prove this, and made the back of an acoustic out of paper mache, and legend has it that it sounded great. An anecdote about the class: our final project was to build an instrument, so I went to the junkyard and got a bunch of different sized car horns and made a car horn piano. It was so loud I had to stuff foam in the horns to muffle them, but it was a big hit at my final critique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 Looks like a lute to me:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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