Tag Archives: carbon fibre

Guitar Materials & Innovation – Resonators and Hole Heads

Written by Jamorama on August 3, 2009 — 3 Comments

In May I mentioned the awesome talent invested in Mattsen resonators after having tried one out at Mojo Sound in Wellington. Mattsen are made in Neslon, Aotearoa, New Zealand and if you are ever here you should visit Russ Mattsen at his studio and play one of his exquisitely crafted resonator guitars – they really are something else.

I thought I would have another look at interesting guitar technologies that involve innovations in materials. We`ve already had a look at the Carbon Fibre Handle so today I`m going to push the envelope and have a quick look at some NZ resonators that are made of  some rather innovative and distinctive materials, as well as another guitar that has a few extra holes in it the black bird rider.

BELG1 body front Guitar Materials & Innovation Resonators and Hole Heads

Beltona resonators  are made in New Zealand too and are moulded from glass reinforced RESIN and coated with an automotive paint finish. They feature a coverplate moulded from carbon fibre.

This material reduces weight even further and is stronger than metal. The coverplate sound holes are now more open to give even more power and response. Indeed, guitar giant Mark Knopfler owns one so they cant be bad, and they definitely look pretty damn hot too.

The discovery of the advantages of resin over metal were in the areas of sound projection, weight, strength and ease and speed of production.

With the success of this development, Beltona had moved from producing both types of instruments to concentrating solely on those made of resin by 2002.

Next up we have the Blackbird Rider - it`s got a name that`s more bluesy than your granpappys dead warthog playing harp in a barrel of illegal whiskey.     MOONSHINE!     Anyway these instruments are manufactured from a SINGLE PIECE CARBON FIBRE moulded body with extra ports and sound-holes added into the headstock. The entire structure therefore acts as sound chamber for amplification of the vibrating strings.

Modern design technology comes into play whereby foam models are converted to CAD designs then a virtual model is fine tuned and refined until ‘perfection’ is found and a negative model then made for the hand layering of the carbon fibre body.

The rider is light and portable with steel strings or nylon strings whilst the OM is a more traditionally shaped guitar although again with a headstock that features as a sound port – a part of the unique hollow bodied approach to construction. Visit their website and check these things out! Save the trees…man.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

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The Handle and Adrian Legg – Modern guitar

Written by Jamorama on July 26, 2009 — 5 Comments

TheHandle1 The Handle and Adrian Legg Modern guitar

It may look  a cross-pollination between the ideals of a swiss cheese master craftsman, a Dali soft watch and a carbon fibre pretzel but the XOX handle guitar tries to push guitar manufacturing  beyond the scope of the usual materials, componentry and ergonomics. Many companies have tried to free the electric guitar from the vice like grasp of tradition in the past but to no avail. Leo Fender`s and Les Paul`s designs have become such classic icons in their fusion of design, sound and playability that many significant changes and improvements just don’t make it into the mainstream.

h2 The Handle and Adrian Legg Modern guitar If you listen to most of the guitar players from the last 50 years you`ll agree that there`s nothing quite like the sound of a strat’ bridge pick up with the tone rolled off through some burning vacuum tubes. Ask Eric.
Can there be any more?
Well,  in a world that’s ultimately soaked and aged in the single malt, tried and trusted, eulogised traditions and techniques of the cannon of popular guitar music, recording and performance then the answer must be a resounding “No!”.

Some artists (Jack White) go to great lengths to take their modern song writing performance and bathe it in the holy waters of yesteryear with a penchant for vintage valve amplifiers,  2 and a quarter inch tape, leslie cabinets,  and even rusty old strings. Wouldn`t you want to play with some of Hubert’s rusty old castaways from the Wolf Days?

Anyway if you’re not neck deep in the sand and you fancy embracing something a little more modern then maybe  designer Peter Solomon’s cutting edge Handle might grab ya. With a single body of carbon fibre “its mono-chassis construction favors direct transmission of acoustic vibrations without sound dampening nor loss. The entire guitar is hollow sectioned, creating a resonance chamber similar to that of a semi-acoustic guitar”.

Tomorrow I`m going to have quick look at one of the most esoteric, exotic and unusual guitar makers -  Teuffel…

In the meantime, in typically unrelated fashion, here’s Adrian Legg pushing the playing parameters with style and a relaxed, natural attention to sonorifics, showing us exactly where it`s at!

If you like the sound of Adrian’s incredible guitar music then you must get your hands on his album Guitar Bones and also have a listen to The Ginger Baker Trio album Going Back Home with Bill Frizzel. Both of them are must haves. More on Frizzel later!

Cheers,
Jake Edwards.

After writing this post yesterday I just had to insert the full video version of guitar genius Adrian Legg using his tuning pegs to simulate country pedal steel guitar sounds whilst playing a melody of such plaintive yet sun-filled, pseudo tropical country styled design through an almost African rhythmic template. This is indeed a feat of absolute technical mastery combined with an otherworldly sense of feel, pace and melody whilst bringing different genre motifs together. Thanks to Adrian I`m off to burn my stratocaster! Yeah!

Here`s a link to Adrian’s own personal instruction DVD that will help you to become a more creative guitarist PLUS a link to Adrian’s album Guitar Bones.

Even better still this video features the added bonus of Brad Jones taking the Flatt and Scruggs route to the old nylon string in a piece called Funky Fingers. Country is where it`s at when it`s played with the blistering skills and gusto of a five finger hurricane like Brad – fo’ sho’ man – fo’ sho’ !.
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