In the W o r k s h o p
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”Pablo Picasso
Latest hollow body instrument titled -78 Tempo-, on workbench showing light cedar top construction, and completed with mica pigments, anilin dye and nitrocellulose laquer finish. This guitar's primary application is more electric, while it acoustically (video below) validates an innovative concept in which the acoustic horn comes-in to naturally complement the acoustic sound of the guitar box as such.
Current experimentation with the acoustic horn component as part
of the guitar:
From this experimentation, my aim is to have the guitar's complete system to generate an output of frequencies specific to the mid-highs of the -Wah- type, i.e. pronounced midrange sound focused towards the player
Particularly interesting for sampling and recording work, my quest for this natural -Wah-like- tone is currently worked on a larger, full-bodied instrument titled SUPERSONIC (below, in the making).
Of course, next up will be finding a way to amplify those new sounds within the context of live applications.
SUPERSONIC: in the making
SUPERSONIC, general outline. Based on my MULTI harp-guitar shape, this new 6-string shares a carved soundbox configuration, with the addition of 2 -horns- positioned at upper-bout (column side) and below the tailpiece.
SUPERSONIC, border/raised-side is worked piece by piece in order to bring the soundbox to a 3" depth archtop guitar standard.
SUPERSONIC, redwood top and cedar soundbox, with carved soundbox inside/outside views.
Notes the bowl-back steel-string guitar :
Initiated in 2011, the bowl-back guitar is here a bent & laminated resonance shell rather than carved soundbox. Designed in the manner of the lute, and in affinity with the guitarist, its primary objective is to bring more natural reverberation to the sound of the acoustic guitar.
A bit like the Eastern instruments, Oudtar (above), Raga guitar and Raga 2 (below) offer the guitarist a slightly different voice, while remaining familiar in terms of playability.
The recent (2023) Raga 2 with its bowl-back configuration:
Raga 2 sound box is made up of of 22 laminated ribs, assembled on a multifaceted detachable mold.
“A standard steel-string guitar has a compliant back. When you strike a note, the back will pump air and move. It will give you bass notes in this way, acting as a trampoline,” he says. “But with the oudtar, the double-curved back makes the whole soundbox reflective. It’s like a dome or vault that gives reverb to the sound.”
“André likens this to the acoustics in a cathedral whose design allows people to hear their voices echoing up the walls. Since the oudtar doesn’t have the sharp edges of a guitar box, the sound resonates like an oud or a lute, instruments that also have a rounded back.” J.H. White, Magnifissance Magazine (Read more)
Raga 2 with opalescent silver dust laquer finish.
HARP-GUITAR TEASER
One picture below
Harp Guitars with sympathetic strings: Multi, Echoes of Time, Multi 2.
Current archtop guitar madness happening!
There are ongoing archtop projects that I hope will captivate you in terms of sound and/or at least in terms of craftsmanship.
I have paid a lot of attention this past year to developing -My Blue Guitar- on behalf of the Archtop Foundation.
On the one hand, this collection (initiated by Scott Chinery) is a creatively significant one for me in my career, its release corresponding to my graduation from guitar making school - a long time ago - and it will have marked my young intellect with new unsuspected -guitar- possibilities.
On the other hand, it is, and I feel it, a real rendezvous with the history of the guitar, this order.
What exactly to present? On what level, between audacity, innovation, and tradition, to play this card? My God! !
In reference to my body of work, choosing exactly which version of the Archtop to present was downright the unbearable question.
So I decided to produce at least two (2) Blue Archtop (possibly 3) and to choose, along the way, which one will join the mythical collection by itself.
I don't want to spoil the surprise! So, on these few photos without descriptions, I'm just telling you that I'm working on it - with heart - in the best possible way!
Two of these guitars are taken. If I make the third one, it will be announced.
Inside the Clara Archtop. Note the even footprint of contact on top's perimeter as influenced by violin & cello-making.
Above: The Clara Archtop - acoustic / electric archtop guitar with floating (through the top) humbucker (2022).
Main materials: : Red Cedar, ziricote, black limba, ebony, rosewood, aluminium, dyed sycomore, recon stone.
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