Almost a year ago Valeria Kogan, part of the editorial team at Quantum Publishing in London, contacted me with a request for photographs of Orchid. She was a pleasure to correspond with and was putting together a hardcover book: 500 Guitars: A Definitive A-Z Guide.
Gavin Wilson is the author. He is publisher of GUITARZ — a website/blog where he has been passionately documenting interesting and eclectic instruments since 2002. I have not yet spoken to Gavin, but will do so. I would like to thank both Gavin and Valeria for honoring me by including Orchid in the guide. He writes, in part:
"Luthier Rick Toone of Milford, New Jersey, was commissioned to build a bass for Halie, a young female bass student. She had been finding it a struggle to fret notes in the lower register on a 34" scale bass, so a 32" scale was decided upon. To compensate for less string tension, Toone decided a stiffer neck was called for and ended up designing a trapezoidal neck profile, which provides great fretting leverage. The bass is sculpted in curly maple and swamp ash and is balanced for standing or seated performance, and also has good right arm support." (pp 342-343)
In the photo above, I show Gavin's book along with one of the original concept sketches for Orchid, this one dated 3/2/07 [for Halie]. I'd been thinking and sketching prior, but that was the date when she and I met up in person and we were able to finalize the shape and dimensions.
Hard to believe it's been more than three years already, but I think some of the reasons why this design is enduring and successful include:
Control Location — This is the first instrument where all controls are exclusively located on the upper front bout, where they are easily accessible to both hands, and removed from the arc of the strumming or plucking hand.
Neck-into-body Joint — I've been building instruments with this joint since 1993. The joint is exceptionally stable, and because I tend to terminate it in a pickup cavity, it presents a clean aesthetic line. Most importantly, that joint is a foundation allowing 3-D sculptural freedom to help make my instruments so comfortable. Interestingly, someone noticed this enough to publish the neck joint on Wikipedia.
Ergonomic Body Shape — When I relocated all controls to the upper front bout, that freed me to eliminate the lower rear bout of the design. This feature has become one of my signature design aspects. It saves weight, and allows perfect seated balance, as the lower front bout hooks the right thigh in conventional position, or the left thigh in upright position (between thighs). In standing position, the eliminated lower rear bout does not interfere with the right thigh when walking, as you will so often see musicians struggle with on stage. All of these features combine to create a shape that remains balanced and oriented ergonomically to your body in both seated and standing positions.
Trapezoid Neck Profile — As Gavin mentioned, this invention was specifically created for Halie to reduce her hand fatigue in both classical grip and pinch grip fretting hand playing positions by supplying increased leverage. I knew it was a new design, an unproven design, but fortunately she was willing to make that experimental leap together. Since then, the Trapezoid Neck Profile has grown increasingly more popular with both bassists and guitarists, spreading continent to continent. It is definitely the shape I prefer for my personal instruments.
Headless Orchid — You haven't seen this yet, but it is secretly growing out in the shop. It will feature the Toone & Townsend headless hardware including intonation adjustable nut as well as a bass version of the tuner that functions as both tuner and bridge. The conventional bridge is eliminated, instead replaced by a consolidated design that: intonates, functions as a bridge, tunes, and simply anchors the string.
PS: Scott in Hawaii, thanks for telling me about the book.
Patent applications have been filed and production versions of the Toone & Townsend headless guitar tuning system are undergoing final CAD/CNC tweaks, so this seems a good time to begin sharing some of the experiences from beta testing.
I've been honored to work with some incredibly gifted and imaginative luthiers throughout this process, who are openly sharing their insights and pushing to explore the capabilities of this unique hardware system. I think you will be excited to see the instruments they have designed and are building, from rad-traditional to full-on-ergo.
Their stories will begin soon. For today, let's just talk hardware. Here are some notes from observing others and working with the hardware myself...
Photos above show a 6-string conventional bridge beta test prototype. Townsend Machine performed gorgeous work, fabricating each of these test systems as one-off pieces of mechanical art. You're looking at the output of master machinists who translated scale drawings into finished hardware using lathes, drill presses, milling machines, their hands and thought. I hope others can appreciate their craftsmanship as much as I do.
Prototyping is a necessary step toward creating a finished product. Using these prototypes, input from beta test luthiers and my own experiences with the hardware, I refined the design for production: smaller, smoother, lighter, more curves. Head machinist Bill Goldy adjusted tolerances for the material and finish choices, and with help from expert CAD programmers, converted the refined design to a format ready for larger production runs on automated CNC machines.
This is definitely not hardware for average guitars. This is premium precision required by luthiers building instruments for musicians who are serious about intonation accuracy and tonal nuances. There are no castings or chrome plating, instead all components are machined from solid blanks. String intonation points are titanium. Bearings are bronze. Adjustment shafts and screws are polished stainless steel. The structure is lightweight anodized aircraft grade aluminum. Designed and machined in USA.
Intonation accuracy of the adjustable nut is quite spooky. After dialing in the guitar by ear and confirming with Peterson V-SAM, it made me realize how compromised traditional guitar intonation actually is. This ability to adjust intonation creates a palette of options...from "traditional" guitar dissonance to "piano-like" chord accuracy. Adjustment is done in real-time and you will actually hear the instrument settle into intonation. One version of the nut accepts ball end strings that drop into a slot and anchor, tool free. The other version accepts plain end strings including steel, bronze and nylon.
If you already prefer body mounted tuning systems for their excellent balance, but don't like trying to manipulate their tiny tuning knobs, you will love this system. The oversized, interlocking control surfaces are very comfortable to adjust, and the mechanical advantage provided by the leveraged rotating design requires much less effort than screw-based systems on the market.
Also, the headless guitar tuner is designed to mount with 45 degrees of potential rotation, relative to the body of your guitar. Which means you can position the tuning knobs to point out the tail end of the instrument, or you can position them to point out the top of the instrument. Function is the same, either way. So if you want the ability to look down and actually see which knob or string you are tuning, this will do that.
I love the tuner's ability to simply anchor strings. You can use plain end strings, or ball end strings. You can use steel, bronze or nylon strings. Mix and match. Function is the same. The slot cut into the string anchor knobs fits a nickel (coin) or a guitar pick, so you never need to worry about bringing along a special tool to change strings.
Multi-scale (fanned fret) capable. 6-string, 7-string, or 8-string guitar capable, the modular design allows you to order your preference. Information about availability and pricing will be appearing here soon.
Quartersawn curly maple fretboard is combined with quartersawn figured cherry neck in this multi-scale headless guitar design: Nineteen. Making good progress here at the little guitar shop in Frenchtown, New Jersey.
The figured cherry bodies of this matched pair of guitars began as an exceptionally wide 5/4 plank nearly 10' in length. As you can see from the photos, at least 14" in width. I mapped out the template to maximize the cherry's light curl, segmented the board, and glued body blanks while layering 3/16" quartersawn cedar between the cherry face and back as a visual accent.
Cedar will make tonal contributions, as well.
Selecting quartersawn cherry for the neck blanks, I chose to emphasize the striking transition between heartwood and sapwood, centering the light (treble) vs. dark (bass) line along the length of the neck. Necks are a matched pair, also from one piece of 12/4 figured cherry. Curly maple fretboard is bookmatched and will span the entire length of the set in neck.
The 24.5" vs. 26" multi-scale neck is reinforced with a Toone & Townsend aircraft grade 7075 aluminum neck core. The 23.5" vs. 25" multi-scale neck is reinforced using titanium. Both of these metals are much more stable, resonant and tone enhancing than conventional adjustable trussrods.
Waterproof Gorilla Glue is exceptionally strong and binds the assembled neck. Note foam from the polyurethane glue. Clean precise fretboard to neck wood glue joint line. Note also the paper template that is invaluable for designing and laying out a multi-scale (fanned fret) fretboard.
I'm constantly chasing guitar and bass shapes that interact comfortably with the human body. My foremost design goal is always to have the instrument conform to you. Informed musicians realize there is no reason to play an uncomfortable body shape that requires reaching over or around in order to play.
One of the challenges is to design full size instruments that fit small framed individuals. Most guitars or bases are designed for adult males who are nearly 6' (182 cm) in height. But what about young players who have not yet reached maturity? Slightly built men?
What about women?
Small bodied instruments are often awkward because they tend to bounce, pivot, or move while playing. I like shapes that support your arm, conform to your pelvis (hip) and remain anchored to your body as you perform.
I also really like shapes that can be rotated for horizontal or vertical play. And that transition from standing to seated playing positions without reorienting in comparison to your torso. For female musicians this must be accomplished without interfering with breasts.
I'd like you to meet Nineteen.
I'm calling this body shape Nineteen because the neck pickup is located at the 19th fret harmonic. I will explain why in a future article. But the important point for today's discussion is to notice how this body shape fits my beautiful wife Tricia.
The template she is holding is a combined 24.5" vs. 26" multi-scale (fanned fret) string scale length. This is a big guitar, a full half inch longer bass string scale than a Fender Tele or Strat. As you can see, it fits her comfortably, yet Tricia is 5' 2" (152 cm) tall and weighs about 118 lbs (53 kg) — almost two inches smaller than the average human female height.
I am building a matched set of guitars in this body shape. The second guitar is a smaller body and shorter scale length combination: 23.5" vs. 25" multi-scale. Both solid body electric guitars are built from quarter sawn cherry and cedar with curly maple fretboards. In fact, both guitars are built from the same boards — this will give us an excellent comparison between tonal differences due to scale length.
Both guitars will be fully outfitted with first production models of the Toone & Townsend Simplicity headless multi-scale tuning system. Pickups will be Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot Strat & Pure PAF.
Teaming up with my friend Ola Strandberg (Strandberg Guitarworks) for a new project. The plain string end version of the Toone & Townsend intonation adjustable nut is fully compatible with his lightweight EGS headless guitar bridge. This hardware combination will become a potent option for builders seeking a lightweight, high quality, multi-scale (fanned fret) capable tuning system.
Our collaborative process included building Ola a prototype test neck that he could fit to one of his guitar bodies. We were hoping to have a fully assembled instrument ready for the nordic FUZZ Guitar Show 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden, however it proved a substantial challenge to communicate custom multi-scale neck dimensions on short notice during stressful pre-show preparations.
These experiences communicating multi-scale neck layout math led me to write a detailed article suggesting standardized layout procedures for designing multi-scale (fanned fret) instrument necks. The Toone & Townsend article explores the geometry extensively, including how to correctly position intonation points for the adjustable nut. Looking forward to your suggestions about how to improve the process.
We decided to display my neck unmounted at the show. That seemed the better option than maxing out Ola's bridge hardware in order to get sufficient intonation adjustment range. Instead, he plans to build a custom body this summer, in order to fit the neck and correctly show off the capabilities of our combined hardware. The neck heel is Strat compatible, bolt-on design. This will be an exciting project, because the neck has state-of-the-art features:
• Quarter sawn curly maple
• Ebony fretboard
• Walnut position markers
• Waterproof Gorilla Glue assembly
• Aircraft grade aluminum Toone & Townsend Neck Core
• Stainless steel frets (6100)
• Compound radius fretboard (7.25" vs. 16")
• Multi-scale (25" vs. 25 9/16")
• Aircraft grade aluminum Toone & Townsend Nut
• Fretboard Flare on the treble string side
• Trapezoid Neck Profile
I built the neck using compression fretting to give it a very slight back bow. Under string tension, the neck will pull straight. Elixir .010 to .056 strings will provide correct tension with excellent tone and sustain.
Last year I shared a concept drawing on eLUTHERIE.org that explored the potential of having a fretless surface on the same plane as the top of the frets (fret crowns). This would lead to consistent action as the bassist transitioned from fretted to fretless.
It would be a fairly complex build, but theoretically could be more easily accomplished if the fingerboard was two pieces, each a different height. Click to enlarge.
Conversations with my friend Gary Culver — who is a skilled jazz upright bassist — yielded the insight that excellent fretless tone is derived in part by a relatively high action above the fingerboard. His opinion was fretless plane at lower height than the fret crowns would be more beneficial.
So, I chose to remain relatively conventional for this initial partial-fret test bass. The fretboard was fully slotted, and fretted to the 7th fret with remaining slots filled with maple veneer.
Knowing there would be a step down from fret crown to fretless plane, I leveled the frets on a descending incline, cutting a significant fret height difference from 1st fret to 7th fret. The 7th fret is about half as tall as the first fret. An unintended but pleasing consequence was to create an exceptionally low string action, without buzz. Down-stepping the frets increases the clearance for string vibrational arc toward the octave harmonic.
Concerns with the transition "hump" from fret to fretless vanished when Gary tested the completed bass this weekend. It was an amazing treat to watch and listen to him play Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, bopping between the two zones. He was able to coax clear deep and precisely intonated low notes coupled with expressive glissando techniques in upper registers.
I will build the alternate dual plane fingerboard version on a future instrument, to compare and contrast. Some musicians might prefer a low string height instead of ultimate fretless tone.
Another choice I faced was what position to make the transition. Fierce debate raged between Ken Kinter ("Monster") and Dale Storer regarding 5th vs. 7th fret. Both are accomplished 5-string players who approach the instrument from more of a hard rock/metal perspective. They ultimately decided 7th fret — on a 4-string bass — would be more versatile for those genres.
Their opinions contrasted with Gary's jazz perspective, where some musical keys would really benefit from fretless tone beyond the 5th fret. My prediction is the transition point fret will be matter of personal preference. There is no correct answer.
Read more about this claro walnut partial-fret Orchid bass.
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