Multi-Scale Baritone Guitar

Sculpted solidbody baritone electric guitar, under construction. Swamp ash and walnut body wood. Bolt-on curly maple Trapezoid Profile Neck with hickory fretboard. Multi-scale (fanned fret) string lengths of 26" (660mm) & 28.5" (724mm).

I test strung the instrument today. Incredible sustain and tonal clarity due to the aircraft grade aluminum Toone & Townsend Neck Core.

Hand fabricated cold forged stainless steel hardware plates. Bronze and stainless steel bridge with titanium saddles. Bronze Waverly tuners. Joe Barden Tele neck pickup and HB Two/Tone bridge pickup.

Based on Dove ergonomic guitar body shape, the final appearance of this guitar will be nearly opposite how it appears here...

Bronze bridge plate will be polished to a rich luster, matching the bright stainless steel. Swamp ash body will be burned, distressed and stained dark, evocative of battle damage. Visual elements are deliberately overemphasized with harsh shape textures superimposed on flowing curves. Vertical wood grain with alternating stripes feels like a poured concrete barrier wall or prison bars.

I think I'm feeling the tensions in the world. Let's call this one War-Torn Dove.

Comments

[goran]

gorgeous...simply gorgeous...the shape...the grain....everything...

worlds most important guitar innovations are happening on this website....yet i am sure that no guitar magazine is writing about your work...
maybe — just maybe ;) — because your work has nothing to do with all the crap they write about...

more pictures...please! =)

[Chris]

With the orientation of the grain, are you at all worried about expansion/contraction across the grain affecting intonation when the guitar changes climates?

[Rick Toone]

Chris — great question. Nice guitars, btw. You are clearly familiar with wood properties. I am not concerned with grain contraction for a few reasons:

1. The woods used are thoroughly seasoned, and of known quality and moisture content.

2. I used a penetrating finish that is waterproof and intended for all weather out-of-doors conditions. This finish provides exceptional wood stability in changing environments.

3. Not shown in this photo, the neck runs the full length of the instrument, including under the bridge. The aircraft grade aluminum neck core provides additional dimensional stability.

4. Intonation adjustments are super easy with this bridge design.

5. I wanted the wood grain of this instrument to make an artistic statement.

6. My credo is "experiment relentlessly" so this becomes a valuable learning experience, with the results applied to future instruments.

[Seth]

This is really cool Rick. It's got sort of a "steampunk" look to it (google that).

I saw a Klein shaped guitar on BTEG back in the day with the grain oriented diagonally and I remember thinking it wouldn't be good for the sustain, because in my head I sort of picture waves resonating through the wood and it seems like a change in grain direction from the neck to the body would hinder the waves. Although I've played some plywood guitars with great sustain so that probably bunk.

[Rick Toone]

Thanks, Seth. Fascinating that this instrument has turned into "The Great Wood Grain Experiment" for the luthiers who are following along.

It seems that we will all be learning from this experience. Might have to make a video about the results.

The moment of truth approaches, as I am currently in the midst of fit and assembly. Probably fully string the instrument within the next three days or so.

[Andy]

A non-wood grain orientation question for you: Won't the steel around the pickups negatively affect their performance, introducing eddy currents and magnetic interference? Or did you choose the Barden pickups with this in mind, believing that their design would be more immune to the effects of the nearby steel than traditional pickup designs?

Totally off topic, but have you ever considered incorporating unconventional scales into your unconventional guitar designs? I'm talking about microtonal scales, Just intonation, harmonic tunings, non-12tET tunings... Certainly not a popular thing, but then, you're not going for the popular vote here.

[Rick Toone]

Andy — microtonal scales (etc.) sound like an area ripe for exploration. Toone & Townsend intonation adjustable nut will facilitate advancement in unconventional harmonics. I'm looking forward to watching where other builders go, once the hardware is available to the public.

The pickup plates on "War Torn Dove" are non-magnetic stainless steel. Following the 'experiment ruthlessly' credo, it will be interesting to see if there is an audible effect.

I really want to have a hand-forged (cold-forged) look for the plates, so if stainless steel does not perform as desired, I might switch to (non-magnetic) titanium, aluminum or possibly bronze.

Another motivator is to use metals that do not require plating. Chrome plating is a highly toxic process, with significant ecological and human costs...as well as having become a design cliche.