Reconfiguring the Maccaferri style guitar

[whitespruce]

Well, here I am on another one of my "wild hairs"

At one of our shows last Fall, there was a guitar ensemble playing gypsy jazz style stuff on Maccaferri guitars. I really enjoyed the sound (they also spent their entire break playing my guitars). Anyhow, I suspect that some wheels have been imperceptibly turning in the back of my brain since then and they are finally begining to try to poke their way out.

I mentioned on another thread about a week ago that I had ordered up a D-hole Maccaferri guitar plan, and that came this week, so I been looking at it. I have to say it is a rather cheesey plan for the money and one would have a very difficult time actually building from it, but....

....some things are beginning to gel in my peabrain and I got some ideas. A few things are starting to come together. One is the mandolin top I helped Tom Durr put together a few years back using a version of my bracing pattern to create an "induced arch" from normal flat plates. Another is a "double side" system that I sketched up (but have not shown here) about a month or so ago. Plus a few other minor ideas.

So....I am gonna set out to take another one of my typical "marches to a different drum" kind of journeys. And like my adjustable neck thing, I plan to take you all along, even if you have to go "kicking and screaming". And I will welcome any and all comments and suggestions, but I will warn you ahead of time to not be offended if I don't really make a lot of changes to what I am doing based on them. They will be figuring into the equation, but it will probably not be obvious. And another warning....those who know me know that I am a "get 'er done" sorta person and don't spend months calculating and researching and wondering where I should go. I just take off and appear to be running by the seat of my pants, but rest assured that there is always a method in my madness, even if it does not show on the surface.

So, stay tuned, this is probably gonna get going in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, don't hesitate to offer any sage advice you have

G

[Eben]

VERY COOL!

Now this is an application I'm gonna dig! I think Maccaferri would like it too - Recall that in addition to the innovation of the Grande Bouche D shaped sound hole, Mario messed around quite a bit with some of his guitars; there was the internal resonator in early models which he hoped would create bigger volume and even tone string to string, etc: Even though he killed that idea quick, it says he was a big innovator to me and would love to see new ideas that work applied to his basic designs...

Hey, if you get a sec, would you do up the side profile's of that thing for me?
After your comments on the plan, all I want is the shape and size...

E

[Kim]

Hey Grant,

Good to see you breaking the mold,...Hold on, that's right, you never had one to begin with.

Just thought you may find this post interesting over at the ANZLF, it's still active so feel free to jump in if you have any questions, I am sure Nick will be more than pleased to help out if he can.

http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?t=1342

[whitespruce]

Thanks Kim. A very interesting read. I will be back there once I get things going.

G

[DaveWhite]

Grant,

Sounds good to me. I always enjoy the paths less travelled !

[Erik]

Hey Grant,

I'm looking forward to following this. I really like the look of the Selmer/Maccaferri guitars, the Petit Bouche in particularly. Where did you get your plan from? I only know of the Francois Charle plans and they seem very detailed and informative. Is that the one you've got?

Erik

[whitespruce]

Hey Grant,

I'm looking forward to following this. I really like the look of the Selmer/Maccaferri guitars, the Petit Bouche in particularly. Where did you get your plan from? I only know of the Francois Charle plans and they seem very detailed and informative. Is that the one you've got?

Erik

I bought the cheaper of the two plans that LMI has. My advice is to either spend a bit more $$$ or forget it

So now, I have some different info on order.

G

[whitespruce]

Well, I broke down and bought the Michael Collins book, even though it is more pricey than this cheap bastid likes to spend So I been reading it and got through the whole thing.

Now besides the bend in the top, these guitars are usually built with laminated sides and back...like you end up kinda making your own molded plywood. Well, I am going to put the bend in the top, but I am going to use solid wood back and sides.

For the top. I will make it thin as these guitars usually are, but I am going to use an adaptation of my own bracing pattern. I will modify my usual pattern as seems appropriate, not sure exactly what that will be, yet.

I will use my standard double "X" braced back and keep it on the thin side.

For the sides, I am going to try something new. I will use plain rectangular cross sectioned kerfed linings. And I will use side braces that are the same thickness and space them out around 4" apart or so with one up against the neck block and one up against the tail block. Then I am going to glue in a second layer side, 1/16" thick mahogany, on the inside. Kinda like make "torsion box" sides. I will use cocobolo or EIR for the regular sides, but will probably thin them down to about .070".

That's about as far as my thinking has progressed on this.

I need to construct a contoured building board of some sort that will also serve as the "mold" for gluing on the top braces. The neck angle tilts back a bit, but I am going to keep the upper end of the body square with the angle of the top. That is essentially what I normally do on my regular guitars so I never have to concern myself with setting the neck angle.

Don't look for any sawdust or shavings for a while, cuz I still have some mental gymnastics to take care of first.

G