No high frequencies here!

[J M Fahey]

Oh, I was not trying to be accurate, speacially on an area way beyond my skills, was just mimicking BS sales artists way of using absolutely unjustified descriptions both to praise own product beyond reality and attach negative feelings to competitorīs.

[jack briggs]

No, no. Secretions from lac beetles!

that would be shellac

[rjb]

that would be shellac

Is there an echo in here? (See post #60)

[salvarsan]

Is there an echo in here? (See post #60)

This is the portrait gallery.

[rjb]

This is the portrait gallery.

That explains it.

[John_H]

The weather is cooling off enough for me to enjoy woodworking once again. I've decided to mimic a Gibson L-00 for an electric parlor project. I like the body shape, non slotted head, 14th fret neck mount, and the Robert Johnson connection is cool.

[rjb]

I've decided to mimic a Gibson L-00 for an electric parlor project.

Kewel. Can you give us a hint about body construction type?

[John_H]

double post

[John_H]

Kewel. Can you give us a hint about body construction type?

It will be a relatively simple project with a chambered mahogany body. Unfortunately, all of the one piece body blanks I have on hand are too small for the 14 1/2 inch lower bout. It looks like I'll have to buy some wood, and maybe join one together. It's a bummer because I usually don't use any material that I haven't acclimated for several months. I'm going to my supplier today, hygrometer in hand.

[rjb]

It will be a relatively simple project with a chambered mahogany body.

Spruce top?
Sound hole (functional or cosmetic)?
OK, that's enough with the idle questions.

-rb

[John_H]

Spruce top?
Sound hole (functional or cosmetic)?
OK, that's enough with the idle questions.

-rb

Yeah, we got pretty far off topic here. My fault.

It'll be a cedar top with a functional sound hole. I haven't cut any wood so far other than router templates.

I'm still sorting this out, and ordering the parts I'll need, but I'll be busy on it soon. This is the wrong place to discuss this. Once I get started on it, I'll post in a more appropriate forum.

[Jason Rodgers]

Good stuff, John. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Back on topic: so, if brass components are so reviled, why go and load up your pickups with it? Or is this just a subtractive approach to the search for tone?

[rjb]

Back on topic: so, if brass components are so reviled, why go and load up your pickups with it? Or is this just a subtractive approach to the search for tone?

Maybe it is a subtracticve approach. If your tone goal is "the low throaty sound of the old blues men", heavy brass covers may be just the thing. Besides, I bet they look really cool. Given that early parlor guitars were acoustic, who is to say what is "right" for electric parlor guitars?

I think (though may be wrong) that brass covers (as opposed to baseplates) became reviled "fairly recently".
Were nickel-silver covers a "thing" back before people started taking the covers off their pickups?

In a way, this could be analogous to ladder bracing. For decades, ladder bracing was reviled because it was associated with cheap guitars. Recently, some builders have rediscovered that well-built parlor guitars with ladder bracing are just the thing for playin' de blues.
Acoustic Soundboard: Ladder-Bracing Revival | Premier Guitar

-rb

[John Kolbeck]

Using brass in pickup construction for tonal purposes is analogous to gaining wheel traction by putting sand bags in your trunk. It might get the job done, but it's inefficient and there are better ways to get the same result, ways that will offer the guitarist more choice and versatility.

[rjb]

It'll be a cedar top with a functional sound hole. I haven't cut any wood so far other than router templates.

That looks fantastic.

So why am I envisioning something like this?


-rb