OO on the go..

Recently started on one of two guitars I'll be bringing with me to the Healdsburg Guitar Show this coming summer. Being a show guitar, I thought I'd do something a little bit different. I spent a few weeks in Arizona over the holidays and was lucky enough to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's workshop/school/home Taliesin West. I really enjoyed seeing his various screens and windows and thought it would be interesting to try and incorporate that type of design into a guitar. I've also been thinking about Art Deco style recently and with those two thoughts in mind I decided to just go for it....

Jonathan Kreisberg

I'm incredibly excited to announce Jonathan Kreisberg as a new member of the Indian Hill Guitar Company family!  Jonathan is an absolutely stellar guitar player from New York City that plays worldwide with his quartet and as a member of Dr. Lonnie Smith's band.  Jonathan contacted me last summer after trying one of my OO's at Rudy's Music in Manhattan and told me he had to have that guitar.  Within a few months he recorded a brand new solo guitar album, "One", and used my guitar on two of the tracks!

Here's a video of Jonathan talking about the new album (note the guitar he's holding!)...

Find out more about Jonathan at jonathankreisberg.com!

My latest...

Here's my attempt at Leo Kottke's arrangement of Wonderland by Night on my most recent guitar.  This one is an East Indian Rosewood back/sides and Sitka spruce top Grand Concert.  Sound port, 12-fret body joint and elevated neck -- a bit of a prototype but I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Sound Ports 101

I have a theory.  Sound ports are awesome.  I have another theory.  Sound ports allow guitar tops to vibrate more freely and with less energy loss.  The first theory may be a bit hard to disprove seeing as sound ports are awesome.  As for the second theory, well, let me explain...

The primary function of sound ports is to make it easier for the player to hear without any noticeable difference out front.  The secondary benefit, and potentially more important, is the increased freedom it gives the top to vibrate.  How does it do this?  Imagine pouring water out of a bottle.... the water glug-glug-glugs as it fights the vacuum created inside the bottle.  What happens when you poke a hole in the side of the bottle?  Air flows in and the water pours smoothly out.  Now think about a guitar top vibrating after you pluck a string.  As the top pumps up and down there will be some resistance as air is pulled or pushed through the soundhole.  Poke a hole in the side and voila!  Smoother airflow and less energy wasted!

There is a school of thought amongst guitar makers concerning how the air inside the guitar interacts with the top and back.  Through bracing and careful tuning many builders attempt to couple the top and back together as one system to maximize efficiency.  In theory I think this would work, but in practice people like to play standing up, leaning back on a couch, on stumps around a fire, and basically all sorts of positions that introduce a giant damper (ie. your belly) on that precision tuned back.  For this reason I like to make my backs stiff and focus on the tops.  And what can I do to eke out as much energy from the tops as possible?  Sound ports!

I'm famous!

Well, not really.  But here's a nice video segment Luke Loseth made about me for openfile...

And the award goes to....

A few months ago I was asked to design and build a trophy for the Montreal Guitar Show Tribute Award.  Here's what I came up with....

And here's what I built....

And here's the album I listened to while finishing it...

(it's Led Zeppelin's "Presence")

So who does the award go to?  I have no idea, but the past winners have been George Benson, Paco de Lucia, and Jeff Beck!  

It's April?!

Apparently, it's April.  I'm at a bit of a loss as to how this happened, but it appears that the inexorable march of time is, well, inexorable.  (Don't worry I just looked up inexorable too)  As per usual, shop life has been humming along quite nicely with all sorts of activity.  The guitars shown in the previous post are much closer to being fully finished and strung up.  As proof, here are a few shots of the wee tenor taken at some unknown point in March (though now it's a whole lot shinier and has neat little elevated neck eagerly waiting to be attached) ...

Do these pictures look familiar?  If so, congrats!  You are well on your way to receiving the full internet assault of the Indian Hill Guitar Company!  These pictures were previously posted on my facebook page which can be found..... here.  But wait!  There is also the little know Indian Hill Guitar Company youtube page (here) where you can see videos of my guitars in action as well as lots of videos from our in-shop concerts.  Let the internet domination begin!