This book is for experienced luthiers and guitar designers in the industry, novice builders wishing to improve their designs, and guitar owners interested in knowing more about their instruments. It includes the most important technical information gathered from many sources, including the academic literature and the author’s own work, presented here in a clear, actionable form with a minimum of mathematics. The book begins with a historical survey on how important features of the acoustic guitar evolved over centuries. The review leads up to a chapter focusing on three iconic instruments that represent the most important types of acoustic guitars: classical, steel string flat top and archtop. As the guitar market is so strongly conditioned by familiar, traditional instruments, a successful builder must have a thorough working understanding of the most important designs to underpin their own work. Through this volume, Professor French lays out the entire design process and collects detailed information in one convenient source. Luthiers quite often compile notebooks of measurements, part numbers, specific design features and other details they routinely need. This book organizes much of that information, with tables of dimensions, material properties, and other details in one essential final chapter. The book also features concise side bar contributions by top guitar designers and builders including Tim Shaw, Chief Engineer at Fender Music; Bob Taylor, Co-Founder of Taylor Guitars; and Andy Powers, Master Guitar Designer and Partner.
Author(s): Richard Mark French
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 360
City: Cham
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Background
2.1 Stringed Instruments Before the Guitar
2.2 Early Guitars
2.3 The Modern Classical Guitar
2.3.1 Classical Guitar Dimensions
2.3.2 Classical Guitar Materials
2.3.3 Classical Guitar Structure
2.3.4 Classical Guitar Finish
2.4 Early Steel String Guitars
2.5 Modern Steel String Guitars
2.5.1 Body Sizes
2.5.2 Steel String Guitar Materials
2.5.3 Wood in Steel String Guitars
2.5.4 Steel String Guitar Structure
2.5.5 Steel String Guitar Finish
2.5.6 Steel String Guitar Design
2.6 Early Archtop Guitars
2.7 Modern Archtop Guitars
2.7.1 Archtop Guitar Body Sizes
2.7.2 Archtop Guitar Materials
2.7.3 Archtop Guitar Structure
2.7.4 Archtop Guitar Finish
2.7.5 Archtop Guitar Design
2.8 Hybrid Instruments
Bibliography
Books
Articles
Chapter 3: Iconic Guitars
3.1 1937 Hauser Classical Guitar Owned by Andrés Segovia
3.2 1933 Martin OM-28
3.3 1948 D’Angelico New Yorker
Bibliography
Books
Articles
Chapter 4: Basics of Guitar Design
4.1 Design Concept
4.2 Basic Design Parameters
4.2.1 Scale Length
4.2.2 String Tension
4.2.3 Neck Joint
4.2.4 Neck Structure
4.2.5 Neck Shape
4.2.6 Body Shape
4.2.7 Materials
4.3 Electronics
4.3.1 Under-Saddle Pickups
4.3.2 Soundboard Pickups
4.3.3 Microphones
4.3.4 Electromagnetic Pickups
Bibliography
Books
Articles
Chapter 5: Physics of Acoustic Guitars
5.1 Describing Vibrations
5.2 Vibration and Resonance
5.3 Resonant Frequencies and Mode Shapes
5.4 Structural Coupling with Air
5.5 Mathematical Modeling
5.6 The Mechanics of Glued Joints
5.6.1 Creep
5.6.2 Viscoelasticity
5.7 Mechanical Impedance
Bibliography
Books
Articles
Chapter 6: Detail Design
6.1 Body
6.1.1 Material Selection
6.1.1.1 Wood
6.1.1.2 Alternative Materials
6.1.1.3 Glue
6.1.2 Dynamics
6.1.3 Back Structure
6.1.4 Top and Back Radius
6.1.5 Soundhole
6.1.6 Bridge
6.2 Neck
6.2.1 Scale Length
6.2.2 Neck Length
6.2.3 Headstock Shape
6.2.4 Fret Positions and Frequency Error
6.2.5 Tuning Machines
6.3 Aesthetics
6.4 Examples of Design Refinement
6.5 Durability
6.5.1 Finish
6.5.2 Permanent Deformation
6.5.3 Cracks
6.5.4 Worn Frets
Bibliography
Books
Articles
Chapter 7: Technical Reference Information
7.1 Frequencies of Notes in the Human Hearing Range (Hz)
7.2 Fret Locations
7.3 Classical Guitars
7.4 Steel String Guitars
7.5 General Information
Index
