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Topic: Chris Knutsen inspired D8 Hollow Neck Steel Guitar |
Jim Myers
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 6 May 2015 9:15 am |
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First I’d like to say I’m more of a builder than a player. I’ve made several attempts at learning lap steel over the years and finally decided I need to take it seriously so last year I started working on it with my Gene Autry guitar with a raised nut then got sidetracked by this project. Most of the people I know and have occasionally played with play acoustic, past tense because I’ve got arthritis and can’t play regular guitar anymore. I’ve missed playing music so this is why I want take lap steel seriously.
Although Chris Knutsen is best known for his Harp guitars I believe he was the first to build a Hawaiian guitar with a hollow neck.
I started designing this last August and then building in late September. The back, sides and headstock are Myrtle wood, the top is Sitka spruce the fret boards, bridge and binding are Purple heart with Maple and Abalone inlay, the bridge pins are Boxwood and the nuts and saddles are brass on the C6 and stainless steel on the E13. The scale length is 24 ½ “. I tuned the near neck to C6 G A C E G A C E and the farther neck to Don Helms E13 A C# E G# B C# E G# so I can learn some Hank Williams tunes.
A keyless head would be better but I didn’t have access to them.
I decided to use X bracing instead of ladder like Chris used so I had George Thomas of George Thomas Guitars design the bracing because I don’t have any experience doing that.
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D8 Hollow neck acoustic.
Raised nut on a Gene Autry Melody Ranch.
ShoBud D10 The Professional.
56 D8 Stringmaster. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 6 May 2015 12:10 pm
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That looks like a very interesting project. How does it sound? How loud is it compared to a standard Weissenborn guitar?
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 6 May 2015 12:42 pm
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| wow!!!! sound sample please!! |
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Stephen Abruzzo
From:
Philly, PA
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Posted 6 May 2015 12:57 pm
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Wow...pretty cool.
With a combined sound chamber, is there any sympathetic sounds coming from the unused neck when playing on the other neck? |
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Jim Myers
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 7 May 2015 7:13 am
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Brad, I’ve not heard a hollow neck guitar in person so I can’t compare the sound levels. I’am satisfied with the sound of this so far but as I said I’m just a beginner. I’ll post some audio when I can play something acceptably.
Stephen, yes there is sympathetic sound from the other neck. I hadn’t made a dampener yet when I took the pictures. I haven’t decided whether I want it to ring or not, I think it will depend on the song I play. Some songs might sound better with the resonance sounding. . I’ve put my avatar pic playing my main instrument that has 12 chromatically tuned sympathetic strings. It’s a Nyckelharpa from Sweden, that I also built.
Thanks for your comments, Jim
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D8 Hollow neck acoustic.
Raised nut on a Gene Autry Melody Ranch.
ShoBud D10 The Professional.
56 D8 Stringmaster. |
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Neil Russell
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 7 May 2015 1:59 pm
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| I've made a number of double neck weissenborn style instruments over the last twenty years and everyone has had it's problems. I tried a single X brace, an X brace on each halve, a single brace running from between the necks to the tail block and then tone bars running off that, two bridge plates ,one bridge plate etc. In each case, the bass tone on the neck closest to the player was better than the neck further away and the treble side was a reverse. The treble on the closest neck was better than the treble on the far side. The reason for this I believe, is the fact that the bridge is not located in the center of the box across the large bout. Both bridges are somewhat placed between the center line and the edge. An other problem was the distance between the tuners on each neck. It's difficult to get your fingers in there to change strings. I solved that in different two ways. Off set each peg head by about 3/4 ". On another I made I put on two Fender style peg heads ,one conventional and the other a mirror image. I've made the hourglass shape and the teardrop shape in 6 and 7 strings. On a positive note though, the sustain was much greater particularly on the teardrop , and they are novelty. |
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Abe Levy
From:
California, USA
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Posted 11 May 2015 7:04 pm
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Seems like you would want the saddles/bridges to be separate if you wanted to minimize sympathetic vibrations...
I want one.
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Mostly Pre-1970 guitars. |
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Neil Russell
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 11 May 2015 7:42 pm
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| I've made them with bridges attached in one unit and also separated . If you go to my website Celtic Cross Instruments, and click on the photo of Ben Harper in the who plays a Celtic Cross Instrument, he is playing a double neck. He put pickups in it so it's a bit hard to hear it as an acoustic only instrument. |
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