Every single component of these prototype guitars has been manipulated or changed entirely and tested in isolation. A single body yields dozens of iterations without the need to build a completely new instrument.
The instruments on this page were solely made in the pursuit of acoustic response. Design concerns of aesthetics, comfort and ergonomics will be addressed later. Some are rustic and kind of cool while some are just plain ugly. Whether successful in their own right or not, they all have merit as they played a developmental role.
Dismantlable prototyping
I was literally holding the saw to cut up a $300 sheet of ply to make my first Tri-cone Resonator and realised I had a dozen or more questions about what I was about to make and what would actually make it work. I put down the saw, went to the hardware store and bought a sheet of black form-ply. I rough-cut the shapes and screwed them together. This gave me a testbed of consistent structural sides and neck. This build was to become one of my favourite instruments. She is affectionately known as Susan Boyle…for her lovely voice.
Thus began my journey of building completely dismantlable test mules. I could swap out any one component and test its viability. Working with fretless instruments gave me complete flexibility to change any design aspect and observe the variation in a controlled way. Over the past five years, I have made over a dozen of these test mules.
This has allowed me to develop and revisit ideas in a way that isn’t possible through traditional building. Normally you need to complete an instrument to know if it’s any good and then you have no way of isolating how different components are affecting the sound. I can replace a back in minutes without even restringing the instrument. As a result, I have made hundreds of iterations and literally tried any idea that seemed plausible. I’ve made dozens of backs, internal chambers and internal soundboards. I’ve cut ports, changed scale lengths and break angle and experimented with varied nut and bridge materials. Periodically I’ll transfer these design principles to a glued body from a screwed-together body to gauge the true outcome of my testing. This unifies the parts into a single structure, yielding better tone and efficiency than the screwed-together versions and lets me see if I am close to my desired tonal responses.
Susan Boyle
The Jumbo & the Horn
These are the two most recent Spider Bridge Resonator Prototypes. The instrument on the left has a circular soundboard and a horn port that faces the audience. The jumbo-bodied instrument on the right has a circular top and a figure 8 back. Though quite different from each other, both are a joy to play with huge response and beautiful tone.
All ply first round.
All ply-wood
After years of making resonator guitars, I decided to see if I could create a super-resonating chamber working in plywood. The goal was to create an instrument that is a rounded playing experience, with a beautiful tone, where the final form could scale up or down in size. I intend to use this form to produce everything from mandolin-sized instruments through to Bass guitars. The Horn guitar is the culmination of this journey to date.
This is the first all-ply prototype and has quite a specific yet lovely voice. It has circular soundboards surrounded by lots of mass to reflect energy, similar to the use of a sound-well in a Dobro. This guitar has a spiral bracing on the back with an unbraced top. This instrument has a large voice with strong mids, a bright treble and a rounded plunky bass.