Acrylic Guitars

[mmarino92]

Hey guys,

So I've got a friend of mine that works in an acrylics shop, so it got me to thinking. We were talking about some possible options, and I've got one major question:

Just how thin can I made a guitar and still house pickups, pots, and bridge? (A trem would be preferable, but if it adds a significant need of depth I could do without.) Keeping the guitar as thin as possible would cut down on both weight and materials cost. I know it can at least get down to 1 1/2", how much further can I take that? Thanks,

-Michael

 

[-CB-]

Dan Armstrong...

 

[Cagey]

Most vibrato bridges want some body to hide in, but there are some surface mount units, such as a Bigsby, that don't require any. They aren't worth a tinker's damn if you ask me, but what do I know? <grin> The only other part that's deep is usually the pickup selector switch. The pickups themselves can be made fairly thin without too much trouble. So, I would say you could get down to maybe an inch. But, then you have the dreaded neck attachment. There has to be a certain amount of meat there, or you're going to have stability problems, maybe even to the degree where the thing wants to snap off. There's a substantial amount of stress at that joint, so if the material holding it is too thin or too fragile... who knows what kind of hijinks it might get up to?

But, you could come up with a different kind of design, sort of like a neck-through thing, but rather than run the neck through, just have a thick part where the neck would run through. That would give you some depth for creating a strong neck pocket, and also for standard pickup mounting and maybe a real vibrato. Controls can be much smaller than they typically are in guitars. I mean, we've been using 2 watt pots since the beginning of electric guitar time and there are barely microwatts being dissipated, so those could be reduced in size. Miniature switches are already in use all over the place for coil cuts, phase inverters, etc. Anyway, you'd end up with maybe some very thin side wings to give the guitar a practical and artistic shape, with a thick trunk for the mechanical considerations.

 

[nexrex]

how about one like this? crazy  arty07:

 

[Lucky #7]

I've never been a fan of acrylic but that one is really cool looking and a nice blue. :headbang:

 

[DangerousR6]

how about one like this? crazy  arty07:

I'll take one, and the guitar too.... :headbang1:

 

[erogenousjones17]

There's a guitar in that picture?  :icon_scratch:

 

[nexrex]

yeah, i struggled to see see it at first.lol

 

[kboman]

Flash galleries can't be directly linked, but http://crimsonguitars.com/gallery -> Unique Instruments -> the Steve Evans guitar and Charlie Jones bass. It can be done! Acrylic necks don't work very well though, even if they look great.

 

[ORCRiST]

There's a guitar in that picture?  :icon_scratch:

+1!!

I sure dont see one!  :laughing7:

 

[lafromla1]

Jeez, I bet she doesn't even play that thing.... :toothy12:

 

[kboman]

Oh come on, she's not all that good looking surely? And it's a str*t, I'd like to see something wilder!

 

[big bob]

 

[Cagey]

Add some tailfeathers and enough propulsion, and you've got yourself an airship! <grin>