Beautiful & Unusual Classical Guitars - Episode 1: Projection Guitar (Florian Vorreiter)

Introduction

Every now and again we see a picture or watch a video and something within catches our eye & our imagination. A couple of months ago I was browsing through some Pinterest boards and I happened to see a picture of a classical guitar with a soundport that had a sliding door as part of its design. I was so intrigued that I immediately occupied myself with further research and discovered that the guitar was made by a German luthier called Florian Vorreiter.

It seemed that it was destiny for Vorreiter to become a luthier extraordinaire as his father restored museum instruments for several decades, and through his father's craft he was exposed to instrument repair, design, & construction going on to make & revolutionise not only classical guitar design but also acoustic guitars, lutes, & Baglama.

An amazing picture of an 'Experimental Guitar' by Florian Vorreiter.

A love for art & music showed from an early age with Florian being an avid violinist and in later years an artist with a passion and penchant for air brushes, spray cans, and the humble pencil. These two passions have combined to create what I believe to be some of the most visually stunning classical guitars of the 21st century. 

The picture above says it all about these guitars but I should take some time to show you some of the unique features of a Vorreiter guitar.

The 'Floating Bridge'

Floating Bridge concept - light, high break angle, cool looking!

Ergonomics

Beveled armrest and cutaway - increases comfort and playability.

Headstock

A striking headstock design featuring a fully carved relief with flamenco-style tuning pegs.

Soundport Ideas

A crazy styled soundport that opens & closes! 

To find out more about modern classical guitar designs and features be sure to check out my other blog articles here. To find out more about Florian Vorreiter's fabulous guitars and the man himself take the time to visit his website:

Florian Vorreiter

Modern Classical Guitar Design Part 9: Reinforced Carbon Fiber Neck

Guitar necks with carbon fiber (fibre) reinforcing rods from 'The Art of Lutherie'.

Introduction

Classical guitar necks usually aren't the most interesting conversation topic. Most of us are concerned with what wood it's made from, purfling, aesthetics, and of course the sound but from a luthiers point of view and as a player the neck is absolutely critical to the overall functionality and playability of the instrument. 

Anyone that has played any kind of guitar that has neck issues such as warping will know the anguish of tuning and retuning constantly and never being able to get your guitar truly in-tune. On classical guitars this is caused by just one thing - a warped or damaged neck. Up until fairly recently classical guitars (especially those made by luthiers) avoided using any kind of truss rods either steel or carbon fibre or reinforcing of any kind in the neck, trusting in careful construction and material selection and superb care & handling by the owner to ensure a trouble-free neck after leaving the workshop. Unfortunately times have changed, people are traveling more and thus subjecting their instruments to wildly varying temperatures and humidity, materials that were available in the past are now either gone or restricted (CITES) or both causing luthiers to reevaluate how and what they use in their guitars to make them beautiful, mellifluous, and of course durable enough to handle the rigours of the modern world. 

Enter Carbon Fibre Rods

Carbo Fibre isn't a new material at all - it's been around since 1879! Most of us really only came to know it commercially when it started to appear in expensive sports cars & bikes. Its commercial applications soon became widely known and it gradually started to make an appearance in many different industries including the music instrument industry and more specifically the guitar construction industry.

Carbon fibre also isn't new in the musical instrument realm. Many instruments or parts of instruments such as guitar picks, violins, violas & cellos, drum shells, and even entire guitars are made from carbon fibre. These items & instruments all take advantage of the high strength, light-weight, and complete evenness of the material to product products that are strong, predictable, and of course reliable.

As the title of the article suggests this is about carbon fibre rods being used in modern classical guitars to strengthen and stiffen the neck and also as a construction material for guitars that use 'lattice bracing'.

Is it really necessary?

Yes! From my perspective there is no downside to having reinforcement. I think of it like insurance - you never think it's useful until you actually need it then you extremely glad and grateful that you have it. There is a camp out there arguing or insisting that classical guitars only experience about 100 - 120lbs of pressure exertion upon the neck when stringed up and ready for action compared to steel string guitars that have about 170lbs minimum pressure. For me that isn't enough of a compelling argument.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Superior strength
• Stability
• Durability
• Improved intonation

Cons

• Expensive
• Heavier

Which luthiers are using carbon fiber reinforced necks?

Here's a brief list of some famous classical luthiers using carbon fibre reinforcing:

• Greg Smallman
• Ethan Deutsch
• Andy Culpepper

 

Check out my other Modern Classical Guitar Design articles

Part 8: Fanned Frets

Part 7: Arched back

Part 6: Double Tops

Part 5: Lattice Bracing

Part 4: Armrest

Part 3: Soundport

Part 2: Indented Cutaway

Part 1: Elevated Fingerboard

Modern Classical Guitar Design Part 8: Fanned Frets

A stunning Alto 11-string guitar by Neris Gonzalez (Bartolex).

Introduction

Guitars with additional strings are nothing new. From the earliest days of the lute instruments that resembled guitars have always been around. However, recently guitars with more than 6 strings in the classical guitar realm have started to gain in popularity. In electric guitar circles Steve Vai is probably heralded as leading the renaissance in multi-stringed or extended range guitars even though they existed well before he burst onto the scene in the early 80s. 

It was Ibanez that took up the challenge of designing a 7-string guitar that could meet Mr. Vai's demands. It would seem that the desire to have an extended range on guitar crossed over into the classical scene too. You may be thinking to yourself that Narcisco Yepes had already been playing an 11 string for many years and that is true however his instrument was extremely rare and those guitars weren't truly adopted into mainstream classical guitar. 

'Angled bridge' on a Stoll guitar.

What does this have to do with Multi-scale/Fanned fret classical guitars?

However, I digress. What does all of this have to do with fanned frets? Well, the thing is this - the more strings you add onto a guitar the greater the chances are that the intonation will become worse and worse. Bass strings need extra tension or they become 'floppy' and almost unplayable. The way to circumvent this is to make the length of the string longer i.e. the distance from the bridge nut to the neck nut should be increased the problem is you can't really do that to the treble strings otherwise they'll break or the tension will be so tight that you won't be able to play them. 

Solution!

Enter the 'fanned fret' or 'multi-scale' system. Smart luthiers out there realised that if they could angle the frets, bridge, & neck nuts outwards from the treble strings they could increase the length of the bass strings whilst retaining the same or very similar scale length on the treble strings. Here's an example from Salvador Cortez guitars:

A wonderful example of 'angled bridge & nut' with the multi-scale frets in place. Pic courtesy of Salvador Cortez.

Wouldn't this be hard to play?

The simple answer is no! Think about the natural 'angles' that your fingers take when you place them on guitar...our fingers naturally splay outwards and upwards and this perfectly mirrors what is taking place on a fanned fret guitar. The result is a guitar that actually feels perfectly natural to play. 

Looking for a classical guitar with Fanned Frets?

Here is a list of luthiers that are making multi-scale classical guitars:

• Stoll guitars 
•  Tom Bills 
• Michael Greenfield (think Andy McKee)

Should you have one?

If you are planning on moving into extended range classical guitar playing then it should definitely be a consideration although strictly speaking it isn't a necessity. The most important thing is that it works well with you - not for you. The guitar as much as possible should be a natural extension of you. It should feel comfortable sitting in your lap and comfortable for your hands and fingers. 

Check out my other Modern Classical Guitar Design articles

Part 9: Reinforced Carbon Fiber Neck

Part 7: Arched back

Part 6: Double Tops

Part 5: Lattice Bracing

Part 4: Armrest

Part 3: Soundport

Part 2: Indented Cutaway

Part 1: Elevated Fingerboard