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From: Ross
Remote Name: 76.101.10.136
Date: 05 Mar 2007
Time: 09:17:51 -0500
Luthier’s Blog 3/5/07 To expand on my last entry: 4. I don’t understand slotted headstocks. For either steel string or classic. First off, they are harder to build. Then, they are more fragile. Then they are difficult to restring. Finally, they exert varying angles of string break over the nut for each string. The two E strings usually have such a sharp string break angle that tuning can suffer and the windings of the low E get mangled. The design is indefensible from an engineering standpoint. The Sperzel company finally began making precision machine heads designed for nylon strings on solid pegheads. I recently fit a set to a flamenco guitar I had built that originally had friction pegs. It was a revelation. String changing was easy, tuning was easy, and the look is very simple and clean. I suspect it will be a while, however, before solid headstocks are mainstream on nylon stringed instruments. 5. I don’t understand ornamentation. In many industries since the before the industrial revolution began, it has been a not uncommon practice to produce an example of the company’s chief product that has been modified with engraving, inlay, special finishes, filigree, precious metal plating and other decorative touches. These products were used to call the attention of large scale buyers or distributors to the company, or as presentation models to heads of state, business leaders, or other dignitaries by whose association the producing company could benefit. Usually reserved for display, the “presentation model” seldom was used for it’s intended purpose. The concept, however, was planted as seed in the minds of individuals everywhere who wished to acquire the prestige of those heads of state, business leaders, and other dignitaries for whom presentation models were intended. Shrewd marketers saw to the supply of this small but growing market, and the ornamentation of everything from firearms to writing instruments to wristwatches to vehicles to musical instruments resulted. Another phenomenon occurred simultaneously: the product’s original utility became secondary to it’s function as a totem. The possessor of such an object came to view it’s original purpose as secondary, and the act of possession itself as primary! Great Scott! I feel humbled when someone buys one of my instruments, and I will not seek to seduce them into purchasing one through the use of shiny encrustations of jewelry or winking swirling finish techniques. As I grow older, I see the need to utilize my shrinking time wisely in discovering ways to improve an instrument’s function. I wish to find a market among those to whom function is paramount, and who simply need an effective tool with which to perform music. 6.I don’t get neck binding. The workbench calls. Tomorrow, then. Ross Teigen 7:50 am