Guitar Shapes Navigator E-Book

Jan Jirasko

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 80

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The book "Guitar Shapes Navigator" deals with the determination of the positions of characteristic points, lines, distances and shapes of parts of the guitar as a whole. In contrast to technical drawings, "Guitar Shapes Navigator" does not use classic dimensions, but mainly the coordinates of the positions of the end points, center points, etc. Everything takes place in the X and Y coordinates of the normal Cartesian system. The third dimension, the Z coordinate, is used as needed. And the main role is played by the origin, the Z E R O P O I N T - actually invisible under the bridge.

Leseprobe

There are already countless books and publications dealing with the design and construction of electric guitars and electric bass guitars. In this book I try to bring these topics from an unusual perspective to those who are both inexperienced and advanced guitarists, guitar owners, collectors or self-builders.

As a trained chemical laboratory technician, later electroplating technician and of course also as an amateur guitar maker and guitarist, I tend to measure everything in order to better understand the relationships.

The method for the systematic representation of the most important guitar parameters in coordinates can be very useful for a smooth communication between two or more guitar designers. Provided that everyone involved is ready to agree on the NULLPUNKT (origin-point) under the bridge.

And please, don't be afraid of math and geometry. What we need to understand the geometry of the electric guitar is knowledge up to 7th grade. Point, straight line, distance, length, half line, parallel, triangle, square, polygon, trapezoid, circle, etc. Center point, center line, angle, axis symmetry, rotation, reflection … and of course the X/Y-coordinate system.

"Don't worry about your math problems! I can ensure you, mine are even bigger."

Albert Einstein

Jan Jirasko

Guitar Shapes Navigator

Measuring the shapes of the guitar and the positions of its elements

© 2021 Jan Jirasko

Envelope, illustrations: Jan Jirasko

Translation: Jan Jirasko

Lektorat, Korrektorat: Hanes Nemec, Jan Jirasko

Publisher & printing: tredition GmbH, Hamburg

978-3-347-38654-9 (Paperback)

978-3-347-36377-9 (Hardcover)

978-3-347-38655-6 (e-Book)

The work including its parts is protected by copyright. Any use without the consent of the publisher and the author is prohibited. This applies in particular to electronic or other reproduction, translation, distribution and public access.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – Guimetry, Geometry of a Guitar

1.1 – Who needs such kind of surveying?

1.1.1 – Designer by profession

1.1.2 – Amateur guitar maker

1.1.3 – Collectors, buyiers and sellers

1.1.4 – Skeptics among the self-builders

1.1.5 – Enthusiasts among the self-builders

1.2 – Order of shapes and dimensions

Chapter 2 – Coordinate-System

2.1 – Where is the zero point?

2.2 – Symmetry to the X-axis

2.3 – Tile-Puzzle

2.4 – Body-Polarography

2.5 – Check - Points

2.6 – Tile points

2.7 – Between the Checkpoints

Chapter 3 – Core of the stringed instrument

3.1 – START - 24,75 inch

3.2 – START - 25,5 inch

3.3 – START – 25 inch

3.4 – START – Bass 34 inch

3.5 – The scale lengths and fret distances

3.6 – Multiscale – Fretboards

3.7 – START Doublenecks

Chapter 4 – Rest of the instrument

4.1 – Guitarbody

4.1.1 – Outline / Silhouette

4.1.2 – Inner lines and contours

4.1.4 – Tile-diagramm

4.1.5 – Tile template

4.1.6 – Body thickness – the third dimension

4.2. – The neck

4.2.1 – The neckprofiles

4.2.2 – The fretboard

4.3 – The headstock

4.3.1 – The tile diagram of the headstock

4.3.2 – Inner trim lines and positions

4.3.3 – Headstock profile, angle and thickness

Chapter 5 – Electric guitar types

5.1 – Type group - selection

5.2 – Empty grid template for guitar body

Chapter 6 – Electric basses types

6.1 – Type groups - selection

Chapter 7 – The headstocks in Raster

7.1 – Symmetrical headstocks - selection

7.2 – Asymmetrical headstocks - selection

Chapter 8 – Influence of checkpoint positions

8.1 – The Zero-Point (Origin)

8.2 – The belly - area

8.3 – Area of the middle of the body

8.4 – The shoulder area

8.5 – The proportions of the areas

Chapter 9 – Tile - areas

9.1 – Analysis and combinations

9.1.1 – Analysis of the positions in tiles

9.1.2 – Sliding experiments in tiles

9.1.3 – New by combining

Chapter 10 – CAD- Control of border milestones

Chapter 11 – Strings over the fretboard

11.1 – PLEK - Station for Workshop needs (short description)

11.2 - DIY – the dial gauge method

Chapter 12 – My handmade guitars in coordinates

12.1 – Electric guitars

12.2. – Tapping-Instruments

Recommended reading / Epilogue

Index

Chapter 1 – Guimetry, Geometry of the guitar

At the time of my childhood, we had only two musical instruments at home. An old mandolin, and a mandolin banjo that someone once gave to our daddy in a useless state. In school, teachers accompanied our singing with the piano or the violin, and we were not allowed to try anything on our own. Singing only folk songs didn't bother us at all. That was still the time when brass and bow-string instruments still ruled. When I recall my first closer encounter with a real guitar - that was a deep experience! Both her elegant shape and the sound of their strings charmed me. It was a concert Spanish guitar, but unfortunately not mine.

How it continues to develop with my guitar playing, I will not describe it here. It's about something else. What is the source of the fascination that guitars have had in their shapes and sound on our and the next generation? As for the "sound" guitars, I'm not going to discuss this here anymore, so there's more room left to explore the curves and contours of the guitars "under the magnifying glass".

Body, neck and head, even without legs and hands, these are clearly female beauty features of the guitar. And just as differences in faces and bodies greatly affect the beauty sensation, every guitar has its own character. In the meanwhile seventy-year history of the electric guitar, some types of guitars either developed into generally accepted copy templates or serve as the basis for detailed changes. Therefore, the limits of creative freedom in elelectric-guitar curves are relatively narrow. It is hardly possible to invent something previously unknown.

Divide et impera, Divide and rule!

This is the way to examine and understand the smallest visual differences and their effects. For this I roughly divide the guitar into three sections according to the method of action:

Body – Neck – Headstock,

so that we can measure and compare them over time.

A detailed technical drawing, English "blueprint" called, although useful, but not understandable for everyone. And to compare several blueprints on top of each other in detail is quite exhausting job. It is said that a picture says more than a thousand words, but it also leaves much room for interpretation. In this case, numbers are missing in order to be able to define exact dimensions and proportions. By comparison, a crack drawing or guitar blueprints "talks" in numbers. It is a manageable set of design values, which also includes formulas to understand them correctly. For example, the scale length, the position of the octaves, etc.

I would like to say that a book about guitars unfolds its greatest benefits when photos and drawings with numbers and text descriptions are described exactly. This not only benefits guitar designers or home builders, but also collectors, buyers, sellers, and other interested parties. And that is the intent of this book.

Chapter 1.1 – Who needs this type of guitar measurement?

Chapter 1.1.1 – Designer by profession

A designer who works professionally and lives well on guitars and related musical instruments will probably not find much new here. The instruments are measured and described from a different perspective than usual, and this type of measurement can be helpful for CNC programming. After all, anyone who studied general design, such as college design (including product design / product planning) and electric guitar design, can not avoid prototyping by hand. And thus he is also a craftsman, and not a pure designer in white coat. Life income depends on the number of guitars sold, whether they are made by an employee or a private entrepreneur. The situation is better for the copyright owner or patent protection.

A method of systematically displaying the most important guitar parameters in coordinates can also be very useful for seamless communication between two or more guitar designers. If none of them cling to traditions and everyone is willing to agree on a zero point in the middle under the bridge.

Chapter 1.1.2 – Amateur guitar maker

The amateur luthiers either work creatively, with the goal of creating something original, or just to copy a role model. They both need location data for a certain number of contour checkpoints and internal guitar details. The simplest method is to copy by template. This is relatively expensive if you buy a set of milling templates and build only one guitar, if there are any templates at all. Making templates by hand at home is almost free, but time consuming. And there begins the time-consuming search for "specs", suitable photos and drawings in scale 1: 1. Even for those who have the opportunity to work with a CNC system, the coordinates can not be obtained without considerable effort.

The method for the systematic representation of the most important guitar parameters in coordinates, is (with a little practice) also for a clear understanding between two or more amateur guitar builders very useful.

Chapter 1.1.3 – Collector, buyer and seller

For this clientele, standard routing templates would be well suited for a quick comparison of the original form, but unfortunately too big, too heavy, too expensive and not very space-saving. It is easier to measure with a ruler, a caliper, etc. position of control points of selected guitar. The coordinates of the checkpoints are only pairs of numbers and therefore easy to look up. For example:

Also in search of a suitable guitar case, a rolled up paper template is much more comfortable than to lug the whole guitar along. For some guitar suitcase manufacturers, you can find information about width and length of the body and the total length, but this information is not as reliable as a detailed template.

Chapter 1.1.4 – Skeptics among the self-builders