Oval hole archtop

[Dave Stewart]

Finally took some pics of my most recent archtop on the weekend....hope you like.
It was my first shot at an oval hole (with matching soundport) and WRC top, as well as a bit more "vintage" body shape. Very pleased with the acoustic results as well (sorry, no sound samples yet)...full & rich, lots of sparkle when played fingerstyle, along with the more traditional jazz tone with a pick.
It's WRC on Big Leaf Maple, koa bound with ebony fittings.
16" x 3" body, 25" scale, 1 11/16" nut.
Kent Armstrong "smoothtop" pickup.

[Dave Stewart]

Just as a lark, I decided to bend/shape some scrap side material into a soundport cap/plug (held in place with just some carefully sized 1/4" craft store foam). Still evaluating but I thought it was a cool little "extra".

[Mario Proulx]

Son! Very, very nice! Your archtop carving skills are matched only by your photography chops... <bg>

I like the portplug. I've done sliding soundport doors, and like them, too. Most everyone just leaves 'em open, but it makes a neat conversation piece, even for them. Others find it hard to sing with an open soundport if the guitar is very loud(it's like playing on a stage where there is too much guitar and not enough vocals in the monitors), and for them, a door or portplug is rather necessary.

[Steve Senseney]

Very nice.

Beautiful instrument.

[Jason Rodgers]

Clean as a whistle! Very well executed!

[Jim Ashby]

Now THAT'S one pretty guitar!

[Patrick Hanna]

Well, Dave,
When did I NOT like one of your archtops? This is a sweet guitar in my estimation, and another source of inspiration for me. I'm glad you built it and posted it. I, too, like the sound port cap. That's just too cool.
I must also say that I think you did excellent design justice to the narrow body and narrow waist of the smaller archtop parameters. I think it's particularly difficult to get everything looking contemporary and sweet when following those dimensions, but you did it and that doesn't surprise me at all. Another very difficult problem is how to manage the cut out on the finger rest for such a voluptuous oval sound hole, but I think you just showed us how to accomplish that. Another fine piece of design and execution from your shop! Just what we have all come to expect from you. (No pressure in that last bit of praise, because I know your future efforts will be equally satisfying). I see you've used your flared bridge foot design on this instrument, too. That's always a nice feature on your guitars.

Highest regards,
Patrick

[Christ Kacoyannakis]

Dave,
As always, a beautiful, and very classy build. You are doing some new things with the finger rest and the bridge. Very nice!

[Michael Lewis]

I see echos of several designs but the one thing that registers in my mind is the architectural flavor of the over all design. That element reminds me of what John Monteleone is so good at. Nicely done, Dave.

[Paco Jimenez]

One more beautiful instrument. Thanks for sharing. Like Patrick said, I love them all too.

[Darrel Friesen]

Another beauty Dave! Some real nice details going on there.

[Dave Stewart]

Thanks for all the great comments. Sorry for the delay in responding.....my 'phone (& dial-up) went down on Tues & is only just back. The design evolution on something like this would be a lot less successful for me without cad. Each element went through MANY adjustments 'till it all looked right before anything was built. Then, print full scale patterns, generate a build plan & off you go.
Just finished another shot of the whole thing.

[Michael Jennings]

Dave, that is the definition of classy understated beauty. Would sure like to hear some acoustic sound clips.
Mike J.

[Greg Carter]

I will echo the above: beautiful. One question: Did you use the "standard" X-bracing or did you modify the bracing due to the oval hole? If you did modify it, what considerations did you ... (uhm)... consider?

Greg

[Dave Stewart]

The main modification to the "X" was to open it quite a bit in order to accomodate the oval hole. I then added a transverse brace under the pickup.

[Jason Rodgers]

How wide is the oval? When you say you had to open up the X, how much more open than a typical archtop? Would it be a more typical X angle for a steel string?

[Dave Stewart]

I'm not familiar with X angles in flattops, but this one was up around 85 degrees. (Normally mine are in the 60-65 range.)
The oval is 4 1/2" wide before binding.

[Jason Rodgers]

Yes, that is approaching flattop X angles: 90-100 degrees.

It might be apples and, er, pears to describe an f-hole versus oval-hole archtop, but how do you think this increase in X angle affected the tone of this instrument?

[Dave Stewart]

Opening an archtop X is supposed to sweeten & warm the tone. My very limited experience tells me that the single soundhole truely does lower the main air resonance. I believe both things contribute to the pleasing tone of this guitar and structurally, if you do one, you have to do the other.

[Jason Rodgers]

I like sweet, I like warm. And I just think the oval hole archtop looks good! Damn... I don't need any more projects...

Keep em coming, Dave.