..to sat nothing of the shapes that they use for electric guitars. I've always found it odd that while any form is theoretically possible, the two most consistently popular electric guitars (Stratocaster and Les Paul, as well as their knock-offs) are based on the standard figure-8 acoustic guitar shape. Sure, you've got Flying-V's, Explorers, Warlocks, etc, but these are the exceptions, played by a small minority of players in genres that want to demonstrate a social break with more formalized styles of music.
Its really unfortunate that the tiny fraction of makers who want to experiement and really improve the instrument face a gigantic uphill battle against in-grained preconceptions. Remember the Steinberger? A truely fantastic instrument that offered the player consistent quality and much flexibility as well as opening potentially rich musical avenues. Sadly, I can't think of anyone who plays one nowadays. It seems that mental attitudes about what makes a guitar a guitar comes down to the shape, and, as Tim pointed out, the material. I'd hate for that to happen to the lute. Chris --- timothy motz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >It say something about the persistence of our > expectations about > musical instruments that many solid body electric > guitars are quite > ostentatiously built out of wood. Somehow we expect > stringed > instruments to look that way. > > Tim > > > > > >---- Original Message ---- > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], > [email protected], > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: Re: Gone 'the whole hog'! > >Date: Mon, 9 May 2005 11:34:22 -0400 > > > >>Bill, > >> > >>Given that some old lutes were made of materials > like ivory I can > >see no > >>reason that a graphite resin couldn't make a lute > bowl that would > >sound > >>quite well - but somehow the aesthetics don't > appeal to me. Yet > >given the > >>abilities of the space age types to concoct almost > any internal > >structure > >>even the soundboard might be possible with > synthetics - but I'm not > >ready > >>for it. > >> > >>Best, Jon > >> > >>----- Original Message ----- > >>From: "bill kilpatrick" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>To: "Ron Fletcher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; > >"[email protected]" > >><[email protected]> > >>Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 12:36 PM > >>Subject: Re: Gone 'the whole hog'! > >> > >> > >>> check out www.rainsong.com in hawaii. they make > 100% > >>> graphite resin guitars with the "classic" > graphite > >>> sound. it's a beautiful building material - a > solid > >>> graphite lute of one-piece construction can't be > far > >>> off. i have a crafter mandolin with a polyresin > bowl > >>> (similar in principle to an ovation guitar) and > it > >>> sounds fabulous. > >> > >> > >> > >>To get on or off this list see list information at > >>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >> > > > > > Yahoo! Mail Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour: http://tour.mail.yahoo.com/mailtour.html
