2015 Band Raffle Guitar (update 1)

Have been too busy building to post here, so I'll just do a quick 3 posts with information on this years guitar.

This year we are using Claro Walnut tonewoods, with Curly Koa binding as an accent. Headstock, fretboard, and bridge are Indian Rosewood.

I've made some drastic changes to the neck design which are quite cutting edge as far as innovation.

1) the neck is mounted on a tripod of set screws which makes it fully articulated.

 As a guitar ages, the top naturally pulls up (it is fighting 170 pounds of tension!) and eventually the playing actions gets high and difficult to play. The solution is generally a very expense neck 'reset' where the neck is removed (unglued, finish cut) and the heel is resurfaced to change then angle at which it meets the body. It is expensive enough that too many old guitars are simply abandoned. With an articulated neck, changing the neck angle is easy by just loosening the anchor bolt, and turning a single set screw a small amount.

2) In place of an adjustable truss rod, this neck has a carbon fiber "D-tube", which will keep the the neck perfectly straight. It is actually hollow, and you can hear when tapping on the neck.

3) To reinforce the heel on the tripod mount, there is also a carbon fiber "saddle" which ties into the D-tube and extends down into the heel, thus strengthening the normally weak short wood grain.

4) We have decided, in the interest of more ticket sales, to "unbrand" the guitar so strongly form Atascadero High School.

The headstock logo is now branded as "Solariego" instruments, and the fretboard contains only musical notes in Mother of Pearl (rather than the Greyhound motif of the past). This will make it easier to sell tickets in surrounding towns.

5) Lastly, the fingerboard is no longer glued/resting on the top of the guitar. It is now cantilevered over the top like a violin or archtop guitar.

In addition to allowing the neck to be adjusted, this also removes a pressure point from the top which the cause of old guitars "caving in". It allows the removal of the heaviest bracing across the top, and this allows the entire guitar top/soundboard to become active in creating sound.