Melted tops/fretboards

[bostjan]

Anyone played a guitar with melted top or fretboard?

What was the tone like?

I was thinking about how it could be cool to have a nice tight maple sound on the bass side, with a smoother middier pau ferro tone on the treble side. I can't imagine there not being a lot of cross talk and weird interactions between woods, though. Plus I don't know about paying $1000's for it, so I'm just playing around.

 

[Mastodon]

Is 'melted" code for something else other than changing from a solid to liquid?

 

[technomancer]

Melted top guitar:

http://conklinguitars.com/bizarregallery/biz6images/originalmeltdescript.html

 

[Chris]

I still don't get what I'm supposed to be looking for, but I'd love to own that Conklin all the same.

 

[technomancer]

'melting' is a term I think Conkiln came up with for combining cuts of different wood in a fretboard or quilt top. Thus the merged woods in the top of the guitar I posted is a 'melt'.

There used to be a better example that literally looked like the top half was melting and dripping/running into the bottom half of the body, but I can't find the pic.

Bostjan, I can't see where you'd get different tone properties on different sides, as the melt would yield a single unique tone from the interaction of the woods as a whole.

 

[David]

I think that it's waaay too much to pay for, and would take too much labor.

 

[Mastodon]

I think that it's waaay too much to pay for, and would take too much labor.

No such thing as "too much labor" when it comes to artwork.

 

[David]

No such thing as "too much labor" when it comes to artwork.

there is when you can charge $50 an hour for it.

 

[Metal Ken]

http://conklinguitars.com/bizarregallery/biz8images/meltedfingerboarddescript.html
Theres a better exampple of melting, i think.

Its not something i'd personally pay for, but i think it looks amazing.

 

[technomancer]

there is when you can charge $50 an hour for it.

if you're concerned about price you're not buying a Conklin guitar

 

[David]

if you're concerned about price you're not buying a Conklin guitar

good point

 

[bostjan]

'melting' is a term I think Conkiln came up with for combining cuts of different wood in a fretboard or quilt top. Thus the merged woods in the top of the guitar I posted is a 'melt'.

There used to be a better example that literally looked like the top half was melting and dripping/running into the bottom half of the body, but I can't find the pic.

Bostjan, I can't see where you'd get different tone properties on different sides, as the melt would yield a single unique tone from the interaction of the woods as a whole.

Hmm, maybe if they were isolated, but if it doesn't alter the tone with proximity effect, then I'll pass.

 

[maliciousteve]

Maverick Guitars used to make a guitar that had a fretboard made of Maple and Rosewood. Half rosewood and half maple. Looked pretty weird but i never played one. Not sure if they still make them or not

 

[ts73]

I was thinking about how it could be cool to have a nice tight maple sound on the bass side, with a smoother middier pau ferro tone on the treble side.

I would not work this way. The sound is not affected by what precisely the string is vibrating over - if it was, you'd notice a difference any time you fretted a note over an inlay, for example. I'd imagine what you'd get would be a mix between the tonal properties of two woods.
I might be wrong, but that's what the common sense tells me.

 

[shishin]

Well for one, I've been dying for a Conklin for about three years now. Thanks for making me remeber.
(damn them for charging so much for a seven string hand milled tremelo with fanned frets, piezios with a midi output, All black hardware with gold lacing, Lundengren pickups, a slightly scalloped fretboard up to the twelth fret, built in three band EQ and a neck through body)

Next, I don't think the melted tops/fretboards make much of a difference sonicly. I'm pretty sure that tone achieved from different wood result in the vibrations coming from the entire wood vibrating throughout the body. And the melted tops are only TOPS so it doesn't change too much. You wouldn't get the sound of one on one side and the sound of the other on the other. You get some slight combonation. It's more for looks than anything. And It's almost enough to make me want to pay the extra for it when I get my Conklin.....someday.

 

[Shaman]

I think those are cool!

Here's my guitar in the making. The guitar doesen't have a top at all, the whole body is made from flame birch. I designed that the shape of the horns continues to the body.

I hope to get that guitar finished before the end of the summer. I have allready purchased the pickups etc.(Duncan Custom bridge and 59' neck, both in Zebra) The fretboard was installed a while ago(rosewood) and the pickup cavities have been made too, but I haven't taken pics of those yet.

I don't really know what colour the guitar will be yet. Maybe a burst of some kind..

 

[bostjan]

Cool. I had never seen Flame Birch before. It looks really nice. Is it an optical illusion, or is the heel kinda long on the neck?

I'd look great with a nice time-consuming hand rubbed stain. I'd say go for something subtle in the middle, getting more pronounced on the edges, but nothing very dark. Show off that woodgrain!

 

[Elysian]

whats up with the truss rod on that thing? it looks huge...

as for "melted" tops... i don't think in electrics it would make a ton of difference, theres far more influence from pickups and your picking than wood... but in acoustics... i've recently gotten to hear an acoustic with mahogony back and sides, and the top was half cedar half spruce... and it had a well defined low end, as well as a bright and crisp top end, it sounded pretty incredible to be honest... and the craftsmanship was also great. i don't know who made it though, i only got to hear it, it was someone elses guitar thats going to the school i go to...

 

[Kamin]

there is when you can charge $50 an hour for it.

or more...

 

[Stitch]

Maverick Guitars used to make a guitar that had a fretboard made of Maple and Rosewood. Half rosewood and half maple. Looked pretty weird but i never played one. Not sure if they still make them or not

they made two. the X-1 Matrix and The F-1 Matrix. They were absolutely incredible, although im not sure how much of a difference you would have noticed in the sound. However, melted tops = liquid sex. If i could cope with the ridiculous "knobble" that conklin insists on putting around the jack on every guitar they make i'd get one. does anyone know how they actually go about producing the "melt" between the two (or three, or four...) woods??