Tune That Chamber!!

[CheshireCat]

Alrighty then . . . anyone know anything about chambering?

[eljib]

Not much, but I'm doing my research. Have you seen how Warmoth does it? I think I'm gonna try it on my current project.

www.warmoth.com/guitar/bodies/strat.cfm?fuseaction=strat_hollow

[CheshireCat]

Any more insights? Any links?

[wesman]

www.iluthier.com/iLuthierGallery/categories.php?cat_id=22&sessionid=5c33b27b7d2aad8af1a0be09b475ea63&page=1

Also saw a 335 lookin' thing based on the StewMac neck-thru

www.stewmac.com/shop/Bodies,_necks,_wood/Electric_guitar:_Necks/24_Fret_Through-body_Guitar_Neck.html

Are you lookin' to route a body & glue on a top or do the "glue on-wing thing"?

[Runewalker]

I've stayed aside trying to see what would surface here. So far, a little sparse, so I guess I'll wade in.

The whole chambering thing has a seemingly growing momentum. Most of them are a sort of adaption of the old 335 design: Center solid sound block holding pups and bridge components, linked to a set neck in many, with hollow to semi-hollow wings.

When I toured the factory making Gibson 335 and their ilk (Lucille, 355, etc) the hydraulic press that laminated the sandwich of veneers into an carved arch-top shape were formidable. With the veneers and sandwiching resin adhesive, press under a few 1000 lbs of pressure, it was clear that the lamination process removed most of the pretense out of an acoustic style solid wood, resonant sound board. The panels were a little heavy and very stiff, basically "un-resonant."

Carvin built the Holdsworth model sometime after he left Bill Bruford's band. Several others are out there, some signature models. The most surprising one to me is the Reverend Billy Gibbons and his 'BillyBo" Gretch. Homage to Bo Diddly and his penchant for rectangular guitars (sound familiar Chesh?)....

www.gretschguitars.com/gear/index.php?product=G6199&cat1=&cat2=&q=&st=1

I guess the point is there is a sense of trendiness with the whole chambered thing.

The chambered approach taken by Warmoth is similar to the structure of hollow core doors --- sandwich of a matrix of supporting grid -- in the case of hollow core doors a honey comb of cardboard -- in the case of Warmth's routing, cavities and solid wood matrices.

That structure would not be resonant in the same way that a spruce top on an acoustic would be. It would mostly just make the guitar lighter. You still have the solid center block and the reflective plane of the wings (surfaces to the sides of the sound block). While a 335 has a demonstrably different sound the Hollow core doors with sound blocks would likely sound only marginally different than a full solid body. of course others will argue with that notion.

I have experimented with super-light Strat bodies, essentially chambered but at the cell level, and they are much easier on the shoulder and very comfortable. But with the electronics and secure coupling they can still sound like a strat, rick or Les Paul.

So I for one suspect it is A) a hoola hoop trend, and B) popular with pros because it is lighter and more comfortable. I've seen Billy Gibbons on a number of late night TV talk show recently with his BillyBo, and it does sound different --- it sounds like Billy Gibbons.

Just an opinion.

RW

[ChrisK]

I have a couple of chambered Strat bodies.

One is padouk (the Padouk Caster in the Gallery), the other is book matched walnut over walnut.

While these may seem similar to a solid body, they are not. The small size of the chambers, advertised as not being subject to resonance, are actually subject to very high frequency resonances, well beyond those of a guitar.

The main effect of the chambers is to change the structural stiffness of the body. While the body retains many of the attributes of the main wood, these are modified into a mellower (less highs) version. In conjunction with a stout neck (the Padouk Caster has a 1 7/8" fatback), these bodies seem to "sing" with resonance compared to a solid with the usual flaccid thin neck.

I tend to use thick necks on all home-builds (and many store-boughts). For me, the minimum is 1 3/4" fatback.

I'm seriously looking at a Musikraft neck since they will do a 1 7/8" Tele neck with an asymmetrical thick back carve in vintage tint nitro for about $270.

Note that the relatively thin laminate wood has little contribution to the tone, a laminate must be fairly well over 3/8" at the center to have meaningful contribution.


I've heard of some folk using their forearm over the "F" hole on a Thin-line as a primitive "wah".