Ricktoone

[Cantplay]

http://www.ricktoone.com/instruments.html

Some really amazing work and inovative ideas.

John

[da Geezer]

The "Neutral Tension Bridge" is really interesting.

http://www.ricktoone.com/2008/10/neutra ... ridge.html

[martin manning]

The "Neutral Tension Bridge" is really interesting.

But structurally how is it different from a trapeze tailpiece?

[roberto]

Looking at the PATENT, you can see the string is in a straight line on its whole length. So the upward reactive force in the central rod and downward forces on externa rods counterbalance perfectly (look fig.29), without any other momentum (like in fig.35).

So the instrument has no forces pressing on the top: it's more free to vibrate and at the same time it can be lighter.

[martin manning]

The discussion on the Rick Toone site seems to be focused more on the detrimental effects of the top having to support string tension rather than down-force from the bridge. Although the down-force could be reduced with the Toon bridge design, that is not the big issue structurally- it is the attachment of the bridge and the tailpiece to the top that is problematic, and a trapeze tailpiece solves that. That said, in both the trapeze and Toone tailpiece designs, the top will still take a compression load in counteracting string tension, but it will be nearly all in-plane and distributed along the joint between the sides and the top. The top is much better able to do that without distortion than it will be at resisting the bending moment created by having both the bridge and tailpiece attached to the guitar top.

[Structo]

Strange guitar, fanned frets and all.

People are always trying to improve on the design and form.

That's cool for innovation but I'll just stick with the traditional out of tune six string.

But, I always liked these guitars.

Teuffel Tesla

[img:600:300]http://www.teuffel.com/bilder/guitar_pi ... pricot.jpg[/img]

[img:263:495]http://www.teuffel.com/bilder/guitar_pi ... _olive.jpg[/img]