Chestnut Grove Design is delving into a new area of study by working with guitar aficionados to replicate an old school solid wood electric guitar.
The project first came about when Chestnut Grove Principal Designer, Francesco Giampietro became interested in learning to play guitar. He contacted John Wilson, a guitar teacher and well respected professional musician, to teach him a few chords. What began as a new hobby quickly transpired into a love of the instrument that had Francesco’s creativity fired up, thinking design and wondering how he could build a guitar of his own. In order to do this Francesco decided to start from the beginning and learn the history, heritage and true soul of the classic guitar. He then researched how it was designed, built and finally what it has evolved to today.
"Once I have understood and experienced the evolution of the guitar starting from the past, I can then fully understand the struggles in the design and the passion that makes these guitars special. Then I will be ready to design a new guitar not only for myself but for others to experience it too." says Francesco.
John, Francesco as well as Steve Sandy, a well respected custom guitar builder and musician who became interested in the project, are now on the verge of creating a classic old-school "butcher block T-style" guitar as a starting point of learning from the past. This golden era guitar from the 1950's is a classic cutaway single slab body style that has been re-created by using various woods such as pine, walnut and maple. The template is cut on a CNC machine at the Chestnut Design Studio in Vaughan and hand finished to create a smooth and flawless finish.
"Exploring the different wood species is helping us understand the relationship of sound and organic materials. This is very helpful when designing a new guitar and selecting the right material and shape to achieve the right sound,” says Francesco
The prototypes are being built and tested in the different woods to examine the weight factor and the acoustic value of each one. Amazingly each one is uniquely different in sound resonation.
The trio will be studying many other classical guitar designs and builds all the while gathering knowledge and forming an emotional connection to each one. This study will later influence the evolution of a uniquely designed guitar, that has the ultimate infusion of passion combined with the love of the instrument.
As the project progresses updates will be posted or feel free to contact Chestnut Grove Design with any questions. If you would like to share tips to help with the evolution of a new guitar design check out our contact us page to send as a message. We look forward to all your questions and comments.
If you have a unique idea, are interested in pursuing a creation of your own desire and would like Chestnut Grove to help build your creation, please give us a call or stop by the studio to discuss your project.
