Robert fripp hollow – notes on a begining
"Establish the possible and move gradually towards the impossible"
Robert Fripp
The design brief as discussed with Robert was that he wanted a guitar that was very similar to the Les Pauls that he has played throughout his career, but better. This was after I had handed him one of the early prototypes of what is now the slim model.. the slim put his much-practiced playing position into the wind! The first major design change from the standrd les paul, and most important, is that instead of a standard neck joint I have used a very long deep cut tenon that ends about three inches from the rear strap button, this is practically a through neck but cosmetically looks like a normal Les Paul joint. The bonus of using this joint are two fold; firstly it means that we can give complete and comfortable access to the top frets without compromising the joint. Also, since the neck goes underneath the pickups and the bridge this is a dramatic increase in the natural sustain and warmth of the instrument.
The timbers used are exclusively hand selected and are of the best quality available. These timbers are Mahogany (for the body and the neck) a book matched European maple cap and currently a Hondoras Rose Wood finger board. Where Brazilian Mahogany is not available, due to it being on the CITES list of protected species, we use Sapele, which is sustainable farmed South Africa Mahogany, it has very similar tonal characteristics to Brazilian. Due to the sound that Robert requires from his instruments we use European Sycamore, which is less dense than American Maple and gives a softer tone while still adding more clarity and brightness than Mahogany. The Hondoras Rose Wood use for the finger boards is remarkably beautiful but has a similar feel to the ebony more commonly utilised on Robert's guitars. The neck is constructed out of three pieces of Mahogany with alternating grain as this gives much greater structural integrity than is the norm.
Robert's tuning is from low to high C G D A E G, and the string gages he uses are in the same order 0.53 0.38 0.24 0.16 0.12 0.09. This means that there is more string-tension than on average guitars at the higher strings and less at the lower, which is why there is a slightly sharper break-angle at the headstock. This helps prevent fret buzz caused by the lower strings.
As well as the design brief set by Robert we set our own, which is universal to all our custom guitars and this is 'ergonomics'. Basically it is obviously important that a guitar looks good to the audience, but more importantly it needs to fit the musician like a glove. With the RF model from an audiences point of view it looks just like any of Robert's other Les Paul's, but the carving on the body facilitates easy playing, for Robert that is best achieved with the thick bodied Hollow model while the slim model is suited to the player who hasn't fallen in love already! the main points about the slim are that there is a forearm contour on the front, very smoothly carved neck joint and most importantly a 'belly-carve' on the back. Basically the guitar curves around the guitarist and helps create the optimum paying position.
Robert's tuning is from low to high C G D A E G, and the string gages he uses are in the same order 0.53 0.38 0.24 0.16 0.12 0.09. This means that there is more string-tension than on average guitars at the higher strings and less at the lower, which is why there is a slightly sharper break-angle at the headstock. This helps prevent fret buzz caused by the lower strings.
As well as the design brief set by Robert we set our own, which is universal to all our custom guitars and this is 'ergonomics'. Basically it is obviously important that a guitar looks good to the audience, but more importantly it needs to fit the musician like a glove. With the RF model from an audiences point of view it looks just like any of Robert's other Les Paul's, but the carving on the body facilitates easy playing, for Robert that is best achieved with the thick bodied Hollow model while the slim model is suited to the player who hasn't fallen in love already! the main points about the slim are that there is a forearm contour on the front, very smoothly carved neck joint and most importantly a 'belly-carve' on the back. Basically the guitar curves around the guitarist and helps create the optimum paying position.
The radius on Robert's fingerboard is compound to facilitate chord playing at the nut and also lead playing further up the neck. The neck shape is a very flat and thin shape fitted specifically to Roberts hands and style of playing, the main idea here is that the depth of the neck is uniform for most of its length and feels almost as if it isn't there! Also helped by the very small low profile stainless steel frets we use! All of these specs will be mouldable to each individual customers needs. For example, if you are used to playing a guitar with a longer string length I would suggest that we use this on your RF model as that would help with the lower tension on the C string.
The hardware and electrickery on these guitars comprise of Spertzel locking-tuners, a Kahler trem-system, a Fernandez Sustainiac Pickup in the neck position a single coil humbucker also in the neck position and a hand wound Wizard pickups humbucker at the bridge. The key to Robert's sound, however, is the Roland GK-3 Hexaphonic pickup kit by the bridge, this has a thirteen pin midi out put next to the standard jack out put.
The hardware and electrickery on these guitars comprise of Spertzel locking-tuners, a Kahler trem-system, a Fernandez Sustainiac Pickup in the neck position a single coil humbucker also in the neck position and a hand wound Wizard pickups humbucker at the bridge. The key to Robert's sound, however, is the Roland GK-3 Hexaphonic pickup kit by the bridge, this has a thirteen pin midi out put next to the standard jack out put.
Although as a final word I will say that we are developing several bits of new hardware for these guitars, on Roberts next guitar we will have a ball bearing trem as well as the ghost piezo driven MIDI system. Improvements all round!!
All my best,
Ben
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