"Woody" is also the primo resophonic guitarist in the area and is much sought after by recording vocalists and instrumentalists from a variety of genres ranging through bluegrass and country to jazz. A few years back "Woody" asked me to build him a resophonic that would be "different" from the two commercial resophonics he had. I resisted on the basis that I knew nothing about these instruments or their related music. Woody persisted by burying me in material that ranged from articles on Paul Beard and a set of resophonic plans, to Jerry Douglas CD's and videos. I reluctantly began to develop an interest, especially after seeing the bluegrass video featuring Jerry Douglas and Alison Krause. Then, on the Musical Instrument Makers Forum I read an extremely informative article entitled "Some Baffling Conclusions about Resophonic Guitars". Clearly the guitar gods were conspiring with Woody against me as I began to see the connection to speaker cabinet technology, something I played with in a former life.

So....I finally relented on the understanding that he would let me use my classical guitar body shape. While this saved me much time in mold making, I also believed that the shape would be better suited to the size of the cone and the chambers I wanted to create. The design is somewhat more complex than that of a standard resophonic, incorporating two completely separate chambers connected by ducted ports. The tubed ducts are adjustable and a central non-ducted port can be left sealed off or uncovered. The resulting cone loading, and phase inversion imparted by the ducted port bass reflex design results in a very even balance across the strings. Uncovering the central port moves the tonal quality toward that of a standard resophonic. Removing the ducting tubes altogether would probably take it much further in that direction.  The modified Spanish heel neck joint mitigates in favor of dramatically improved sustain and a very "smooth" response. 

Woody raves about his new guitar and now plays it exstensively in his resophonic work. Look at the pictures while listening to Woody playing his own composition "Rumble Strips" © on his new resophonic guitar. Woody currently plays with the group "Robin Hunter and the Six Foot Bullies and can be heard in various venues around the Edmonton Alberta area. Their CD "Your Heart, My Sleeve" was recently released and can be purchased at independent record stores in the Edmonton area. Alternately they can be purchased directly from John or Robin. They can be reached by email at gushe@compusmart.ab.ca.