Every good idea deserves to be expanded upon. Inspired by the floating soundboard concept of the Electric Feather , I wanted to see if it could pulled back into somewhat more familiar territory. The result is Ultraviolight.

At the same time, I was learning to make “coopered” soundboards, made of bent staves in the manner of baroque viols (see “Building La Cremonese” for an full description of the process). So while this little acoustic-electric has an avant-garde design, one of its defining features is made with a technique lost for centuries.

At the same time, the soundboard-making technique opened my eyes to the possibilities of heat-bending wood planks thicker than usually used for guitar sides. I subsequently daydreamed up a completely new type of headstock joint- not just bent, not just joined, but a combination of the two!

First, a mortice is cut across the grain at the joint, leaving 1/4” of wood across the bottom. Then the headstock angle is bent in. A dovetail-shaped piece is slid in sideways with hot hide glue, and the top surfaces are planed flush. Finally, when the fingerboard and head plate are glued on, the assembly reaches full strength.

The soundboard of Ultraviolight is made of split staves of eastern Canadian white spruce, the neck and vestigial body is spanish-cedar, while the fretboard and other parts are of Indian rosewood. It has a combination of under saddle and thin-film piezoelectric transducers for a lush, acoustic-sounding output.