Good news and bad news:
First the bad: Yamaha has not responded to me. Scenarios in my head:
1) The gentleman is on vacation. 2) They are reviewing my guitar. 3) My *** is being blown off. Place your bets!
The good news: My third Patent that I thought might only get publication now looks like Patent grant will happen:
This is the pretty much the same guitar as the FHAG but noted as "Acoustic Waveguide Guitar". It is described as waveguides, not horns, and also with internal or external amp options, and also with magnetic pickups, piezo pickups and microphone, or a combination of these as options, plus other minor details.
My fear was if this gets rejected, maybe they could also back track and reject my first patent? It is unusual, but it is possible...freaked me out.
I set up an interview with my Patent examiner, because the guitar Patent that I might be violating was in fact the good old "Electrophonic Guitar".
I thought, you must be kidding? Yeah this is the guitar that I saw before I filed, and Art also mentioned in previous posts. I remember Art was not impressed, and I would love to hear more about this from Art. Not because I want to waste his time, but because I think it would be fun!
Now from what I have seen, I like this guitar, but it does seem a little under powered, especially for an electric guitar.
So I was freaking out that my interview may not go well, for some unknown reason, but my Patent Examiner said, OK tell me how your guitar is different, see attached PDF for my response. As I explained, there was silence. Then pretty much OK I see your point.
Now I like this Patent examiner, due to my first Patent going through, and they were very patient with me, as a first time Patent applicant. What I could not figure out was how a Patent examiner with 20 years experience could miss so much. My guess is, since the Patent office has the highest number of Patents being reviewed in the history of the USPTO, I think they are likely under the gun and rushing through, just a little bit more that they would like, else why?
Anyway the convo ended with yeah that sounds really good, send in your remarks/arguments, and I will review your Patent again. NO CHANGES needed to your Patent, They understand now. WOW! What a relief!
Now for the studio story from Friday, Man do I love Round Table Recording Company! Getting to know everybody, what a great music vibe the place has, soooo much fun and great work also. Had a few other people that worked there hearing about my guitar, and wanted to check it out. Almost everybody that looks at it for the first time is like WTF is this?! So much fun!
I showed how the horns are covered and sealed, similar to high end speakers systems with horns (every time I mention that to "the general public" they start to get it). Amp in or out of guitar options, chamber divider options, blah, blah, hope I did not bore people. The good thing is my videographer new friend is young and a great guy. I ask him should I put a certain phrasing in, he is like hell no, I want to cut that out, but I really like this. I told him early on I am paying you, but you still need to be honest with me. If I am doing something that is "not desired" tell me, and he does, love it!
The I tuned my guitar to open E and played slide, and did the harmonic end to Little Martha, I think that might actually make the video cut!
First the bad: Yamaha has not responded to me. Scenarios in my head:
1) The gentleman is on vacation. 2) They are reviewing my guitar. 3) My *** is being blown off. Place your bets!
The good news: My third Patent that I thought might only get publication now looks like Patent grant will happen:
This is the pretty much the same guitar as the FHAG but noted as "Acoustic Waveguide Guitar". It is described as waveguides, not horns, and also with internal or external amp options, and also with magnetic pickups, piezo pickups and microphone, or a combination of these as options, plus other minor details.
My fear was if this gets rejected, maybe they could also back track and reject my first patent? It is unusual, but it is possible...freaked me out.
I set up an interview with my Patent examiner, because the guitar Patent that I might be violating was in fact the good old "Electrophonic Guitar".
I thought, you must be kidding? Yeah this is the guitar that I saw before I filed, and Art also mentioned in previous posts. I remember Art was not impressed, and I would love to hear more about this from Art. Not because I want to waste his time, but because I think it would be fun!
Now from what I have seen, I like this guitar, but it does seem a little under powered, especially for an electric guitar.
So I was freaking out that my interview may not go well, for some unknown reason, but my Patent Examiner said, OK tell me how your guitar is different, see attached PDF for my response. As I explained, there was silence. Then pretty much OK I see your point.
Now I like this Patent examiner, due to my first Patent going through, and they were very patient with me, as a first time Patent applicant. What I could not figure out was how a Patent examiner with 20 years experience could miss so much. My guess is, since the Patent office has the highest number of Patents being reviewed in the history of the USPTO, I think they are likely under the gun and rushing through, just a little bit more that they would like, else why?
Anyway the convo ended with yeah that sounds really good, send in your remarks/arguments, and I will review your Patent again. NO CHANGES needed to your Patent, They understand now. WOW! What a relief!
Now for the studio story from Friday, Man do I love Round Table Recording Company! Getting to know everybody, what a great music vibe the place has, soooo much fun and great work also. Had a few other people that worked there hearing about my guitar, and wanted to check it out. Almost everybody that looks at it for the first time is like WTF is this?! So much fun!
I showed how the horns are covered and sealed, similar to high end speakers systems with horns (every time I mention that to "the general public" they start to get it). Amp in or out of guitar options, chamber divider options, blah, blah, hope I did not bore people. The good thing is my videographer new friend is young and a great guy. I ask him should I put a certain phrasing in, he is like hell no, I want to cut that out, but I really like this. I told him early on I am paying you, but you still need to be honest with me. If I am doing something that is "not desired" tell me, and he does, love it!
The I tuned my guitar to open E and played slide, and did the harmonic end to Little Martha, I think that might actually make the video cut!
I imagine a lot of companies are wound really tight around the "Not Invented Here" syndrome. Probably has to do with "We have all these people on salary; why am I paying all these people and I still have to pay more for this idea?" If a company can have same rights as an individual, they for sure can have the same ego as an individual.
A place like "Klos" might not have that to the same degree, as they are smaller - much smaller - than Yamaha. That they call themselves Klos innovations, well the FHAG is one "innovation" they didnt think of and who knows how irk'd they'd be over that fact. There's only one way to find out, you salesman you. Go knock on their door with it, before Enya finds out what your idea can do!
ElectroPhonic Innovation guitars appear to be doing well, cost-effective tech that fits the market they appeal to. I'm impressed by that aspect, their product works.
Trying to look up their patent came across this 2011 thread:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...a-guitar-reccomendations.201017/#post-2801129
As far as adoption or defense of your patent(s), best of luck!
Art
JJ - oh yes, once my YouTube video is ready, I will release it and my Website to EVERYBODY I can find.
Art - thanks for the link. I like the Electrophonic Guitar, your above thread shows them at Patent time for their product.
I also discussed it earlier in this post after you posted some of their info. Not sure why it is only 18 watts of power, but I like it. I have researched them a few times, they seem to be doing pretty well, but a small company, likely with small company challenges. In my opinion, similar but not exactly the same animal, legally. Hey I like the big sound inside an acoustic guitar AND and inside an electric guitar.
An acoustic guitar was made to have the sound internally, and an electric guitar was not, but so what, they can both do it!
Art - thanks for the link. I like the Electrophonic Guitar, your above thread shows them at Patent time for their product.
I also discussed it earlier in this post after you posted some of their info. Not sure why it is only 18 watts of power, but I like it. I have researched them a few times, they seem to be doing pretty well, but a small company, likely with small company challenges. In my opinion, similar but not exactly the same animal, legally. Hey I like the big sound inside an acoustic guitar AND and inside an electric guitar.
An acoustic guitar was made to have the sound internally, and an electric guitar was not, but so what, they can both do it!
I see the Electrophonic Guitar comes in at 9 lbs. - pretty respectable given everything inside. This guitar seriously shreds, really like it, but I did hear some feedback with some NAMM show footage, which of course can be very useful if controlled. This guitar will never sound like an acoustic guitar in any way, and likely does not try to market that sound!
Low cost chip amp, plenty of power for a compressed sound similar but louder than the classic battery powered Pignose amps, which had only 3 watts-5watts peak.
More power would require bigger, heavier, more expensive batteries, and going to 36watts would hardly be noticed- 3dB ain't much, but half the battery life is..
Another great song from my new favorite musicians: Abbie Thomas and The Crazy Hearts - enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abbie+thomas+not+gonna+lie
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abbie+thomas+not+gonna+lie
There are some great videos on YouTube of course, showing the Yamaha TransAcoustic grand piano, man what a beautiful instrument. Personally I think it sounds the best as a standard acoustic piano, but it really kills it with just the right amount of chorus and reverb. I think it is hard to **** up such a great instrument, especially with an enormous soundboard, it really handles the effects well.
The Yamaha Transacoustic guitar, now that to me is a different story. Acoustically it sounds wonderful also, man they have some great sounding videos when put out by Yamaha. Then you hear the same guitar from a home video, just not quit the same. Anyway that guitar is pretty awesome. Put 50% chorus on it, and I am out, just not for me, but just a touch of chorus, sounds pretty damn great! I will not give up on trying to convince them that this technology paired with Folded Horns would be killer! 🤣
I listen to many guitars on YouTube and I think, yeah I can beat that...then I hear a great video with a Collins guitar, and I think, oh wow, that sounds great, love it! I also wonder about recording levels on YouTube, changes the game, not live. Some of my favorite guitar videos are bursting with power compared to a video of a very similar guitar that sounds kind of weak. The louder it gets, the more power, the better the two high tinny strings sound. True for a powerful acoustic guitar, true for my guitar with horns on (off you can hear the tin), true for an electric guitar, at least to my ears.
I saw a great quote the other day from an experienced rock and roll studio engineer. He said "we used capture sound, now we create it". Makes you think, has its ups and downs of course.
My videographer friend says editing is going well, hopefully I can actually get some decent footage of myself trying to remember how to play, stay tuned!
The Yamaha Transacoustic guitar, now that to me is a different story. Acoustically it sounds wonderful also, man they have some great sounding videos when put out by Yamaha. Then you hear the same guitar from a home video, just not quit the same. Anyway that guitar is pretty awesome. Put 50% chorus on it, and I am out, just not for me, but just a touch of chorus, sounds pretty damn great! I will not give up on trying to convince them that this technology paired with Folded Horns would be killer! 🤣
I listen to many guitars on YouTube and I think, yeah I can beat that...then I hear a great video with a Collins guitar, and I think, oh wow, that sounds great, love it! I also wonder about recording levels on YouTube, changes the game, not live. Some of my favorite guitar videos are bursting with power compared to a video of a very similar guitar that sounds kind of weak. The louder it gets, the more power, the better the two high tinny strings sound. True for a powerful acoustic guitar, true for my guitar with horns on (off you can hear the tin), true for an electric guitar, at least to my ears.
I saw a great quote the other day from an experienced rock and roll studio engineer. He said "we used capture sound, now we create it". Makes you think, has its ups and downs of course.
My videographer friend says editing is going well, hopefully I can actually get some decent footage of myself trying to remember how to play, stay tuned!
Used to. We used to have guitar simply made of wood, metal and gut - now we have studio effects right inside them. All in support of creating sound. Just...moving some things that were originally from the studio, into the amplifier - and now into the guitar itself.
Here's a mark - wait for it - next up is Auto-tune. Yep; play a wrong note; the AI computer understands what key you're in, what you're trying to do and shifts the tone to perfect pitch at the output jack accordingly in real time. Of course with the press of a button, you can turn it off and play a bunch of deliberately dissonant stuff and / or as you improve your playing. Just like the chorus / reverb now available.
You know, whatever it takes to get more people to want to try and play guitar; more instrument sales. Before experienced players scream no-no-no, who knows what sounds could be created with such a system? If it sells more guitars; how could anyone blame Yamaha or anyone else for incorporating such a thing? We have "Sustainiac" -- can you tell when it's that, versus the old way we had to do it?
FWIW, I wouldnt mind - at all - being able to play like this guy -
Well said JJ, Steve Vai is pretty damn incredible, good enough for Zappa! AI and Auto-Tune - wow! Actually I don't think any of us knows how the brave new world of AI will turn out, watching closely, kind of exciting and dreadful at the same time, there is a novel there. Speaking of, Art have you given writing a book any more thought?
I tried The Tonewood Amp again, spent some time with it: a very nicely packaged and marketed product, me thinks. Very easy to install, and does not bother me in the least bit on the back of my guitar. If you are into effects for acoustic guitar, go for it. I have seen internet comments that say it raises dB levels quite a bit, like 7-10 dB. It does NOT, that is total BS. It is an effects package, you know, like every amp including mine has included. My review: Lame.
I will have my new studio mix tomorrow. If it is to my liking, I will post. If it needs editing, probs not, stay tuned!
I tried The Tonewood Amp again, spent some time with it: a very nicely packaged and marketed product, me thinks. Very easy to install, and does not bother me in the least bit on the back of my guitar. If you are into effects for acoustic guitar, go for it. I have seen internet comments that say it raises dB levels quite a bit, like 7-10 dB. It does NOT, that is total BS. It is an effects package, you know, like every amp including mine has included. My review: Lame.
I will have my new studio mix tomorrow. If it is to my liking, I will post. If it needs editing, probs not, stay tuned!
I presume this footswitch powers on and off the amplifier. If you keep the amp on and have the footswitch enable and disable the audio into the amp, it will switch on an off instantly, and not have any pops when switched.
On the other hand ... you may have heard of the Yamaha DX-7 music synthesizer. If you heard pop music in the decade starting in 1983, you've surely heard it. The Wikipedia article on the inventor of FM music synthesis tells part of the story, but it misses the part where he went to every American organ maker trying to sell his idea and all turned him down, but it was a chance meeting (I forget the details, but the story has been told in several places) with someone from Yamaha that got the company interested. It took years of developing various models using FM, but the DX-7 sold over 250,000 units, more than any other model music synthesizer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chowning
Thank you Ben for the footswitch info, I will check it out, I bought a piano footswitch that may improve things.
I really like the article about the Yamaha DX-7, very encouraging! Please stay in the conversation, great to have your input.
Speaking of bell like sounds, slightly unrelated, but the church bell down the street that I mentioned before is probably about 4 feet in diameter at the mouth, and I bet it is 3" thick, I think maybe bronze material. Talk about mass being critical, I can hear that beauty in my house 3 blocks away. If you are up in the bell tower, you will cover your ears immediately when it rings.
Then we have the new clock tower on top of the court house. The tower is beautiful, but the bell is electronic. I can hear it about 3 blocks away when I am walking or running through town. The only problem is the tone, it sounds like an ice cream truck, terrible! Power is big, but without great tone, it can be damn annoying!
I will post more tonight, I now have my updated video and am still checking it out. As usual some of it is great, some of it not so much, I will have comments and questions!
I really like the article about the Yamaha DX-7, very encouraging! Please stay in the conversation, great to have your input.
Speaking of bell like sounds, slightly unrelated, but the church bell down the street that I mentioned before is probably about 4 feet in diameter at the mouth, and I bet it is 3" thick, I think maybe bronze material. Talk about mass being critical, I can hear that beauty in my house 3 blocks away. If you are up in the bell tower, you will cover your ears immediately when it rings.
Then we have the new clock tower on top of the court house. The tower is beautiful, but the bell is electronic. I can hear it about 3 blocks away when I am walking or running through town. The only problem is the tone, it sounds like an ice cream truck, terrible! Power is big, but without great tone, it can be damn annoying!
I will post more tonight, I now have my updated video and am still checking it out. As usual some of it is great, some of it not so much, I will have comments and questions!
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~aj/archives/orgs/Yamaha.html Looks like Mr Chowning had "just a few" back and forth correspondence with Yamaha over his FM synthesis idea, in the early 80s.
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/techtalk/9130 mentions the "American organ companies", Hammond by name, who apparently didnt understand why one would go with digital techniques to synthesize sound. Yamaha on the other hand "got it".
Hopefully, Yamaha or some other manufacturer will "get it" about the FHAG. While not as monumental as FM sound synthesis, I feel if Yamaha put a team on it wholeheartedly, the result would be an instrument that's unique, fun to play and indispensable in certain situations. I'd bet there's something to having the sound power radiant feeling right in the guitar that would appeal to a lot of players, one of those like its come alive sort of things. As with all such, not for everybody, but I'd bet a lot.
In my own attempt at transacoustic using Chinese knock-off electronics, the guitar is perceptibly louder with the system on. Also if I use it to echo my voice through the acoustic guitar body, my voice sounds louder than without. How much louder in db I've no idea...
That's just with my own toying around and not even using an inverse FFT of the driver/body impulse response to straighten out the system FR. (All I did was connect the driver to a shirt pocket radio playing a local oldies station, and move the driver about the back of the guitar, to find a spot where I thought it sounded best. I then drilled a small central hole, so I could use a thin wire to find the location on the inside of the guitar and land the glued-on driver in appx the same spot. It was obvious I couldnt place it where the back bracing bars were located...too close to them for the driver magnet to bump into - or the side perfing)
JJ- you need to be my marketing guy if this ever goes somewhere - wow! Where the hell did you get all that info?
Big mistake?: So Yamaha quickly became very interested. I signed the rights of the patent over to Stanford, who paid all the patent costs, and I think that rightly they get most of the income from the royalty, because the work was done in their labs, and because they use most of the money to support the Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.
But maybe if he did not do that, it might not have gone anywhere, so a curious conundrum for sure.
Big mistake?: So Yamaha quickly became very interested. I signed the rights of the patent over to Stanford, who paid all the patent costs, and I think that rightly they get most of the income from the royalty, because the work was done in their labs, and because they use most of the money to support the Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.
But maybe if he did not do that, it might not have gone anywhere, so a curious conundrum for sure.
OK updated video, same as before but added content to the end. My voice is OK, but not as good as first time. Likely because first time was JUST GO, blabbed on naturally. This time was a bit more scripted in my head, not as natural, but usable.
I think my explanation technically was very needed and pretty sound, but any arguments against that would be taken with full thought on my part.
My guitar playing is passable, will use it, not great, but OK.
The Little Martha at the end sounds pretty damn good with Horns Off. Wouldn't you know it, Horns On and I missed the entire harmonic on one fret, and the second string note is bad at the end, I will redo this. Oh wait, Duke Ellington always said there is no such thing as a bad note, you just played it wrong!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AClZDZoNnqgZXyehpt2cOaoUIe_aOkpz/view?usp=drive_link
I think my explanation technically was very needed and pretty sound, but any arguments against that would be taken with full thought on my part.
My guitar playing is passable, will use it, not great, but OK.
The Little Martha at the end sounds pretty damn good with Horns Off. Wouldn't you know it, Horns On and I missed the entire harmonic on one fret, and the second string note is bad at the end, I will redo this. Oh wait, Duke Ellington always said there is no such thing as a bad note, you just played it wrong!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AClZDZoNnqgZXyehpt2cOaoUIe_aOkpz/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AClZDZoNnqgZXyehpt2cOaoUIe_aOkpz/view?usp=drive_link
I received a share request from Ben, which I did, but I meant to post a link that anybody can open, hopefully it is fixed now.
I received a share request from Ben, which I did, but I meant to post a link that anybody can open, hopefully it is fixed now.
Here's the book where I read about John Chowning and the DX-7. The chapter is only about 8-15 pages or so, but was interesting reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Were-Burning-Entrepreneurs-Electronic-Revolution/dp/0465091172
https://www.amazon.com/Were-Burning-Entrepreneurs-Electronic-Revolution/dp/0465091172
My then girlfriend, now wife since many years, played DX-7 in our humble 80/90s band 🙂
I made a solid plywood case for it, to carry it from home to practise and small gigs.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cbq_n6exkbJLnf_Os4RcZviLTmXfv6Pt/view?usp=drive_link
Finally have neck #2 finish cutting on CNC, can build second Folded Horn Acoustic Guitar. This one will be stained and varnished for a better look!
Finally have neck #2 finish cutting on CNC, can build second Folded Horn Acoustic Guitar. This one will be stained and varnished for a better look!