Concave Neck For Stringed Instruments - Patent Pending

[Chris Templeton]

It might be the wrong section to post this, but since I am a steel player, I thought I'd put it here.
Last Winter I applied for a patent for my idea of a concave neck for stringed instruments and should be officially patented in a month or two.


The obvious improved feature is that when playing a barre chord on guitar, the thumb fits ergonomically better in a concave neck than a round one.
Also, the thumb rides up the side of a guitar neck just as it normally does and doesn't effect existing guitar technique.
The neck design hasn't changed since powdered wigs and I don't mean Paul Revere & The Raiders.

[David Ball]

Looks cool--good luck with the patent!

Dave

[Chris Templeton]

Thank you, David.

[Fred Treece]

Oh man, what a great idea!

[Chris Templeton]

Your reinforcement of the idea means a lot to me, Fred.

[Craig Stock]

Good to see things are moving along Chris!, Talk soon.

[Bill Fisher]

V neck D-28. That's what I like.

Bill

[Cartwright Thompson]

“V” shaped necks are popular, I guess that this is the natural successor….the “W”.
Or maybe it’ll be called a “Reverse V”.

[Chris Templeton]

Good names, Cartwright.

[Lee Warren]

Neat idea, Chris!
How might this impact the truss rod?
Lee

[Chris Templeton]

That's what those little holes are in the electric guitar prototype. Checking depth. So far, not a problem.

[Lee Warren]

Cool!
I guess you could run carbon fiber truss rods down each of the ‘humps’, if the center section was too shallow.

[Jim Fogle]

Chris,

Good luck with your patent request.

[Karl Paulsen]

Fascinating.

Personally I prefer that my necks be no deeper than necessary to accommodate the fingerboard, truss rod and enough wood to cover the rod. So this might not be for me.

However, having a constant lateral reference point and the likely strength benefits of a "u-beam" shaped structure is really intriguing. I wonder if such a neck could be made without a truss rod?

[Chris Templeton]

The truss still works on the electric. The classical guitar doesn't have one.
Let's say you want to have 8 strings on a guitar, a concave neck makes it easier to play, laterally.
Yes, the traditional roundneck is what people are used to, so I understand any hesitancy for switching over,
Wait until you feel one and you might not go back to a round one (tee hee).
Again, the concave neck does not interfere with guitar techniques already learned.
The thumb can still climb up the side of the neck .
For electrics; neck replacement. Acoustics: to be determined.

[Johnie King]

Wow, cool Chris thinking outside the box. I love it"!

[Chris Templeton]

Coming from you, that means a lot to me, Jonnie.