Unique acoustic design

[GGJaguar]

So, I have this out on the "play stand" today and thought I'd share. It's a McPherson MG5.0 XP (the XP denotes extra large soundhole). A lot of country artists and worship guitarists use them (they have an LR Baggs active under-saddle pickup). However, these tend to be very polarizing guitars - you either love them or hate them. While I don't hate them, I don't care for most of them, including the 15" wide Camrielle model. My favorites are the MG4.5 XP and 5.0 XP with rosewood, maccassar ebony, and ziricote bodies with redwood tops. The one here is a 5.0 XP with rosewood body and cedar top and is my wife's favorite amongst all my acoustics (so I'm not allowed to sell it).



The design it unique and a bit Rube Goldberg. I like the offset soundhole because it directs a lot of sound to the player which, for me, is very satisfying. The bracing is laminated (either spruce-rosewood-spruce or rosewood-spruce-rosewood) and while it's X-braced it's... different.




The body dimensions are the same among the models (16" wide) and only differ in body depth at the lower bout. The 5.0 is a handful, especially if you have shoulder issues.




The bolt-on neck has soft V profile with a 25.5" scale length. There's a lot of carbon fiber in it (no truss rod needed) and the fingerboard extension is completely cantilevered over the body.



The result, amazingly, is a very responsive guitar with a lot of sustain. It's great for strumming or fingerstyle (1 3/4" nut width). Now, with that said, I've played a lot of McPhersons that sound similar to other big body guitars. Their mahogany/spruce guitars sound like any typical mahogany/spruce dreadnaught, so why bother with a McPherson when you can get a high quality dread for much less money? On the other hand the ones with redwood, cedar and Port Orford Cedar tops are unique sounding and I find them delightful. This one has decent volume, but runs out of headroom when pushed due to the cedar top. Redwood has the warmth of cedar with more headroom and PO Cedar gets even closer to spruce.

And that's the McPherson in a nutshell.

 

[GGJaguar]

Here's a pic of an early McPherson from the late 1970s and early 1980s and made in Japan by Terada. Unfortunately, they were not very good.

 

[chazmo]

Hey, GG, thanks for sharing these. McPherson is one of the modern luthiers who definitely pushes the envelope on guitar design. The soundports and the bracing are real works of art on his guitars. Fascinating stuff!

 

[chazmo]

Oh, hey, and I've never seen a picture of his fretboard extensions. That binding is gorgeous!

 

[Steve Messenger]

for that kind of money, I will happily give it to Ben Wilborn https://www.wilbornguitars.com/comma-series-intro/

 

[walrus]

Definitely would be easier to get your pick out of the guitar after you drop it!

walrus

 

[marius]

I haven’t heard much about them in a while but Batson Guitars are another interesting departure from the norm.

 

[jp]

He's applied some interesting concepts, and I'd love to play one, esp. a fully carbon example. The neck design on the carbon series is interesting. It looks like multiple pieces: the outer neck, truss rod, a milled/routed graphite structure, and then the fingerboard. Despite how often he talks about how organic carbon is, it's still a dirty process that involves pretty toxic resins, although they are inert after hardening. It seems like they'd be extremely resonant.

 

[GGJaguar]

I'd love to play one, esp. a fully carbon example.

Yeah, me too. I've only played the all-wood models. The thing is that the big carbon model (the Sable) is the same as the all-wood Camerielle and I don't like that one. Too bad they don't make a 16" carbon guitar. Seems like it should be do-able.

 

[Rocky]

Here's a pic of an early McPherson from the late 1970s and early 1980s and made in Japan by Terada. Unfortunately, they were not very good.

Aha! So that's where that model guitar came from. I've always wondered.

 

[F-412Spec]

The old Tacoma variants :

 

[chazmo]

The old Tacoma variants :

Were these designed by McPherson, F-412Spec? Anyway, those Tacoma-brand instruments are very cool.

 

[F-412Spec]

Were these designed by McPherson, F-412Spec?

I do not know. It is possible, I guess, since the Tacomas did not appear until 1997. There's not much in the way of documented human design history out there for Tacoma.

"Tacoma Guitars began as a division of Young Chang America in Tacoma, Washington that, starting in 1991, processed Northwest hardwood for export for piano soundboards. Sawmill general manager J. C. Kim persuaded Young Chang to build a guitar manufacturing plant nearby. For the first few years, the plant produced about 100 guitars a month for another guitar brand. In 1997, the Papoose and Chief models debuted at the 1997 winter Convention of the National Association of Musical Manufacturers (NAMM). That year, mass production of the unconventional Papoose model, the first sold under the Tacoma brand, also began.

Tacoma subsequently developed ranges of guitars—some with conventional round sound holes, others with the paisley sound hole introduced on the Papoose (as the Wing Series).[2][3] "

 

[hansmoust]

I do not know. It is possible, I guess, since the Tacomas did not appear until 1997.

Actually, the Papoose was designed by George Gruhn. If you do a Google search you should be able to find the specifics.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[F-412Spec]

Papoose was designed by George Gruhn

Hi Hans,

I haven't studied guitar design history much but I AM SURPRISED to hear that George Gruhn was the designer. Seems to me so far out of his usual interests. Interesting stuff.

 

[richardp69]

I've always wanted to try a McPherson branded guitar. But, the price tag has scared me off this far. They are (or at least were) made in my home state so there's a bit of an emotional pull there I guess.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Speaking of sound hole positioning favoring the player... this is a new one on me. And I kinda like it!! (AND being able to get your pick out easily!! )

Gibson's Player Port: Innovation for a new Generation | GC Riffs

Gibson's Robi Johns gives us the scoop on the refreshed Generation Collection acoustic guitars.

www.guitarcenter.com

 

[Rocky]

Speaking of sound hole positioning favoring the player... this is a new one on me. And I kinda like it!! (AND being able to get your pick out easily!! )

Gibson's Player Port: Innovation for a new Generation | GC Riffs

Gibson's Robi Johns gives us the scoop on the refreshed Generation Collection acoustic guitars.

www.guitarcenter.com

Other people have done that before Gibson. Probably useful for a home player, but you'll lose projection around the campfire.

 

[wileypickett]

Other people have done that before Gibson. Probably useful for a home player, but you'll lose projection around the campfire.

Studies of guitars with modest-sized soundports (1.5" or so?) show no loss of volume out of the soundhole.