The Rev 2 Chrysalis Guitar
(For an introduction to the Chrysalis Guitar, see "Welcome" below.
May 26, 2013
Getting Ready to Fly
A lot has happened with the project since January. At every turn over the last year I have received encouragement for the project, and now real help has arrived, bringing closer to realization the dream of a fundamentally better guitar to guitarists world-wide.
The MIT Connection
It is a long story, but in February the Chrysalis guitar re-launch ecame an official academic entrepreneurship project at the MIT Sloan School of Business Management through May 2014. A solid market analysis and detailed 4-year business plan has been created by MIT graduate students Arjun Mendhi, Jorge Milibran Angel and Dipak Shetty. Arjun and Jorge are shown below left with the original Chrysalis prototype used for their work.
Rev 2 Chrysalis Re-Design
Mike McGinnis of Windham, NH shown below right, a superb bass guitar player and wizard CAD designer, has made himself a VIP by taking on the re-designing the Rev 2 Chrysalis in Solidworks, which is now about 80% done.
That's me standing in the back, still quite overwhelmed by the turn of events and generosity of this core team. I can now see a path forward, and it looks good.
The Team
(For an introduction to the Chrysalis Guitar, see "Welcome" below.
May 26, 2013
Getting Ready to Fly
A lot has happened with the project since January. At every turn over the last year I have received encouragement for the project, and now real help has arrived, bringing closer to realization the dream of a fundamentally better guitar to guitarists world-wide.
The MIT Connection
It is a long story, but in February the Chrysalis guitar re-launch ecame an official academic entrepreneurship project at the MIT Sloan School of Business Management through May 2014. A solid market analysis and detailed 4-year business plan has been created by MIT graduate students Arjun Mendhi, Jorge Milibran Angel and Dipak Shetty. Arjun and Jorge are shown below left with the original Chrysalis prototype used for their work.
Rev 2 Chrysalis Re-Design
Mike McGinnis of Windham, NH shown below right, a superb bass guitar player and wizard CAD designer, has made himself a VIP by taking on the re-designing the Rev 2 Chrysalis in Solidworks, which is now about 80% done.
That's me standing in the back, still quite overwhelmed by the turn of events and generosity of this core team. I can now see a path forward, and it looks good.
The Team
Jorge Milibran Angel, Arjun Mendhi, Tim White and Mike McGinnis.
Next Step - A Kickstarter Campaign
A Kickstarter campaign is planned for later this summer to finish the detailed design of the Rev 2 Chrysalis guitar and fabricate six Rev 2 Chrysalis prototypes. These will be sold for between $10,000 and $3,000 depending on serial number.
Ordering a Chrysalis Guitar - Now Would be a Good Time
Nothing perks up a product launch like advance orders. The Rev 2 Chrysalis re-design is now far enough along to figure costs.
The base price of a production Rev 2 Chrysalis guitar will be $3,000. Various options will be available, such as case, electronics, special coatings and other details. The modular nature of the Chrysalis design allow for the rapid interchange of different interchangeable parts. For example, it is a 5 minute job with an Allen wrench to take off a grill and replace it with another, or some other functional insert, or just hang it on a bush and spray paint it a new color. Guitarists can now swap major guitar components as easily as they swap songs.
Rev 2 Chrysalis Prototype Construction
The headstock and body half frames will be CNC'ed out of a strong fiber-reinforced polymer. The neck will be hollow blow-molded carbon fiber, like a graphite tennis racquet, to save weight. the grills will be graphite-reinforced epoxy, like the original grills, but this time nickel-plated to strengthen it, and allow anodizing in various hues, or even gold-plating for a real treat - it doesn't cost as much as you think because the plating is so thin. The bridge will be either CNC'ed of the same material as the body frames, or else molded, (not sure yet which). The bridge will incorporate a piezo pickup and pre-amp. The headstock lever will be out of carbon fiber composite. Various hard points will be brass, aluminum or steel.
The neck joint will allow instant scale length adjustment for intonation, instant neck angle adjustment, fingerboard relief adjustment, and neck yaw adjustment. It takes literally 2 seconds to loosen the strings and take the neck off, and not much more to put it back together again up to pitch (see video below).
Apprenticeships
I need help with the Kickstarter campaign, particularly with the online effort, social media, etc., and then the finishing out of the first set of prototypes (You can tell I need help with the web site). In exchange for this help I can offer training in guitar technology and specifically help in building the Rev 2 Chrysalis prototypes. This means learning mold-making, carbon-fiber composite molding, precision hand-tool use, fabrication of jigs, etc. Living arrangements are negotiable.
Some history - I paid for my own guitar-making apprenticeship with Froggy Bottom Guitars in Richmond, NH back in the mid 1970's by building the field-stone foundation for the barn-shop I would eventually learn in Richmond NH. This foundation ended up measuring 4 feet high, 20" thick and 150 feet in length, built over 4 months while I lived in a tipi up the hill in an old hemlock grove. Stone and water for cement mixing were collected by hand. The worst part was getting done with the foundation, and then having to bury it up to the sills, hiding most of that beautiful stone I had gotten to know so well. However, the floor to the shop that was eventually built on that foundation felt extremely solid to my feet, every time I walked in.
Next Step - A Kickstarter Campaign
A Kickstarter campaign is planned for later this summer to finish the detailed design of the Rev 2 Chrysalis guitar and fabricate six Rev 2 Chrysalis prototypes. These will be sold for between $10,000 and $3,000 depending on serial number.
Ordering a Chrysalis Guitar - Now Would be a Good Time
Nothing perks up a product launch like advance orders. The Rev 2 Chrysalis re-design is now far enough along to figure costs.
The base price of a production Rev 2 Chrysalis guitar will be $3,000. Various options will be available, such as case, electronics, special coatings and other details. The modular nature of the Chrysalis design allow for the rapid interchange of different interchangeable parts. For example, it is a 5 minute job with an Allen wrench to take off a grill and replace it with another, or some other functional insert, or just hang it on a bush and spray paint it a new color. Guitarists can now swap major guitar components as easily as they swap songs.
Rev 2 Chrysalis Prototype Construction
The headstock and body half frames will be CNC'ed out of a strong fiber-reinforced polymer. The neck will be hollow blow-molded carbon fiber, like a graphite tennis racquet, to save weight. the grills will be graphite-reinforced epoxy, like the original grills, but this time nickel-plated to strengthen it, and allow anodizing in various hues, or even gold-plating for a real treat - it doesn't cost as much as you think because the plating is so thin. The bridge will be either CNC'ed of the same material as the body frames, or else molded, (not sure yet which). The bridge will incorporate a piezo pickup and pre-amp. The headstock lever will be out of carbon fiber composite. Various hard points will be brass, aluminum or steel.
The neck joint will allow instant scale length adjustment for intonation, instant neck angle adjustment, fingerboard relief adjustment, and neck yaw adjustment. It takes literally 2 seconds to loosen the strings and take the neck off, and not much more to put it back together again up to pitch (see video below).
Apprenticeships
I need help with the Kickstarter campaign, particularly with the online effort, social media, etc., and then the finishing out of the first set of prototypes (You can tell I need help with the web site). In exchange for this help I can offer training in guitar technology and specifically help in building the Rev 2 Chrysalis prototypes. This means learning mold-making, carbon-fiber composite molding, precision hand-tool use, fabrication of jigs, etc. Living arrangements are negotiable.
Some history - I paid for my own guitar-making apprenticeship with Froggy Bottom Guitars in Richmond, NH back in the mid 1970's by building the field-stone foundation for the barn-shop I would eventually learn in Richmond NH. This foundation ended up measuring 4 feet high, 20" thick and 150 feet in length, built over 4 months while I lived in a tipi up the hill in an old hemlock grove. Stone and water for cement mixing were collected by hand. The worst part was getting done with the foundation, and then having to bury it up to the sills, hiding most of that beautiful stone I had gotten to know so well. However, the floor to the shop that was eventually built on that foundation felt extremely solid to my feet, every time I walked in.
______________________________________________________________
January 30, 2013
January 24, 2013 "NH Chronicle" TV Show Special
Link: "NH Chronicle" TV Show Segment on the Chrysalis Guitar
Two weeks ago WMUR TV9 came to the Chrysalis shop in New Boston, NH to record for the lead segment of their weekly "NH Chronicle" show, which was broadcast Jan 24,2013, and is now available online. Producer Cindy Jones also went up to York, Maine to interview and record Master Guitarist Harvey Reid at his home there. Sorry about the embedded advertisement at the beginning.
______________________________________________________________
January 29, 2013
Presentation to the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge.
Link: Chrysalis Guitar Presented to the MIT Enterprise Forum
The presentation was to an very sharp audience of some 45 folks from MIT and the surrounding area, the majority being guitar players in addition to their other work. Harvey Reid started off playing the Chrysalis in regular folk, Dobro and crunchy electric modes, and describing how the guitar has worked for him over the last 12 years. After I spoke for 25 minutes and presented the "Deck" (MIT entrepreneur-speak for the dozen PowerPoint slides describing a new business), the audience broke up into several working groups to address such areas as Marketing, Manufacturing and Business Development. The consensus seemed to be that it would be very difficult to raise the $800,000 or so in a Kickstarter campaign needed to engineer and produce 1000 instruments, as crowd-funding platforms generally cater to products in a much lower price range. It was suggested that prototypes be built one at a time with CNC equipment, and sold on a cost-plus basis to get the design refined, get the design into the hands of potential endorsees (key in the guitar world), and use the time to get other necessary aspects of the business in place, such as social media, web site, more videos, etc., etc. At the end of the evening, a poll of hands revealed that seven of the audience was ready to buy a Chrysalis guitar. Progress!
The presentation was to an very sharp audience of some 45 folks from MIT and the surrounding area, the majority being guitar players in addition to their other work. Harvey Reid started off playing the Chrysalis in regular folk, Dobro and crunchy electric modes, and describing how the guitar has worked for him over the last 12 years. After I spoke for 25 minutes and presented the "Deck" (MIT entrepreneur-speak for the dozen PowerPoint slides describing a new business), the audience broke up into several working groups to address such areas as Marketing, Manufacturing and Business Development. The consensus seemed to be that it would be very difficult to raise the $800,000 or so in a Kickstarter campaign needed to engineer and produce 1000 instruments, as crowd-funding platforms generally cater to products in a much lower price range. It was suggested that prototypes be built one at a time with CNC equipment, and sold on a cost-plus basis to get the design refined, get the design into the hands of potential endorsees (key in the guitar world), and use the time to get other necessary aspects of the business in place, such as social media, web site, more videos, etc., etc. At the end of the evening, a poll of hands revealed that seven of the audience was ready to buy a Chrysalis guitar. Progress!
______________________________________________________________
Jan 22, 2013
See the First Chrysalis video!
Link: Introduction to the Chrysalis Guitar (Youtube)
I decided it was time to learn how to make a video, so I downloaded Powerdirector 11, topped off my point-and-shoot camera batteries, and went to work. For a background track I had permission to use a wonderful live performance video of Harvey Reid, who has been playing a Chrysalis guitar around the world for the last 12 years.
Most of the video was shot on the kitchen table without any special lighting. I experimented with ways to smooth the camera motion, and found that taping the camera to a brick helped a lot for the close-up fly-over. The disassembly-assembly sequence was shot with the camera looking down from the tippy top of a fully extended light-gauge tripod. All in all, it took about two weeks to get the shots and blend them together with Harvey's video and various stills from the project archives, and I was pretty pleased with the result.
______________________________________________________________
December 2012 - Welcome to Chrysalis Guitars!
The Chrysalis guitar has been under development for many years. It started as a thought experiment to re-design the guitar from first principles using state-of-the-art materials and design tools. Since then it has undergone trials, failures, successes, delays and transformations. It is now ready to introduce to the world, offering guitar players of all ages and skill levels new dimensions in design, tonality and utility.
Here we attempt to answer questions about the Chrysalis guitar system, its origins, development and the current status. It is time for the Chrysalis guitar to move out of the shop and into the mainstream. Manufacturing is a major challenge to overcome. The Chrysalis guitar has eight interlocking components made of carbon fiber and other high strength materials capable of being precision molded. The plan is that careful design for manufacture will allow these parts to come out of the mold ready to ship, minimizing business overhead and allowing the Chrysalis guitar to be affordable and trouble-free, out of the box.
Interestingly, interchangeability of the Chrysalis guitar system's various components allows them to be made out of other materials, including familiar woods such as spruce and rosewood, and even decorative fabrics. Blending fabric art into guitar design is a whole new world, and we can't wait to see where it goes.
Our goal in developing the Chrysalis guitar was to look beyond the constraints of traditional guitar forms and materials while still capturing the soul of the guitar. As you will see, what we have found is very different from anything that has existed before.
We hope that our work will result in the manufacture of entirely new kinds of instruments for the next Millenium, opening up a new world of instrument forms and musical alternatives for musicians to explore at every level.
We encourage students of guitarmaking to learn and explore this new medium with us. You will learn new skills and technologies applicable to any product design business, as well as gain new perspectives on how traditional instruments work and don't work, their strengths and limitations.
For real guitar motorheads, we will be developing part of this web site to serve as an access point for those interested in guitar acoustics, research and design.
Your questions, comments and criticisms are all crucially important to us.
- tim white
Here we attempt to answer questions about the Chrysalis guitar system, its origins, development and the current status. It is time for the Chrysalis guitar to move out of the shop and into the mainstream. Manufacturing is a major challenge to overcome. The Chrysalis guitar has eight interlocking components made of carbon fiber and other high strength materials capable of being precision molded. The plan is that careful design for manufacture will allow these parts to come out of the mold ready to ship, minimizing business overhead and allowing the Chrysalis guitar to be affordable and trouble-free, out of the box.
Interestingly, interchangeability of the Chrysalis guitar system's various components allows them to be made out of other materials, including familiar woods such as spruce and rosewood, and even decorative fabrics. Blending fabric art into guitar design is a whole new world, and we can't wait to see where it goes.
Our goal in developing the Chrysalis guitar was to look beyond the constraints of traditional guitar forms and materials while still capturing the soul of the guitar. As you will see, what we have found is very different from anything that has existed before.
We hope that our work will result in the manufacture of entirely new kinds of instruments for the next Millenium, opening up a new world of instrument forms and musical alternatives for musicians to explore at every level.
We encourage students of guitarmaking to learn and explore this new medium with us. You will learn new skills and technologies applicable to any product design business, as well as gain new perspectives on how traditional instruments work and don't work, their strengths and limitations.
For real guitar motorheads, we will be developing part of this web site to serve as an access point for those interested in guitar acoustics, research and design.
Your questions, comments and criticisms are all crucially important to us.
- tim white
