Paul Aguilera Luthier
La 'Melipona'
Laura Dos Santos and her 'Melipona'
This guitar was born out of a special comission from my friend and duo partner Laura Dos Santos. She was wanting to start playing a a 7 string guitar, she had some ideas of what she would like so we added some design features to make the guitar more ergonomical, the asymetrical shape along with the angled oval soundhole naturally gave the guitar 2 extra frets without needing an extension.
Instead of a cutaway the guitar has 14 fret joint on the treble side of the neck which makes getting up to the higher frets a breeze but maintaining a larger body size
The guitar with its extra string and soundboard design, gives it an incredible bottom end, at times almost like a bass guitar, the box air resonance is around the low E giving that depth to the low notes.
The higher registers are bright and balanced too, with a large dynamic range and beautiful harmonics maintaining a traditional 'wood' sound.
Lauras guitar has an inverted Torres strutting a little like Yacopi but with a slanted lower harmonic bar and a thin top. It also has a special bridge design although I now make the bridges differently, much smaller and lighter which helps increase the volume and makes for a fast attack.
I also use a heel like the one below, it makes for an ergonomic thumb rest when playing in the higher registers.
I have used this guitar shape with different soundboard strutting patterns. All fairly experimental but with different voices. I am just completing another experimental one with a lattice top, a hybrid lattice as they are sometimes called, I don't use carbon fibre on the lattice but the idea is similar to what Smallman and other makers in that style, a heavy rigid box with a thin top and well reinforced by the lattice but still allowing for movement.
I have also used a more dense mahogany for the neck, much more rigid than Spanish cedar, I am hoping that it will help the sustain. The bridge is also made much smaller and lighter than a traditional spanish bridge, allowing for more movement from the ultra thin top (1.5-1.2mm in the lower bout area.
English Composer Lee Westwood with his Blanca
