Updates

I’ve made an online tool for calculating nut layouts so that the spaces between the edges of the strings are equal – rather than measuring from the center of the strings: https://iko.kiwi/apps/nut_gen/

Well… The AI wrote it – in about 30 seconds… a couple of hours of aesthetic tweaking, and then 3 DAYS of fucking about trying to get it to work on the webserver (rather than my local machine), which I ultimately failed to do..

It was written in Python which Dreamhosts (the webserver company I use) should really have working out of the box, but (it transpires) they do not – so in the end it became clear that it’s going to take less time to just get an AI to translate it from Python to PHP than it is to try to set up a Python environment on Dreamhosts, so I did that. 15 seconds.

(although the elephant in the room here is that there’s actually no need to get an AI to write a program to generate guitar-nuts, when you can just ask and AI to generate them directly.)

Anyhoo… I did all this for a reason. This is the last bodgy prototype of the string-spacers before I start making stainless-steel versions.

The holes in the arms nearly double the number of measuring-points – and they allow far smaller measurements. It’s also occurred to me that if I offset them slightly, then they might be able to make nuts where the the strings are equally spaced from their edges rather than centres – but I wasn’t sure how much they’d err from the correct formulas, so I got the AI to write a program to figure it out. Results in the tables below.

Turns out that the variations from the correctly calculated values are really small – like 0.1 – 0.3 of a mm small… and that’s only if the size of the new nut is way bigger (55mm) than the average: 43mm…. and I think that is going to be pretty unusual.

So it turns out that the margin of error is actually less than what you’d get if someone used an unexpected string gauge.

Margins of error between precisely calculated values, and those from proportional calipers

Correct formula, Standard strings (10-46) – all values in mm

default neck (43 mm)	2.13	9.47	16.9	24.49	32.33	40.42
narrowest neck (35 mm)	2.13	7.87	13.7	19.69	25.93	32.42
widest neck (55 mm)	2.13	11.87	21.7	31.69	41.93	52.42

Caliper measurements, Standard strings (10 to 46) :: narrowest neck (35) – all values in mm

String spacings mm	2.13	7.931	13.805	19.819	26.104	32.402
variance from correct mm	0	0.069	0.105	0.128	0.174	-0.018
inter string gap mm		5.501	5.483	5.449	5.403	5.35
Largest inter-string variance mm	-0.151

Caliper measurements, Standard strings (10 to 46) :: widest neck (55) – all values in mm

String spacings	2.13	11.639	21.386	31.37	41.645	52.279
variance from correct	0	0.231	0.314	0.32	0.285	0.149
inter string gap		9.337	9.363	9.420	9.495	9.581
Largest inter-string variance	0.244 mm

Correct formula, different strings – all values in mm

extra light	2.1	9.31	16.61	24.05	31.67	39.52
heavy	2.14	9.26	16.47	23.86	31.5	39.39
variance	0.04	-0.05	-0.14	-0.19	-0.17	-0.13

So there you go – mathematical proof of concept.

I’m getting 2 sets cut without the offset spacer holes… as there are 10 holes I think I’ll try to do them so they can accommodate 7-string guitars and basses as well.

Not really anarchist… but vaguely headed in that direction.

A guitar that is designed for:
– radical repairability – as many parts as possible are digitally fabricated, and the guitar itself contains a Raspberry Pi that contains the files needed to recreate the parts. Theoretically at some point in the future you could plug it into a digital fabricator and it can reproduce itself
– radical upgradeability – the outer panels are laser-cut so the look and feel can be quickly changed to pretty much anything you can imagine… and the Raspberry Pi (which is AI-capable) offer open-ended possibilities with regards effects, and tone-shaping etc.
– resilience – it is designed to work as a regular guitar if the electronics go down, and as much as possible is hot-swappable. You can have physical backups of the computers, electronics etc.
– freedom from rent-seeking – Creative Commons share-alike licence. Do what you like with it, just don’t turn it into an artificial scarcity that can be rented out as “intellectual property”

It is (in a nutshell) the world’s most elaborate Raspberry Pi enclosure.

I got an AI to make a shortened ensquarified version with captions for Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/C7DHz7JBpro/

In which Nick Taylor moves into the workshop

Golden ratio calipers headed off to various parts of the world.
2 to NZ
1 to US
1 to Canada
1 to Saudi Arabia – about which I am particularly pleased on account of it bringing the total number of countries I’ve sent these to up to 80.

I know what you’re thinking “ooh – what about their human rights record?”… and to be fair, you do have a point, but if I stop sending them to the US I will lose half of my favourite people, and that I shall not do. I shall not abandon my American friends in their hour of need.

I’ve invented my own lego