Luthierie Software Resources
Software for
Luthierie
Java Applications
Color Rosette Java Applet
A version of Color Rosette implemented as a Java 1.1 applet; by
clicking on the above link, your web browser should display the applet.
Color Rosette is a program to help luthiers design mosaic rosettes for
acoustic guitars. The application provides a "rosette sketchpad",
allowing the user to quickly and easily make changes in a design and
see the effects "in the round". Individual mosaic elements can be of
any RGB color, and mosaic "tiles" can have up to 40 rows and columns.
Unfortunately, you can't save your designs or print them out, both
due to Java applet security features. The Java application below
overcomes
these limitations.
Color Rosette Java Application
This is a Java application version of Color Rosette, stored as a Java
Archive (.jar) file. In this version, you can save your designs and
print them out. I've implemented this as a full Java application,
because applets are unlikely ever to allow things like file saving, for
security reasons. Applications also differ from applets in that they
can't be run by a web browser. (To run the application, you need Java
runtime environment software for your computer - see below.)
Guitar Design Java
Application
This is a Java application to aid in the design of guitar body shapes.
Body designs are specified with control points which indicate the
general shape of the design; as the points are dragged to new
positions, the body shape changes in the same direction. By moving (and
adding and deleting) control points, a body design can be refined until
it has the desired shape. The design can be printed full size for use
in making templates for guitar construction. The Guitar
Design User Guide is available online. Version 1.1 provides
higher-resolution printing.
Fretmarker Design Java Application
This is a Java application to aid in
the design of unique guitar fret markers. Fret marker designs are
specified with control points which indicate
the general shape of the design; as the points are dragged to new
positions, the fretmarker shape changes in the same direction. By
moving (and adding and deleting) control points, a fretmarker design
can be refined until it has the desired shape. A dialog allows the
specification of the parameters of the guitar fretboard, including the
scale length, the fretboard width at the the nut, and the fretboard
width at the 12th fret. These parameters are used when the design is
printed: the design is automatically scaled to produce templates for
each of the frets which traditionally receive a marker (the F, G, A, B,
C#, E, G, A, B, C# and E frets), as illustrated below. The Fretmarker
Design User Guide is available online.
Note
To run any of the Java
applications above (but
not the applet), you need a Java runtime environment (JRE) on your
computer.
If one is already present, you should be able to launch the application
by just double-clicking on the "jar" file (i.e., the file whose name
ends
in ".jar"). If this doesn't work, you can download and install a Java
runtime
environment from Sun's website (it's free):
(Choose the download button on the webpage.)
Macintosh-Only Applications - Legacy
The following are software applications for the old Apple Macintosh - pre-OSX -
designed to help luthiers with the design and construction of
(acoustic) guitars. Each is provided as a self-extracting archive:
after downloading, double-click on the icon (whose name ends in
".sea"), which will expand itself into a folder containing the
application and documentation. (Actually, your web browser may well
take care of this step for you.) You may be able to run these on an OSX Mac system, but no guarantees.
- Rosette 3.5.1
Rosette is a program to help luthiers design mosaic rosettes for
acoustic guitars. The application provides a "rosette sketchpad",
allowing the user to quickly and easily make changes in a design and
see the effects "in
the round", both on screen and on paper. In this black-and-white
version, five shades of grey are provided to represent different woods
in the design. The program prints out information needed in the
construction of the rosette, and rosette designs can be saved for later
use or modification. (Runs on any Macintosh.)
- Color Rosette
1.0
Color Rosette is a color version of Rosette. Individual mosaic elements
can be of any RGB color displayable on the user's computer (colors are
selected through the standard Macintosh Color Picker dialog). As with
the black-and-white version, designs can be printed and saved (needless
to say, a color printer is desirable, though not necessary, for
printing); in addition, the designs may be copied (as PICT images) to
the Clipboard for pasting into other
applications' documents. The design at the top of the page was created
with this software, copied, and converted to a GIF file. (Requires:
color
Macintosh running System 7.)
- Guitar Design
This software package can be used to design guitar body shapes.
Outlines are represented as "smoothed polygons" as in MacDraw
(actually, uniform cubic B-splines), whose shapes are altered through
the use of "control points" dragged by the mouse. Symmetry is
automatically provided, if desired. While not restricted exclusively to
the design of acoustic guitars, the program computes some physical
parameters of the instrument that may be useful
to builders of acoustic instruments, namely the side length, soundboard
face area, body volume (using information about body depth and back
arching
supplied by the designer in a dialog box), and the approximate
Helmholtz
frequency of the soundbox-soundhole system. Full size half-profiles can
be printed, to be used in the construction of templates, molds, and
workboards.
(Runs on any Macintosh.)
Comments or questions?
jsevy@mcs.drexel.edu