Jade Dragon Instruments

Logo idea ~ pretty slick huh? Asian yet international! =D

One Of Many Body shape ideas (great for ANY guitar really =)
The plan is to help improve the sound, feel, & $ales of Asian brands

IMPORTANT: This is a (so far) a rough draft and I'm adding bits as I go. Check back weekly to see new additions and revisions =)

This brand is divided into various product types so builders can decide which ones they would like to make =D Some products and features are inspired by the following brands & models:

Gibson 'SG' / ESP 'Viper' (and Music Yo 'Kramer Special' variant)
Gibson style pickups (including hum-canceling 'P-90' & 'PAF' humbuckers)
Gibson Les Paul Jr. Special Double Cutaway = for 'Donnas' tone =)
PRS SE series (harder to find & prices going up, because they discontinued many of them because they actually sound BETTER than the expensive 'American' ones! LOL
Status 'long pointy horn' style basses
Aria Pro 2 bass = very sleek & beautiful, but 'neck through' makes it sound 2 'nasal' as is.
Kubicki 'Drop D / Samaurai sword tip style bass' ~ make the body flow a bit more gracefully.
Zeta bass (mainly the body shape =)
Schecter 'V-shaped' heads
Heartfield 'tapered' style heads (& PRS, which are similar)

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Short version (summary): I would like to market a new type of instrument in addition to ones similar to the ESP Viper with some modifications, and think they can sell very well by offering features and comfort and sound quality better than the competition while remaining affordable. For example, the budget 'SE' line from PRS guitars actually sound better than the expensive American-made ones! =:-o Here's some proof a lower priced guitar can sound better than a very expensive one...

Phase 1: Market 'unique' guitars that sound and play even better than the fancy Gib$on stuff, without drastically increasing cost, by following some simple guidelines...

~ Guitar Building Tips ~

Body Shape: After buying a 'Kramer Special' guitar from 'Music Yo' many years ago on a whim, I liked the offset ESP Viper style body shape similar to a Gib$on SG but more modern and sleek looking. The diamond shaped inlays also had a great 'gothic' vibe. When I got it and started playing I was very impressed how comfortable it was in some ways, mainly from the lack of a large 'upper horn' area that is typical on other guitars and tends to dig into the chest =P I guess this important difference from the 'Fender Stratocaster' type shapes is why SG style guitars remain so popular after many decades. I suppose an 'Explorer' shape could be even more 'ergonomic' in some ways as they have basically no upper horn at all, but I would definitely not like the large area under the right 'picking' arm on those. The narrow overal profile and thin body and small horn of the ESP 'Viper'-like design combined for a very comfortable playing experience with '$tyle' =)

Body Materials: I thought, wouldn't it be great to make a bass like this, but with 'swamp ash' back so the lows are clear? Mahogany is only good down to around 80Hz, if that, so the 'Viper' basses are not viable, because they are all mahogany. At bass notes (around 40 or so) mahogany is basically useless, with a very blurry and 'cheap' sound. It's like trying to get deep, rigid, sledgehammer bass out of one of those little 'long-throw' subwoofer speakers instead of a big 18" PA concert type driver. The right tool for the job really improves the sound! Really maple should also be banned in all instrument construction, because it ruins tone, adding an annoyingly sterile nasal coloration to everything. People just use it because it is cheap and strong & stable. It sounds BAD! VERY bad... Many musicians who are not 'style snobs' for 'curly flame tops' agree with this, like 'Phil X' (who plays with Bon Jovi & others). Ideally all stringed electric instruments should have a 'swamp ash' body (the 'back', for clear lows) with a mahogany TOP (about 1/4 of the body thickness at most, for the beautiful texture of the midrange and high frequencies =)

Neck Attachment: All stringed electric instruments should have glued-in 'set mahogany neck' construction, which helps 'de-couple' the body from the neck acoustically, avoiding the annoying 'nasal' coloration inherent in all 'neck-through' & hard wood designs. Imagine making an instrument completely hollow, including the neck. It acts like a 'straw' up there, and blowing into it creates resonances that color the sound. Waves travel through solids in the same way, just 10X faster =) With a 'neck-through' design those annoying 'tube-like whistles' are carried into the body more easily, which is BAD for sound quality. With set neck (or bolt on) much of the annoying midrange coloration is reduced, and set neck has a bit more detail and smoothness to it than bolt on, so always go set neck! =D

Neck Materials: Mahogany has the most 'well sorted out harmonics' and it's easy to tell two guitars apart just by the difference in neck material. Maple gives them a more grating, jagged character to the mids and highs = not good. In extreme examples like single coil Fender Stratocaster type guitars, it is heard as a 'rubber band snap/bonk' type of piercing sound that is very goofy sounding and unpleasant and 'dorky' and 'cheap', rather than 'moody and involving'.

Neck Enhancement (Option): To give the mahogany neck some added clarity without ruining the underlying texture, adding graphite rods to it, and putting carbon fiber under the fret board adds clarity without ruining the overall tone. I notice this very much in Heartfield basses, though the maple of the neck is not ideal. If it were mahogany with the same type of carbon/graphite features it would sound even BETTER! The midrange is positively GLORIOUS! =:-o So for best sound and stability and all that good stuff, always do a set (glued in) neck made of mahogany, with graphite rods and carbon fiber under the fretboard for strength and tone enhancement.

Fingerboard Materials: Pao Ferro sounds better than rosewood. It always has, and it is unfortunate that, like maple, an inferior product like rosewood is 'the norm' when it's sound is so inferior to other options, even many cheaper and more plentiful ones. Pao ferro is more smooth and round sounding, with a more pleasant 'musical' feel to the sound. Ebony is one of the worst, with a very 'clacky' and grating jagged sound, a terrible choice for ANY fretted instrument (relatively speaking, compared to other available options). The only exception is with fretless instruments, where the extra 'snap' of ebony helps add brightness to an otherwise dull sound, because the fingers mute the string a bit when pressing it down.

Concept: To start with ideas similar to the Gibson SG body shape, updated by removing the bevel on the bottom edge where it rests on the leg, and removing the bevel in that area as well, making it more comfortable to sit and play because the weight is more spread out. You will notice this is neither an exact copy of an SG shape, or an ESP 'Viper' shape. It's actually an 'Unsung' (Korea) shape, but you can not patent an artistic style. It is not so important the exact shape, but an offset (not totally symmetrical) look is more 'modern' and 'artistic' and also looks and plays better in any position. You will also notice the neck is very long, at 'bass scale' of 34 inches. The idea is to allow for tuning in 'all fifths', combining both bass and guitar strings onto one instrument.

Neck: The neck would have NO taper to it, so a bit wider on the nut (head) end than a typical guitar, but not any harder to play than a 'regular' guitar when playing the high notes near the body (where people are known for speed anyway, so no problem =) The neck would have rolled-over edges on the fretboard so very comfortable, like a Heartfield bass (which I can supply for reference). It would also have the biggest fret wire possible for a 'scalloped' feel. It's the kind of instrument where you don't feel a need to do 'body modification' by clipping your nails super-short just to be able to 'reach' certain chords, because the strings are put far enough away from the fretboard that your nail doesn't run into it when pressing straight down with your fingers.

when sitting or standing.

making it more comfortable to sit and play