Lucien Gélas fret job
Lucien Gélas, classical guitarist, luthier, inventor and teacher was born in 1873 and worked mostly in Paris. In the beginning of the 1900's he received multiple award for his invention, the double top guitar. Today, this invention is simply called the Gélas-Guitar.
In the Stageshop workshop is a specimen from 1930, that is in exceptional condition. In a few pictures I present to you the fret job of this guitar.
The instrument carries a second top placed at an angle that the fretboard is placed on. From the side, the guitar looks like the sound board is broken by an angle. The strings are angled away steeper from the lower top to which the bridge is attached to. This leads to a special sound character and a considerable gain in volume.
Of course this construction requires a unique bridge design where the strings run through small holes at the wood part of the bridge before they angle at the bone (or, in this case, a carbon) saddle.
