The Wright Design
Wright PegBox™ trademark No. 4,767,088
These are just good-ole regular guitar gears, and easy to replace if ever needed. This is the way it should have been done as soon as we had electric guitar pickups. This is where they go now. Previously we needed the thin spruce top to be light and flexible for sound propagation. But now the gears can go back there. Suddenly everything balances. The weight can come off the head. The guitar can be 4 or 5 inches shorter, there is no peg-head to break off, tuning is far easier. No fancy, heavy, expensive tuning mechanism back there. And it looks darn cool. It kinda looks like a tailpiece,
I guess maybe it is.
The Gears, Why Are They Back There?
Tuning
Hold that 5th fret of the low E string with your left hand, at the A note, like we all do when we tune. Play that note, don’t let go. Play the open A string. Don’t let go of the 5th fretted E string. Play them both as you listen. Tune the A string with your right hand until it is perfect. Or play a chord, hold it. Tune it with your right hand. You will find many advantages to this right-hand tuning design.
The Headpiece
This trademarked peghead design eliminates the amputated look you see on “headless guitars” It provides a familiar hand-stop at the far end that feels natural. AND... it hangs on a guitar hook, like normal. The whole instrument is shorter, so you won’t be whacking things... and if you are a builder and want to use it, you certainly can license it. It doesn’t cost much and it’s the right thing to do.
The Body
The Santa Fe and the Night Cat body shape is derived from the SoloEtte bent-rod frame. The aluminum rod of the SoloEtte Steel-String frame was altered and adjusted over the years until it fit one’s body and playing position perfectly, while standing or sitting. Access to the higher frets with the cut-a-way was adjusted until you could play easily to the highest frets. If you are a builder and want to use it, you certainly can license it. USPTO Trademark No. 4,767,088
Extensive chambers are utilized throughout the interior of the Night Cat and Santa Fe body design. This chambered hollowness gives the guitar that cherished “thunk” that it says as you pick each note, with clear focused pronunciation. No blurred muddiness in your chops or when comping purcussively.
Hangs on a guitar hook, like normal
The Hardware & The Pickup
There is nothing proprietary about the parts of the Wright Guitars. There is never anything that needs to be special ordered/only available from the manufacturer. We prefer the Grover gears. The Schaller bridge, the DiMarzio pickup, can all be replaced or repaired by any qualified technician or guitar parts supplier for many years to come. The Wright Guitars are easy for anyone to repair.
If you are a builder who wants to make use of this superior design, please contact me for the licensing details. Go see USPTO Trademark No. 4,767,088