Since 1999 I have been getting Adrian Lucas' radial braced guitar and seen a steady stream of development.

If you refer to the earlier article on these guitars you'll see a refining of the original design based on two symmetrically placed holes on either side of the fretboard.

Adrian developed the radial system after watching speakers and the way they respond to vibration and decided the speaker cone is analogous to a bridge on a soundboard.

With this in mind the shape of the guitar has to change so that the bridge centers itself into the middle of the speaker, the soundboard.

I heard the success of this immediately when Adrian brought me his first guitar. The expansion of the soundboard area forward to complete the circle of the speaker/soundboard would push the soundhole forward to either side of the end of the fretboard like on many Kasha type guitars.

This was a failing of the first design. I had mentioned to Adrian that his guitar sounded very beautiful in the respect that it had a piano-like sound but it also sounded like it had a cold and none of the higher harmonics were present in the sound. No zing happened on a spruce guitar and this is what I love about spruce.

After a short discussion about changing the woods we both agreed that moving one of the soundholes to the end of the fretboard would leech out higher harmonics since that was an active part of the soundboard.

This is the key to why the earlier "terse alien" designed soundhole setup didn't work for bringing out the characteristic sound of spruce. The holes were in a deader spot of the soundboard.

So the next guitar that came was a revelation. It was open and clear, not that the earlier version wasn't but the higher harmonics rang out, the color of the guitar changed to make that zing happen more.

The "secondary soundhole" stayed on the bass side of the fretboard. The placing of the fretboard was kept small so there would not be a need to make the front braces shorter.

This guitar was open and was made in spruce and palo escrito back and sides, another came in spruce with Tasmanian blackwood back and sides and these two were amply wide sounding guitars with a great spectrum of tonal range. Both had great highs and lows and it was fat in the center.

Before dumping the secondary hole the next guitar placed it on the treble side and placed a faux Ruck port on the front shoulder of the side facing the ear.

This guitar made from Port Orford cedar and Madagascar rosewood was big and sweet sounding because of the wood combination but the PO cedar is rather a sprucy sounding cedar.

But the whole idea of the symmetrical radials changed by now. The end of the fretboard soundhole had changed on this one to be larger and the secondary smaller. In order to enlarge the size of the end-o-fretboard hole the front braces of the radial shortened and a transverse bar was installed across the front of these braces.

This did tighten the top and allowed for the "g" string to have more power. To me, in some cases, the tighter the bracing of the soundboard the better soundboard you have with less canceling vibrations.

One thing we both noticed is that the faux Ruck port was superfluous. If you put your hand over it and played there was an infinitesimal amount of difference but not really worth the installation and the secondary soundhole, discussed earlier as being in the dead spot of the soundboard was, in the dead spot of the soundboard and therefore also superfluous.

This latest Lucas is with one soundhole and two Ruck ports. The ports are smaller because the depth of the Lucas at this spot is rather shallow.

This new Lucas is, I believe, the final form it will take. All of the earlier versions had their own sound and are magnificent in their own right but the superfluous holes and ports have been eliminated and this guitar has exactly what it needs to function.

The ports don't work as well as, for example, the ports on a Ruck or a Hill Signature but they do work to open the sound up as in the other two guitar's application.

The transverse bar is still in use and serves to tighten the top to get that zing that I so dearly need.

This Lucas is made from European spruce and flamed maple. This guitar has incredible sustain, the earlier versions has sustain but this one has more.

The dead tones on the guitar, high C#, Bb, F and some of the above the 12th fret notes have more sustain than most guitars I've heard.

This guitar sings and zings. The sound is wide and powerful the balance is perfect. This guitar is large and clear.

It's a fantastic thing to have collaborated with Adrian to produce one of those guitars of near perfection. If we could have a perfect guitar this is one.

Copyright 2006, new millennium Guitar Publishing Co., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED