General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Wooden six-string guitar.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

106.0 cm

Width

45.0 cm

Height

12.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Music

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

Canada is a major player in the field of optical research and photonics. The guitar is the product of a research program led by Dr. Hans Peter Loock, professor of chemistry at Queen’s University. It is the product of research by Loock and his associates into a form of optical sensor called a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG). FBGs were first demonstrated by Kenneth O. Hill, a physicist at the Communications Research Centre (CRC) in Ottawa. The technology was patented by CRC, which continues to licence the technology to manufacturers. The photonic pickups in the guitar were manufactured by QPS Photronics Inc of Montreal, which manufacturer a range of photonic products for industry. The guitar body was designed and constructed in Canada by Dagmar Custom Guitars. Dagmar Custom Guitars was founded by Pete Swanson, a wood craftsman who had formerly worked in the custom yacht industry. The company is based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Swanson met Hans-Peter Loock as a result of his appearance at the Montreal Guitar Show in 2009 or 2010. His construction of the guitar for Loock was featured on the Discovery Channel.

Function

To produce musical sounds by plucking tensioned strings that are attached to a resonant sound board.

Technical

For three decades, Canadian scientists have been leaders in developing fibre optic devices to sense temperature, mechanical strain and vibration. In 1978, Kenneth Hill was the first to demonstrate photosensitivity in optical fibres and to develop the fibre bragg grating (FBG). According to Hans-Peter Loock, construction of “Vicky” was not yet complete when he and his colleagues moved on from the low reflectivity FBG-FP cavity to the high reflectivity FBG-FP cavity, and “Vicky” was therefore never used in the experiments described in his publications. It does, however, represent a number of important elements of his research. First, it represents his use of musical instruments to test and refine the performance of optical audio sensors, both due to requirements of high fidelity musical reproduction and the ability to monitor sound performance and noise sources qualitatively with the human ear. Second, it represents the evolution of his research through the shift from simple FBGs to FBG-FP cavities. Finally, it embodies the research finding that varying the position of the sensor on the guitar body alters the sound output of the transducer system. Like all Dagmar instruments, “Vicky” features an innovative and unusual construction method that is intended to maximize free vibration of the sitka spruce soundboard.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

On the headstock of the guitar: " DAGMAR "

Missing

Appears complete.

Finish

Wooden and enameled six-string archtop guitar. Strings are likely made from bronze or brass wrapped around a steel cord. The body of the guitar is cream coloured with some black details. The neck of the guitar is in black. The sides of the guitar are in brown. The back of the guitar is also brown. The headstock of the guitar has six string posts that are connected to the six strings.

Decoration

N/A