3 KOZM Guitars - Sound Demo

Audio / video comparison of 3 "experimental" KOZM Guitars

1) VooDoo Child #1 (VDC1)
2) VooDoo Child #2 (VDC2)
3) Heresy 1 #4 (H1-4)

BACKGROUND:
These 3 guitars were built as a research & development exploration - to get a better understanding of certain aspects of my non-planar, 3D guitar-body designs and fabrication process.
The following main features were of interest:

Bridges:
The VooDoo Child #1 and #2 both have modified hard tail bridges - basically the same type as found on many electric guitars, except for the modifications. I'm intrigued by the idea of using this style of bridge on an acoustic, and discovering if there's a way to optimize it for an acoustic guitar - mainly because it provides the ability to height-adjust each string, and to intonate each string. This can become an issue when changing string gauges. Additionally, different saddle-materials are available, including brass, titanium and Graphtec - which can be selected to optimize the sound of each string.

The Heresy 1 #4 has a pinless bridge design that I wanted to evaluate.

Body woods:
VDCs: Whereas an earlier H1 model had a body-front made of reclaimed flat sawn Douglas Fir (from an old fireplace mantle) the VDC1 has a maple center, with swamp ash outers. The VDC2 is made from clear vertical grain Douglas fir, and its neck has a strip of Padouk, instead of the more typical maple.
I'm drawn to Douglas Fir because of its availability (i.e., non-threatened species), especially in the Pacific NW.

H1-4: The H1-4 has a spruce front, with a strip of torrified maple running down the center. Previous H1s have used maple for the entire body fronts. I wanted to see what effect spruce had on my 3D body design.

Sound holes:
Earlier H1s have had a rather small sound hole, which tended to give them good low end, but they lacked high-end presence.
This one has a larger center sound hole, as well as 2 "crescent holes". The main objective was to see if this would draw out the high-end acoustic energy.

Body shape:
The waist on the VooDoo Child is shifted slightly towards the bridge, to drive the guitar to the player's left...which in turn lowers the right elbow and shoulder.

K&K Pure Mini piezo pickups:
I installed one set in the VDC2, and another in the H1-4. I'll cover this in another video.

CONCLUSIONS:

VooDoo Child: On the next build, I'm going to try to target a sound midway btw the VDC#1 and VDC#2. I think the #1 is a little too deep and mellow, and the #2 is a little too bright. A maple middle and CVG Doug fir in the outer areas?

Heresy 1: Too bright, and too "boxy" sounding. On the next build, I'll eliminate the bottom crescent hole, make the top one smaller, and migrate it to become a "monitor hole" for the player. This should bring back the low end. The spruce top should preserve the highs, and produce a fairly well balanced, small body, ergonomic guitar.


RECORDING NOTES:
Audio was obtained directly through the internal mic of my trusty Canon Vixia HF R20. Not the highest fidelity, but hopefully good enough to give you a relative sense of how the guitars sound.