About Bills

A Tom Bills handcrafted Flattop is more than a one-of-a-kind, exquisite work of art. Its high-def’ clarity is consistent from lyric highs to rich, deep, warm, low frequencies produced out of a smaller 14½”-wide body. Pushing the envelope of tonal possibilities, it uses the world’s finest materials with little regard to cost.

The unmistakably recognizable “asymmetrical” design and side sound hole adopted by Mr. Bills is built to last decades. It combines breakthrough technology with time-honored engineering practices, including “stress concentration avoidance”. Requiring over 200 hours to produce, Mr. Bills precisely “tap tunes” every wood component for tone quality, timbre and sound projection.

Explanation of Key Benefits To Tom Bills Flattop Design

1. Asymmetrical Design & Side Sound Hole - When tuned to concert pitch, metal guitar strings put a minimum of 130 lbs pounds of pressure on the bridge. ”Traditional” center sound holes create an inherent weakness in top soundboards, requiring stiff structural bracing. This effectively cuts the vibrating surface in half. (Scientific studies show lowest tones are lost.)
Mr. Bills “asymmetrical” design and side sound port placement frees the entire top, allowing production of true fundamentals that reinforce upper harmonics. The end result is warm, rich tone with strong, solid, full bass.

2. Tap Tuned - Tap tuning assures components work in harmony with no dead frequencies or lost overtones. Each component of a TB flattop is alternatively tapped, sanded and adjusted for intonation before ever being assembled. Tone Bars are hand-split, grain-matched and taken from the same piece of wood.

3. Flying Braces. Traditional bracing works well, but has unintended consequences, deadening the Top and Back sound boards as it is attached along the inside. Mr. Bills uses ‘flying braces’ – truly an engineering feat – to enable the back sound board to resonate freely.

4. Matrix Bracing System provides greater bass, sensitivity, tonal richness and clarity. Traditional flattops have a weak point due to their round sound hole. To support the 130+ pounds of pressure from metal strings, a stiff bracing support is used inside the body. The undesirable side effects are loss of warmth, richness and fullness, since only ½ of its entire front can resonant efficiently. Bills Flattops use an exclusive Matrix Bracing System that allows the entire top to resonant efficiently and accurately reproduce all frequencies.

5. Impedance-matching Bridge - All traditional guitars use symmetrical bridges. TB exclusively uses Impedance-matched bridges (wider on bass side/narrower on the treble). This is an important factor for balancing and enhancing tone quality.

6. Hand-graduated Sound Boards Most guitar tops and backs are a single thickness. TB Guitars are tuned by hand sanding to various thicknesses to best enhance the tone produced from the top and back sound boards.

7. Domed-Top & Back Sound Boards - Changes in humidity, expand and contract wood which can cause top and backs to split and crack. TB domed top and back sound boards are stronger, lighter and less susceptible to cracking and splitting, allowing safer expansion and contraction as humidity varies.

8. Beautiful Designs with Exotic Woods - All raw material is hand selected for tone quality and visual character - only the finest are selected for top/back soundboards. Material not selected is returned to be use by other not-so-particular producers.

9. Thoroughly Seasoned Woods - Used to produce an enduring instrument, Mr. Bills only purchases these passed down through generations by wood collectors. More expensive, but these masterpieces deserve nothing less.

10. 14½” Body Width w/o Sacrifice of Tone. In order to make common guitars louder with more bass, designs demand a 16” or 17” Body width. For most it’s uncomfortable/painful to play. More ergonomic TB Flattops have a deeper, richer, fuller tone without sacrificing comfort or clarity.

11. Double Carbon-fiber Neck Reinforcements and Stainless-steel Truss Rod - TB uses Carbon Fiber for lightweight neck strength, enhanced tonal quality and increased sustain. The Double-Action Truss Rod makes micro neck adjustment possible. Together they create exceptional action and playability

12. Precise Gotoh 510 (16 to 1) Tuning Machines - TB selected Gotoh for tuning stability with rock-solid posts, ultra-smooth feel and longer life from polymer-lubricated gears and minimal backlash.

13. Multi-laminated Head Stock - Most guitars have a single piece of wood behind the tuning machines. TB guitars laminates 4-pieces of exotic wood veneers on the front and 4 on the back using the same epoxy used on the masts of yachts for incredible strength and beauty.

14. Triple-drilled, Countersunk Peg Holes - Most companies drill single 3/8” holes - then push in tuners. The tuners have a sloppy fit wasting energy while the washer scratches/ruins the head stock. TB drills 3 holes exactly locking the pegs in place. The rock solid fit of the tuners creates anchor points. This efficiency makes better tone – more volume – more sustain and better tuning stability. Finally, TB countersinks the washer, so the headstock and its finish remains beautifully uncracked an unscratched for generations.