The first guitar I made was a Weissenborn so I could start learning
lap steel guitar. Shortly after that, while playing my once-trusty
Martin Backpacker, I wondered if I could make a better sounding
travel guitar incorporating some of the concepts of the Weissenborn,
namely the hollow neck. As you may know, the Weissenborn has a very
deep hollow neck, and was meant to be played as a lap steel
instrument. It is well known that the hollow neck is what gives the
Weissenborn its distinctive resonance, but they are meant for
lap-style playing with a steel, and are totally unplayable as a
fretted instrument.

So, I set out with my limited knowledge and skills to build a
frettable hollow necked travel guitar. There are two pictures of my
Weissenborn on the picture page, showing basic body shape and the way
the sides, back and top become the neck. I kept the basic body shape of the Weissenborn on the upper bout. I shortened the body and headstock each by three inches, I narrowed the body from 16.5 inches to 12 inches, and reduced the thickness to 2.5 inches at the heel, the whole guitar decreasing in thickness toward the nut to 1 inch. I made a huge cutaway on the lower bout to provide access to the 20th fret.

The guitar is built around a solid sugar maple headstock/neck that
is hollowed out on the top. It is sandwiched between the sides, back
and top, and further stiffened by the fretboard glued on top of the
top itself. Once the parts are assembled, I then rasp down the
corners of the neck block and sides/back away from the fretboard to
make a comfortable, if somewhat thick, but very playable hollow neck.
Borrowing an idea from Ovation, I use multiple soundholes, including
a side port for better player listening. As a final touch, I put in
a K&K Pure Western Mini pickup system. This is a passive pickup, and
I was advised to buy a pre-amp (I got a Baggs Para-Acoustic), but it
works so well without the pre-amp that I cannot turn my amp up over 3
or 4 without bringing down the walls.

The results have been very rewarding. I sort of threw the first one
together, just wanting to find out if the idea worked. Since then I
have made a few more, trying to get my techniques and ideas refined.
I am now at the point where I would feel comfortable selling a few to
interested buyers.