The Ridgewing system obtains its hyper-modular capabilities from a simple cam lever mechanism in the headstock which instantly and precisely tensions and relaxes the strings a fixed amount. The headstock is held onto the neck with two pins which extend into corresponding holes in the end of the neck. In the back of the headstock there is a cam-lever which makes contact with the end of the neck. When the lever is rotated 90 degrees out of the headstock, the space between the headstock and the neck shrinks by about 4mm, which slackens the strings just enough to let the neck be easily popped out of the neck pocket with a slight tug. This simple mechanism is the “trick” that allows the Ridgewing guitar to be so quickly dis-assembled and re-assembled.

Early on with this project development there was always the nagging fear in the background that all the tensioning and de-tensioning of the strings would result in strings breaking left and right. Surprisingly, and for unknown reasons, repeated dis-assembly/re-assembly of the instrument doesn’t seem to cause any noticeable increase in strings breakage.

If the repeated tensioning had resulted in more string breakage, it would have been an extremely annoying characteristic of the guitar, threatening its basic viability. However we lucked out.