Glad everyone's enjoying this disc as much as I am, and thanks again to JR and Steve for making it so sweet (and for including yours truly).
It occurs to me to mention one listening note that I've been noodling on. Unlike (the few) other CDs built around a similar idea - notably Tony McManus's recent Maker's Mark and Al Petteway's Dream Guitars I - the tracks on Hand Made Music were all recorded in different studio settings (mostly home studios, I expect, though I know of a couple exceptions). Different rooms, different mikes and pres, etc. I'll bet the intrinsic sounds of each builder's guitar come through despite that fact, but it makes strict A/B comparisons complicated.
ALL the tracks sound really good, IMHO - it's not a question of quality at all, just an interesting (to me, at least) added dimension to the CD. It's important that we had such a capable mastering engineer at the helm to integrate it all, and kudos to Steve Reinthal for tackling that challenge. Not everyone would relish the idea of putting together a single jigsaw puzzle from such disparate parts!
Cool CD and I'm very proud to have been part of it.
