Goodall guitar full build YouTube video

[justonwo]

Those guys are amazing. I’m going to ask if they’re adopting.

[Orfeas]

I love watching a guitar been build. It is a fascinating process.

[David MacNeill]

Excellent video, thank for sharing. I didn’t know they had left Hawaii and dramatically cut their production volume. Anyone know the backstory?

[HOF dad]

Amazing!
I know these are hand made but to watch the process, the attention to detail and the skill involved was incredible.
I started the video and thought "50 minutes.....maybe I'll watch 10". I was mesmerized and the the whole video flew by.
My thanks for sharing that as well and like others......now I want to at least play one of those incredible instruments.


Dan

[jseth]

Some thoughts and a bit of clarification on a couple points...

I remember when I first went by the new shop and met James, Jean and Luke Goodall. Turned out we had both moved to Fort Bragg at the same time, nearly the same day! (it was a recommendation from this Forum that moved me to go meet them!)

At that point there was NOTHING in what is now the new shop. James walked me around the interior, pointing out different locations and saying "this will be the bending table, and this will be the main sanding station... and this... and this...", but, of course, to me it all meant very little. As the shop came together, James would tell me how much they learned from the Hawaiian shop, and how they were going to use their experience there to create a sort of "streamlining" for just the two of them to build. Did they ever! I doubt that they are putting out two guitars a week, certainly not when I was there. That was the "ideal" they were aiming at, but everyday life changes everything!

...to be continued!

[David MacNeill]

Holy socks this is making me miss my beloved, long lost 2002 RGCC. Out of hundreds of lovely guitars, the Goodall was the only one my wife remembers and still talks about — what was I thinking?

2002 GOODALL RGCC 1.jpg

[TBman]

That was great, thanks for posting this.

[jseth]

When I first met James, I mentioned that I had never played one of his guitars... to which he replied, "Well, I brought 50 with me from Hawaii, so I'll bring some down to the shop for you to play...!"

So, on a pre-arranged day, I took my trusty old Angus F-40 with me and went down to his shop... which at this point wasn't a shop at all, except in name... and he started handing me guitars to audition...

What a day that was! I must've played 30 or so of his guitars; no dreadnoughts, as I had told him I wasn't a big fan of those... but pretty much everything else, although he didn't have any of his Jumbo models at the time. I was most taken by the Concert Jumbo size (very similar to my Angus F-40), but I loved them all!

Over the ensuing couple years, I'd go by the shop a few times a week, just to see what was "hot off the bench"; I would sit in the front room of the shop and play for several hours, just having a ball being the first one to actually play some of those exquisite instruments. I remember one day, Luke came out of the shop with a dreadnought and asked me to give it a whirl; he said he wanted to hear how it sounded, so I gave it my best faux bluegrass/country picking for a bit.

Turns out, neither James nor Luke play the guitar much; James hardly at all - he's big with flutes and recorders. Luke said he was just beginning, but this was 8 years ago. Last time we spoke, he mentioned that he'd been playing more and getting better.

The Goodalls really are lovely people as well as being Master Class luthiers (well, not Jean, but James and Luke). Nice to see Luke taking more and more of the building process into his repertoire.

By the way, the urethane finish that Goodall uses takes several weeks to "cure", before James goes ahead and does the final polishing and buffing. Unlike the Taylor infra-red cure, Goodalls are cured the old-fashioned way, albeit with a new medium.

Interesting to hear James talk about that new finish; my Goodall is a Grand Concert, redwood over figured mahogany, and James mentioned that the urethane is far more durable and scratch/ding resistant than the nitro lacquer he had been using. I asked, "How durable?" and he replied that, should I BONK my new guitar on the edge of a coffee table (I cringed at the thought!) that it would not leave a mark, where nitro lacquer would definitely ding and chip...

Plus, he said he could put on the urethane at about half the thickness of the lacquer...

I just can't say enough about Goodall guitars... if you haven't yet played one, find a way to do so; it will ROCK your guitar-playing world!

[justonwo]

They make incredible guitars and they are great people. I met James and Luke at HGF a number of years back. Jean kept handing me guitars and really tried to tempt me into a mahogany backed GC? I can’t remember. It was a great guitar. I loved my old Goodall Standard, but my style went in a direction where overtones need to be subdued.

[Deft Tungsman]

Thanks to the OP for sharing this video with us! It's so well done, I felt like I was standing right there next to James and Luke while they were going through all of the steps it takes to make a guitar.

I used to have two Goodalls, a 2002 RGCC and a 1981 RS. They were both excellent guitars, especially the Grand Concert. Like Juston, I also started moving in a direction where I was looking for less overtone content, so a few years ago I traded them in for a Baranik 00m, which suits my style better.

The next time I'm out in California, I'll do whatever I can to pay the Goodalls a visit in Fort Bragg. They seem like such a great family.

[GeoffStGermaine]

I just saw this thread, but I saw this video about a week ago. It's fantastic and one of the best build videos out there. I think it came up as a recommendation after watching the Greenfield Guitars build video, which is actually very similar in terms of quality and length and if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it.

Not to derail, but if any haven't seen this one, it's also worth a watch.