Build thread: Halcyon OM in walnut/lutz

[D to the W]

Since my Halcyon build has just started, I thought I'd start a build thread. I'll try to keep it updated with pics/details as they come.

Specs:
Halcyon #61 (I think -- Ed, correct me if I'm wrong)
OM body
plain walnut B/S
lutz spruce top
ebony fretboard and bridge
640mm scale
1.75" nut width
tapered bracing

Minor details:
walnut faceplate on the headstock
strap button on the top shoulder
probably either a Schatten HFN or JJB Prestige 330 pickup

I am already the proud owner of Halcyon #50, a mahogany/lutz sloped dreadnaught (here's my NGD thread about this guitar), and had already ordered it when I met Ed at the Vancouver Guitar Show. That’s the first time I really got to try a few Halcyons (up to that point I’d only tried an all-mahogany OOO, which was impressive but not really up my alley). He had with him a few that Bluedog Guitars had ordered: an all-primavera parlour, an NL-OO in engelmann and ovangkol, an OM in lutz and rosewood, and a OOO in lutz and walnut. I was really taken by how big all of them sounded: I usually don’t care for anything smaller than a dreadnought because they all sound boxy to me, but these all sounded really big for their weight classes. The one I was most taken with was the lutz/walnut OOO — I’d never heard anything like it — and I put some serious consideration into buying it, but I thought I’d miss the extra two frets, and hey, why settle when I already know a guy who'll build me a guitar of the same quality and for the same price but with 14 frets?

I think of #50 as a singer/songwriter’s guitar, whereas #61 is planned to be more of a guitarist’s guitar. I’ve always known that an OM would be useful for lots of recording purposes, but as I said, I just never got along with any of the ones I’d tried. The guitars Ed brought to that show were the first smaller-bodied acoustics I’ve ever actually coveted. So, while #50 is a guitar that I’d always wanted, #61 is a guitar that I only realized I wanted because of Ed. For #50 I took him a bit out of his comfort zone by requesting it to be voiced differently than his usual guitars, but for #61 I’m just saying “omakase” and asking that he does his thing.

After a brief reprieve, I’m now back to checking the Halcyon Facebook page every 15 minutes for updates. Who are we kidding, I never actually stopped, as it had become a way of life during the build process for #50. When the updates come, I’ll post details here, and Ed, if you’re reading, feel free to put up some nice big hi-res pictures too

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Ha!

I probably should have put some pics up of your back being laboriously ground down with my brand spanking new LV low angle plane, as well as the sides. Talk about toil, but it sure looks real luthier like. Also jointed the panels with a hand plane and not a jointer for the very first time. Fun, but man, I'd like to get the thousand dollar jointer I bought for the job working...

[psychojohn]

Congrats on the new build. Your enjoying you Halcyon J45 I take it. Looking forward to following your build. 3-4 days out from receiving mine.

John

[Rixter]

That's awesome, Congrats! I have an OM scheduled with Ed in almost the same woods, it will be Lutz/ Flamed Walnut. Can't wait to see your build! I'll be following this one.

[Coffeeaddict]

Originally Posted by Rixter

That's awesome, Congrats! I have an OM scheduled with John in almost the same woods, it will be Lutz/ Flamed Walnut. Can't wait to see your build! I'll be following this one.

Ed got me to bite on the flamed walnut too... Where are you in the build schedule?

[Rixter]

Originally Posted by Coffeeaddict

Ed got me to bite on the flamed walnut too... Where are you in the build schedule?

Cool!! I can't wait to see a sample of the flamed walnut! As for where I am on the build schedule I have know idea.

[D to the W]

I was really tempted by the flamed walnut too, but Ed said it might sound a little brighter and I didn't want that. (Is it claro?) I also really love the rich chocolate brown colour of plain black walnut.

I see that you're successfully jointing panels with your hand plane, Ed -- thinking of returning/selling the machine? Seems like you can make fairly easy work of it with the hand plane anyway.

[D to the W]

I've been wavering back and forth on what pickup system to install in this guitar. I didn't really anticipate #50 being used much for gigging, so I wasn't that choosy about the pickup -- it's mostly going to be used to supplement a miked track during recording -- and so I chose a JJB Prestige 330 because: it's only $50; no batteries to worry about; no preamp required because the input impedance is already suited to my setup; most of the opinions I'd found online/at Bluedog suggested going with the K&K Pure Mini, of which the JJB is a knockoff. Now that I have it I've been quite pleased with it in band practice settings too: especially with some EQ it sounds pretty darn good. Still, #61 is intended to be played at volume more frequently so I want to do some more due diligence on the pickup choice.

Ed has had good experiences with Schatten HFNs in other Halcyons, plus they're lighter so require less final tuning of the top by Ed. To my ears, the two were pretty comparable, whereas on Doug Young's website the K&K (which I'll assume as being identical to the JJB) is noticeably darker and more "electric" sounding. I wonder if that has to do with the impedance of the preamp, as it seems the K&K depends on a high preamp input impedance to help roll off some of the lows and low-mids. The Schatten requires a preamp and therefore a battery (boo) but it would be nice to have more output and a volume control at my fingers anyway when playing with the band. The Baggs iBeam clips on Doug Young's site sound pretty good too; I think it's mass is pretty close to the JJB's.

What I'm currently finding *most* compelling on Doug Young's website is the PUTW #54. Of the systems I've been interested in, the PUTW's clips are the only ones where I might have been fooled into thinking I was listening to a miked clip. I don't know how much they weigh but they look like they're probably super-light.

A few details on my rig: I switch a lot between acoustic, electric, and keyboards, so for guitars I use a Fender Mustang Floor plugged into a Behringer keyboard amp. I'm playing at band volume, alongside drums and amps. When playing acoustic, I use the "studio preamp" setting on the Mustang, which has a simple 3-band EQ. The input impedance on the Mustang is 500K I think, typical for an electric guitar and reasonably well suited to the JJB/K&K -- I assume any of the Schatten, Baggs, and PUTW systems would work fine too as they all include/require preamps that are probably built to feed that kind of amp input. The JJB has the added advantage that I could either run it direct or buy one belt-clip preamp that would work well for both #50 and #61.

So I am soliciting information and opinions. Does anyone have any experience comparing any or all of the K&K/JJB, Schatten HFN, Baggs iBeam, and PUTW #54? If so, what kind of guitars are/were they in? Does anyone know the mass of the PUTW system? Would people say that the clips on Doug Young's site jive with their experiences with said pickups? If I got a preamp suitable for the K&K/JJB, would I be able to achieve the more open, natural sounds of the Schatten and PUTW systems? And, crucially, would the other systems be worth the $100-150 more than the JJB? I know that different pickup systems will mate better with different guitars, but just shoot from the hip and tell me *your* experiences.

[D to the W]

Had a chance to pay a visit to the shop today to sort out some build details and snapped this pic of Ed with my guitar in progress:



I'm really pleased that I went with the plain walnut: love that milk chocolate colour. That said, though it isn't quite my thing, those of you who ordered the flamed walnut are in for a real treat -- it's gorgeous in person. Ed's got a piece earmarked for himself to build his own version of my #50

I ended up ordering a PUTW #54 stereo pickup, which I'm really excited about. As for a preamp I think I'll wait until they start putting their Stereo Line Driver preamp out again. I can modify a cable for impedance matching so that the JJB in #50 will work well with it too, so that should be a good fit for me.

[Gasworker]

Originally Posted by D to the W

Had a chance to pay a visit to the shop today

I'm really pleased that I went with the plain walnut: love that milk chocolate colour. That said, though it isn't quite my thing, those of you who ordered the flamed walnut are in for a real treat -- it's gorgeous in person. Ed's got a piece earmarked for himself to build his own version of my #50

Your guitar looks like it will be great. I envy you being able to drop in like that. The figured walnut you saw may be mine. I appreciated your thoughts. Thanks brothers. Ed you seem to putting in some very long days. Just doing the time calculations and the time on some your posts you are keeping late days. Happy Easter

[Redeemed]

Haha, Ed always looks so happy in pictures.. like a proud father holding his first born.

[D to the W]

I'd been having a nagging worry, but finally thought to ask about it today after I hammered out my pickup order details with Ani at PUTW. The #54 is supposed to be installed by putting one transducer on either side of the bridge plate, but looking at the picture I posted last week, it looks like the bridge plate is so small that the transducer might not fit! There's a good picture of the pickup here; a bit hard to get perspective, but still looks like it might be a bit problematic.

I asked Ed about it and it's a good thing I did because he had the same worry ("It's pretty snug inside an OM"). I also found a post mentioning that someone had damaged their transducers because they didn't quite fit in their OM. So, we're on hold until the pickup arrives and we can sort out for sure whether it will fit in the recommended position. That's a minor drag as they won't be shipping the pickup and preamp until probably next Wednesday; my own fault for not ordering them sooner. Oh well, no big deal -- I have #50 to play with in the meantime!

He did send me these photos later:





The relevant quantity is the gap between the bridge pins and the X braces; looks like it'll be close, but he says he thinks it'll be fine. Anyway, best to wait, as Ed said. Thanks Ed for taking the time to check on that for me! Pretty cool photos of the top bracing, too, and nice to get a good photo of the underside of the top -- I don't anticipate ever getting many more good looks at it!

[D to the W]

Well, that was easy: I asked Ani at PUTW for the dimensions of the transducers and told her our concerns and she said "We can build the pickups to any shape or size and its no trouble to do so. No extra charge or anything like that. Just let us know what seems best and we'll get you up and running" On Ed's suggestion, I requested that they build the transducers 2" by 1/4" (typically they're 2" by 5/16") so it seems that we are indeed up and running. Now that's service!

[Halcyon/Tinker]

We closed the box and I think RJ did the binding today. A PU like this I would sometimes like to install while the top is accessible. However, after some deliberation, I decided that in this case I would rather have the pins drilled through and install the PU around them. Bit as convenient, but possibly a bit more sage. Sorry I've been a bit lax on photos, I tend to just forget. Seems to be happening more often as I get older. Er, I mean, more experienced...

[psychojohn]

Originally Posted by Halcyon/Tinker

We closed the box and I think RJ did the binding today. A PU like this I would sometimes like to install while the top is accessible. However, after some deliberation, I decided that in this case I would rather have the pins drilled through and install the PU around them. Bit as convenient, but possibly a bit more sage. Sorry I've been a bit lax on photos, I tend to just forget. Seems to be happening more often as I get older. Er, I mean, more experienced...

.... or maybe busier ?

I haven't looked a pics of the top bracing patterns of your other guitars for a while, but something about this one seems different, or is my dementia kicking in. ?