NGD: 2017 Somogyi OM

[jseth]

Originally Posted by Cincy2

I've had this guitar for about a week and am beginning to get a good feel for what it can do. It arrived very stiff and I'm told it will take 18 months to really open up. I am amazed at what it can do now. The volume now from the wound strings is marvelous. The b and e strings however do need to develop to keep pace.

The workmanship is flawless as you would expect. The Brazilian back and sides are perfectly quarter sawn. The Spruce top has tight grain and is consistent in color. The guitar came with Medium gage strings which threw me for a few days. I play finger style only. Mr. Somogyi ships his guitars with mediums. I'm growing to like them on this guitar as they give it Mixed Martial Arts kind of PUNCH.

The fundamental tones from the guitar are very strong with less harmonic content than my Traugott. These two instruments complement each other well. The Traugott is very sparkly - notes of diamond delivered surrounded by plush velvet. The Somogyi is all business with crisp, well defined output. It has the deepest, most resonant basses I have ever heard.

I am a technical zero so recording is beyond my capability. There are lots of Somogyi OM recordings on the Dream Guitar site. They are very representative of what I am hearing.

I am at the end of the line with GAS. There is no where to go after having heard an instrument of this caliber.

Cincy

Sweet looking OM there, Cincy! Should go well with the others in your collection, too...

As for the sound and tone? Don't even think about it as the guitar goes through its metamorphisis, just enjoy the way it changes!

I picked up my Goodall Grand Concert when James called me and said, "I thought you might want to be the first one to put strings on this..."! Took it home within an hour of the time it "came off the bench".

Got it home and immediately thought I had made a HUGE and COSTLY mistake! Even though I had played 50 or so of James' builds, this one just didn't come close to sounding like the others, not in the slightest... this was after playing it for an hour or so...

Had some dinner and went back and played it again... and "something" changed??? Notes that weren't quite "there" in the first session now were there... these sorts of shifts in tone and volume kept happening over the next few days.

I spoke with James about this, and he said, ""Oh! I thought you KNEW that it was going to take several months to a year before the guitar settled in to it's normal tone and volume..."!!! Since then, I have spoken with several other builders, and they remarked that they don't even ship a guitar until it has been finished for a month or so, precisely due to that reason. Because I have a couple other hand-builds, James just thought I understood the process of a guitar settling in...

The next 6 months were really a wonder, with regards to how the tone and volume changed on that guitar... seemed like every day, something would shift and "fill in" a note or frequency that had been weak the day prior...

After about 6 months, the changes became far less dramatic, and I began to hear how the guitar actually sounded - which is VERY nice, by!the way; exactly how I wanted it to sound!

All this is a long walk to say, "Enjoy the ride as your Somogyi finds it's true voice...".

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by jseth

I picked up my Goodall Grand Concert when James called me and said, "I thought you might want to be the first one to put strings on this..."! Took it home within an hour of the time it "came off the bench".

Got it home and immediately thought I had made a HUGE and COSTLY mistake! Even though I had played 50 or so of James' builds, this one just didn't come close to sounding like the others, not in the slightest... this was after playing it for an hour or so...

Had some dinner and went back and played it again... and "something" changed??? Notes that weren't quite "there" in the first session now were there... these sorts of shifts in tone and volume kept happening over the next few days.

I spoke with James about this, and he said, ""Oh! I thought you KNEW that it was going to take several months to a year before the guitar settled in to it's normal tone and volume..."!!! Since then, I have spoken with several other builders, and they remarked that they don't even ship a guitar until it has been finished for a month or so, precisely due to that reason. Because I have a couple other hand-builds, James just thought I understood the process of a guitar settling in...

The next 6 months were really a wonder, with regards to how the tone and volume changed on that guitar... seemed like every day, something would shift and "fill in" a note or frequency that had been weak the day prior...

After about 6 months, the changes became far less dramatic, and I began to hear how the guitar actually sounded - which is VERY nice, by!the way; exactly how I wanted it to sound!

All this is a long walk to say, "Enjoy the ride as your Somogyi finds it's true voice...".

The first four hours with strings are usually very interesting, I'm always anxious to hear the changes the first time I string one up.

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by jseth

I picked up my Goodall Grand Concert when James called me and said, "I thought you might want to be the first one to put strings on this..."! Took it home within an hour of the time it "came off the bench".

I'm really curious about how James sets up a guitar without putting strings on it.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

I'm really curious about how James sets up a guitar without putting strings on it.

I wondered about that also. I just assumed the really good builders didn't need to do that final tweak, but Mr. Klepper is one of the really good builders.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

I'm really curious about how James sets up a guitar without putting strings on it.

I would assume that he knows from experience how much the top is going to rise under string tension, which means he can get the saddle height pretty much in the ballpark prior to stringing up.

As far as the nut slots are concerned, they can be accurately slotted without the strings on.

The relief ... I would guess that jseth is experienced enough to adjust that for himself.

As Wade would say, hope that makes sense ...