NGD: Shane Briggs MO Italian Spruce/Australian Blackwood

[Kitbuqa]

Hello everyone,

On March 17 I received a nice package in the mail.

I am sure those who've commissioned a guitar have experienced that euphoric feeling which comes with expecting a newly commissioned guitar after months of anticipation, longing, dreaming and impatience. Much like a newborn baby to an expectant mother the wait becomes trivial when it finally arrives.

This particular guitar was built by luthier Shane Briggs from Melbourne, Victoria in his 'Model One' guise (MO). Shane is, what I consider, a rare breed in the Australian luthier scene - let alone the custom acoustic guitar making scene.

His guitars were truly bespoke, compelling in vision, design and build philosophy. Like the best of luthiers, he manages to achieve the delicate but intriguing intersection between art and science if art is the creative explorative variable pushing against the strictures and discipline of science.

MATERIALS:
Soundboard:
The soundboard is a nice Italian Spruce hand selected by Shane Briggs through a local dealer who imports it through family connections. Shane gets to personally to touch, feel and sense the potential of each piece for a given tonal objective.

For a luthier in Australia to hand select Italian Spruce is an exceptionally rare luxury given the tyranny of distance and the limited options available. Somehow, it all came together under fortuitous circumstances.

An Art Deco style rosette of alternating Australian Blackwood and maple is installed on the soundboard with a neatly executed African Bbony bound sound hole.

Back and Sides:
Australian Blackwood comprises the back and sides and is derived from seasoned old stock from a farmer. As an Acacia, it very much shares the same qualities as Koa in terms of colour, grain and figuring. From the anecdotal experiences of luthier, I get the impression that Australian Blackwood is denser than Koa and more consistent from piece to piece.

This particular set displays tight figuring tight which is expansive across the whole width, colourfully variegated and rich in colour.

From what he's told me, he obtained this set through the good graces of fellow luthier of Jack Spira (who sourced it from the farmer) and was able to pick through his stash. It is certainly true what they say about the camaraderie and communal feeling between luthiers. This only serves to push the lutherie craft further into what is already considered the 'Golden Age' of guitar making.

Neck:
The neck is constructed from a laminate of Australian Blackwood and a thin strip of ebony sandwiched in between. To reinforce the laminate are a pair of carbon fiber rods inserted within the neck.

An Indian Ebony fretboard caps it off nicely with medium jumbo Gold EVO frets and brass side markers installed. The neck is further trimmed with an African Ebony backstrap and an African ebony headstock with an Art Deco burst motif.

Bridge:
Brazilian Rosewood was chosen as the choice of material for the bridge. This particular piece is dark, tightly grained with subtle but beautiful swirls of colour. The Rosewood added a sense of antiquity like a functional remnant of a time when it was widely used as the common choice of material.

CONSTRUCTION:
Shane's MO model fits in between a traditional OM and a Small Jumbo guitar not only in terms of size but also in terms of synthesising the sonic qualities of each which I will detail further in this post.

The measurements are as follows:

Lower bout: 15.75 inch
Upper bout: 12 inch
Waist:8.9 inch
Depth @ Neck: 3.5 inch
Depth @ Tail:4.4 inch
Body length: 19.7 inch

It has a nice curvaceous shape that extends to the upper bout. From an ergonomic perspective its very comfortable and nice to hold. My only regret was not adding a bevelled edge.

The scale length is 25.5 inches with a nut width of 1 3/4 and string spacing of 2 1/4.

One thing I'd like to point out is the sculptural quality of Shane's work. Although the pictures don't bare it out enough, there are a lot of subtle bevels and transitional edges across the whole length of the guitar. Sometimes it literally feels like he's carved it from marble.

It just feels 'solid' in the hand. What I mean by that is the intrinsic and ergonomic feel of a guitar that is built well and built to a high standard. You won't mistake this for a high end production guitar. It has personality and is not afraid to show it.

Part of that personality is the Shellac finish applied to it using the French polish technique. It is incredibly thin yet resilient to a certain extent. It just feels natural in literal and aesthetic terms - more so than nitro. Shane was taught this by Australian classical guitar maker Richard Howell.

A K&k Pickup rounds off the construction as my preferred choice of electronics.

SOUND:
So with all the aesthetics out of the way, how does it sound!? Get to the sound!!

The MO model combines the more focused sound and definition of a traditional OM but due to its larger size it packs the presence and punch of a Small Jumbo.

The MO was deliberately built to have a strong fundamental with excellent note definition, and depth. It is essentially a dryer sounding guitar but it exhibits enough 'ring' and 'sparkle' to give it a subtle overtone which is pleasing.

I am enamoured by its signature mid-range and treble ring. The trebles remind me somewhat of rosewood - kind of like a 'dry rosewood' or perhaps a 'reverberent mahogany'.

As a person who mostly uses picks I was surprised and delighted the MO responds very well to it. Notes just sound powerful and firm off the bat. Even strumming chords with a pick was a nice experience in itself. Chords are cohesive, chimey with an almost transcendental quality.

But what about fingers? Don't forget the fingers!

Ok, I'm biased...I prefer the pick more than finger style but even with just fingers it performs nicely. The only exception is when the guitar is tuned to DADGAD. I LOVED playing it in DADGAD. Ironically, I enjoyed playing finger style in DADGAD than with picks. That's versatility for you.

I'll try and get some videos and clips up soon.

Cheers for your eyes and ears!

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]



[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]



[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]


[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]



[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]



[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]



[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Monsoon1]

looks beautiful. you should post a full top view of it.

[BrunoBlack]

Wow, that's a beautiful instrument. Enjoy it.

[Kitbuqa]

Please delete

[Orfeas]

This is an outstandingly elegant instrument. Have fun playing this beauty.

[marty bradbury]

Beautiful guitar! Enjoy.

[Brucebubs]

Wow that's nice.
-March 17 happens to be my birthday
-I also have a guitar with Italian Spruce top
-I love the jumbo shape
and finally, a fellow Australian.

[El Conquistador]

What case is that?

steve

[Dru Edwards]

I want to play it!!! What a beautiful guitar and I'm sure it sounds amazing. Congrats and enjoy!

[fhubert]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMqORE62Bc

[GraceMusik]

Gorgeous guitar! is it just me or does that saddle in the last picture look REALLY tall? I don't believe I've seen that before:

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Glennwillow]

Congratulations on a beautiful guitar!

- Glenn

[Kitbuqa]

Originally Posted by GraceMusik

Gorgeous guitar! is it just me or does that saddle in the last picture look REALLY tall? I don't believe I've seen that before:

Hiya, I think it's the angle of camera accentuating the height. It's really not that tall!

Cheers for the comments!

[Kitbuqa]

Thanks for the nice comments! I hope you all get to check out his work at his website:

http://www.shanebriggsguitars.com/steel-string/

[Kitbuqa]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Wow that's nice.
-March 17 happens to be my birthday
-I also have a guitar with Italian Spruce top
-I love the jumbo shape
and finally, a fellow Australian.

I like the fact that we exceptional homegrown talent in Oz!