BILL COMINS - 16" "Zelig" Hybrid Carved Top: Carpathian Spruce/Honduran Mahogany

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by dcn

Your writing style makes an already enticing subject even more enjoyable, thanks for sharing and congratulations!

Thanks for the complement and for your well wishes...

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Two stunning guitars side by side....

They are indeed, and fun to play as well...

[iim7V7IM7]

Bill has been busy doing the final detailing of the guitar and also having a few recording artists make some demonstration videos. He still needs to take some studio photos of the guitar. I will share both the photos and the video(s) with the forum soon. The guitar will also be presented at the 2016 Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase in October for those you interested in auditioning it. Lastly, Bill finally came up with a "name" for the guitar. The guitar was so successful at achieving its acoustic goals that he is going to add it to his model line-up. It is going to call it the:

"Zelig Model Carved Top/Flat Back".

The name Zelig refers to a person who is able to change their appearance, behavior, or attitudes, so as to be comfortable in any situation. This name is of course is from the 1983 Woody Allen movie. This flat top, archtop aspect is the essence of this hybrid guitar. It is a guitar for both archtop flat top players. I have significant travel for business this month so I will either pick it up next weekend or the following one.

[John Osthoff]

Congrats Bob.

I have been following this thread and I am really excited for you. Bill is great builder and great guy. I have admired Bill's work for years and look forward to seeing both this guitar and Bill at Woodstock in the Fall.

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks John.... I hope you get a chance to play it as well...

Originally Posted by John Osthoff

Congrats Bob.

I have been following this thread and I am really excited for you. Bill is great builder and great guy. I have admired Bill's work for years and look forward to seeing both this guitar and Bill at Woodstock in the Fall.

[iim7V7IM7]

Bill was fortunate enough to place the Zelig in the capable hands of Pennsylvania fingerstyle guitarist Tim Farrell (http://www.timfarrellmusic.com/). Tim was kind enough to record four tunes with the guitar. The guitar was set up with GHS Laurence Juber Signature Bronze strings (.012"-.054") when played (we are still experimenting with a variety of different sets).

For all you recording geeks, Tim recorded this with two microphones (an AKG 214 where neck meets body - panned hard left and a Audio Technica 4033 at lower bout - panned hard right). It was recorded through a Aphex Tubessence Preamp to Audio Desk software on MacBook Pro. He added little bit of bright medium room stereo reverb on each channel. There was no EQ or compression or delay used.

[iim7V7IM7]

After a long month since auditioning it, I visited Bill this morning to pick up the "Zelig". Aside from Tim Farrell (http://www.timfarrellmusic.com/), he was also fortunate to get jazz guitarist Bill had Jimmy Bruno (http://jimmybruno.com/) to record with it. He also took some nicer photos of it for his website. I will share both with you shortly.

We have tried a variety of strings ranging from phosphor bronze, nickel bronze to silk core/nickel wound jazz round wounds. The character of the tone shifts in turn as expected from more flat top like to more archtop like. The guitar is just fantastic in its balance and the solidity and body of its notes in all registers. For those of you who play conventional archtops, the bass response in the "Zelig" is enhanced but is still solid and all the notes have some of the flat top like overtones. I am going to play the heck out of it this weekend!

Here are some shots with my iPhone in my back yard today:

Here is my 2016 - 16" Comins Zelig Carved Top Flat Back next to my 2013 - 16" Comins Custom Archtop. You can see the differences in their plantillas and scale lengths.



Just a nice shot in the natural sunlight...



The headplate veneers and the custom engraved (designed by Bill) Rodgers tuners...



The arching purfling running from the pickguard through the fingerboard and headplate veneers divided the Ebony and Cocobolo (left). The details of the African Blackwood bridge and saddle (top right). Details such as "oval" side position markers reinforce the soundhole theme (middle right). The adjustable African Blackwood Tailpiece with brass inserts (lower right).

[Steve Kinnaird]

Oh man...
OH MAN!
OH MAN!!

[justonwo]

Holy crap. That is amazing.

[Teleplucker]

Very nice looking guitars!

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks gents... Come to Woodstock in October and give it a whirl...

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Oh man...
OH MAN!
OH MAN!!

Originally Posted by justonwo

Holy crap. That is amazing.

Originally Posted by Teleplucker

Very nice looking guitars!

[iim7V7IM7]

Here is another video of the Zelig in action. This time with a different set of strings on (TI BeBop .014"-.055") and played by one of my favorite jazz guitarists Jimmy Bruno (http://www.jimmybruno.com/) playing the Sammy Fein tune, Alice in Wonderland. The earlier video that I shared with Tim Farrell in post # 125 had GHS LJ PB's on the guitar and of course there are differences in the recording set up.

[iim7V7IM7]

Bill has been so busy making guitars that he finally found some time to send me some studio photos that he took of the "Zelig" Slope Rimmed Archtop last June (below). I have also included Bill's description of the guitar in this post:

"This hybrid instrument features a Carpathian Spruce carved top and a flamed Honduran Mahogany flat back with matching sides and neck. The model was conceived and designed to straddle the arched top and flat top guitar worlds and employs a nontraditional modeling of the carved top to this end. The "slope rim" refers to the fact that the bottom perimeter of the carved top elevates as it joins the sides from the upper bout to the lower bout regions. This unique method of arch modeling allows for a flatter arch in the lower bout region of the top, helping to facilitate a fuller sounding bottom end while retaining much of the upper register roundness and separation associated with archtop guitars."

It is a fantastic guitar and Bill will be exhibiting it at The Woodstock Invitational (October 21-23). I hope some of you who have followed along get a chance to audition it.

[iim7V7IM7]

Those of you attending The Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase this Friday, Saturday and Sunday please stop by Bill Comin's table. He will be exhibiting my Zelig Carved Top/Flat Back at the show. Those of you flat top players who have been thinking about an archtop give it a try. I think you'll be glad that you did...

[CoolerKing]

It's a beauty, congrats!!

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks Matthew...

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

It's a beauty, congrats!!