A new Journey in Life, a new guitar, a new Kostal! Brazilian/German ???
 

I have to apologize to my AGF friends for lying. January 2011, I said that my last commission (final) would be the Brazilian/German Modified Dreadnought guitar with wedge.

I can say my last commission (previous guitar) was the Kostal and I wouldn't be lying :D I initially posted that thread in excitement of my guitar and also because I was entering a new stage in my life. I ordered the Kostal in Dec 2010, started the thread in 2011, and thought it really would be my last commission.

Why you ask? I was able to marry my best friend and begin a brand new life with my beautiful bride!

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/.../wson23web.jpg

So thinking that life would come with a few changes, the guitar lover in me could not commission anymore!

So what has happened in the last 2 years? As shared in the previous story, I was able to visit the Somogyi shop and picked various sets of wood, tap them with Jason, and share the full build with you here. If you want to take a look at the Somogyi shop again and see the previous Kostal build, you can find it here:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=205642

As I really hoped, when the guitar was delivered at Woodstock last year,
I fell in love with the guitar and it was everything I wanted. Although I knew I was in the honeymoon phase, I put down a deposit on another! I knew that if I changed my mind, I could always sell my spot down the road. But after a year of having the guitar, and still being on the honeymoon, its time for this new Kostal thread!

A quick one year review here:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...=kostal&page=2

and a sound clip of the Kostal:
http://soundcloud.com/ericcsong/one-year-kostal-1

Some of you have seen my Ryan for sale in the classifieds. It is a very special guitar for me because I played it in my wedding:

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/.../wson84web.jpg

After talking with my wife some more, she knew how much I wanted another Kostal and said she'd be fine with the Ryan leaving, but I couldn't sell the guitar I woo'd her with :)

More news will be coming, but I wanted to invite you on another journey in my guitar adventure!

stay tuned..... ;)

Eric,
Congrats to you and your beautiful wife! Question, what are you varying for your new Mod D? Just different wood?

Jason

Jason, thanks!

I was able to flip the Ryan, so now I'm craving either a bigger body like the Cathedral, or a smaller body. I was able to play a pretty spectacular OM recently so my ears are perked!

While the Mod-D isn't completely out of the picture, a Jumbo might be or a small body :)

Congrats!! So are you considering using German/Brazilian again?

Brian, same wood combinations, different body! :)

this piece of Brazilian was my second runner up and I absolutely love it!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73...20Braz/256.jpg

If its still available, I might go this route. But i think i already recommended it to Dave earlier this year :(

Don't worry - I've had loads of "final" guitars. One new year, I swore blind to my daughters and wife that there would be "no more" guitars that year, and made a bet. I lost: I had bought 4 by the end of January! ha ha. Who cares?

I saw your musings elsewhere re Blazer and Henkes and Traugotts etc...Looks like Jason won out? Your MD must be really special to achieve that. I have a Kostal OM on the way next year and am very much looking forward to it: The MD is great but I'm intrigued to hear what Jason can do with a smaller (for which read "more conventional") body size.

Looking forward to your updates!

cheers,
Steve

great news eric

Congratulations Eric, that's awesome!

Eric, I may have to disappoint you.....;)
But I am excited for another great journey by you!!! Way to go!!!

Ervin does incredible things with the OM size. I actually prefer it to his Mod D... which is almost "too much" for me. Even in this terrible 16 second recording of a German/Braz I recently played, it's amazing how much you can hear. It was like a 308 Fazioli was hiding inside that little guitar. I asked Robin what she thought of Jason's OMs compared to Ervin's when I visited her shop (the Guitar Gallery) in Nashville. Never one to mince words, her response was: "Oh shoot, they're just as good! I couldn't tell the difference!"

Well, the Mod-D is a lot of guitar but I don't think I could play anything else at this stage...

That said Jason's OM's are spectacular, I played one in concert at last year's Healdsburg show. Gorgeous koa with an Italian spruce top... very naughty...

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...02at153421.png

Here's the video... the audio is from the camera only so it only shows maybe 30% of what the guitar is actually capable of.

For me, I think it's just a simple case of stylistic incompatibility. For most of the things I play and the way I think compositionally on the guitar, the response of guitars in the Somogyi camp (regardless of body size, really) aren't always ideal. It's *really* fun to play to their strengths, though! They are incredible guitars. Nice pic and great vid, Michael!

This is actually what intrigues me about Jason Kostal. He seems to take a lot of that Somogyi sound and response, and adds (my words, nobody else's) focus. It's some of the diffusion of sound that, for me, limits the use of a Somogyi in certain ways--although I'd happily take a Somogyi, ha ha! But I continually hear that Jason adds a focusing of that in some really important ways, at least for my playing styles.

As an aside, Mike D knows my preferences here pretty well, and he was one who really (re-)sparked my interest. In fact, he essentially called me on the way home from Woodstock and said, "Listen, you really need to talk to Jason Kostal about his guitars." When I mentioned that I was diving back into Michael Hedges, he was even more excited, probably because (as has been said before) Jason is a monster player and knows that repertoire really well.

-B

OK, I need to play a Kostal!!

He should do... Jason studied with Michael Hedges...