Isaac Jang OM Build Thread
 

I have commissioned more than a few guitars over the years but strangely I have never done a build thread. So I figure I need to remedy that by posting my latest build. But first some background...

I had previously had two guitars made by two extremely respected luthiers which absolutely owned their respective ends of the spectrum - one was the most responsive guitar I had ever played, with an instant and seemingly endlessly sensitive connection between the tone and one's fingers while playing it and lovely bloom of the notes. The other was its polar opposite - a guitar I likened to a lightsaber with all the sizzle and spark and clarity one could want. One was haunting, mellow and reflective while the other was all excitement and clashing of cymbals and fireworks, so to speak. They seemed to perfectly complement each other.

So it was when the time came for me to replace both of them with a single replacement, my idea was to find a guitar made by a rising star luthier who already displayed the build chops to have made a guitar that could capture enough of the essence of both of those guitars that I would not miss too much both these guitars, and be a guitar that could literally do everything to a world class standard and be the complete one guitar solution package tone-wise and design wise.

I started reading about Isaac Jang's guitars on this forum a few years ago when Richard Mott started a thread in 2015 about this young Korean-American luthier who had exhibited at Memphis 2015 where he first emerged with his OM design and Uchida-inspired Bendaway, and his guitars made quite a positive impression. I was struck by how elegant his OM looked and how fresh it seemed to be - his interpretation of the Bendaway was at the same time a respectful a homage it was to Mickey Uchida (among the first of the truly great Japanese luthiers) while being very much his own unique twist on the concept. The very high level of fit and finish and clean execution of his builds was another hint of the high level of lutherie skills that he already possessed at that point.

It is remarkable to me that the design of his first OMs that were exhibited and sold then is virtually unchanged from his OM design today - quite unlike the designs of many luthiers who have had to refine their designs over the first few years or even decade of their practice. This points to the very high level of maturity in Isaac's design sense and to his confidence as well.

Some years later along came Marcus Wong who started up his new Internet guitar shop Golden Era Guitars and one of the luthiers he represented was Isaac Jang. Then what sealed the deal were a couple of guitar clips where I heard incredible bloom allied with great clarity and fatness of the notes and yet a warmth and sufficient overtone content. In other words, his guitars sounded to me like the first definite candidate I had come across for that singular replacement and so I took a leap of faith and joined his wait list.

Late last year my turn for my build came up and Isaac began my build! These are the raw materials for the build...

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/zxjZ0om.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for the background story, would you mind giving the names of the luthiers? From some of your previous posts, I would guess that the first one is a Traugott?..

What woods have you chosen - looks like a spruce/rosewood combination? I've see Isaac gaining a lot of momentum lately, and some videoclips have really blown my mind (one from DG come to mind).

Thanks for taking us along!
Best,
Tom

Hello Tom and thanks for your comment. The two guitars this one was meant to replace were a Somogyi and a Traugott, both of spruce/old growth brazilian rosewood wood combinations.

This guitar has the wood combo of master grade adirondack spruce and brazilian rosewood. The BRW is from a board that was salvaged from an old building and it was owned by an old Jewish woodworker since the 1950s. The wood is very dark from its appearance and the color only pops under strong direct light but it is likely to have come from an old beam originally, and is certainly old-growth BRW which is of considerable vintage.

Isaac certainly has momentum at present to say the least - his guitar order book is closed to new orders because Isaac has a build list that is already 5 years or so if I am not mistaken. If you are interested to order, Marcus is the man to contact!

Gitarro

Thanks for letting us follow the progress. The new crop of low volume luthiers has some amazing talent in it. Besides Jang, youngsters like Halland, Casimi (two guys) and on the nylon string side Kim Lissarrague are creating shock waves through the industry with superior products. We do live in a golden age of luthery.

Looking forward to more of your posts.

Cincy

I couldn't agree more, Cincy. The Jang just hits the spot on every level at this point in my guitsr journey and with guitars like this being made, this may well turn out to be the Platinum Age for guitars...

The unearthly power of your new Halland dc-h is inspiring and I am getting ready the figurative popcorn for your upcoming thread on your new guitar also!

Barry, Congrats!

One of my favourite builds to date. It sounded incredible right from the get go, and I'm hoping to play it again soon!! Isaac Jang has closed his build list and stopped taking orders. His dealers all now have only 1 slot every 18 months so he's getting extremely exclusive. You got extremely lucky getting this slot through me so early on [emoji38]

Congratulations, guitarro!

I am excited to follow this thread. I am a big fan of Isaac and his work and was fortunate to first meet him years ago when I was visiting Kathy Wingert's shop and he was apprenticing with her. I also have been fortunate enough to be able to play a number of his fine guitars. How wonderful that you will have one of these beauties to play for many years to come.

Best,
Jayne

Isaac Jang is a rockstar. I loved seeing and talking to him at the last few NAMM shows. He lights up the room, and there's not shortage of oohs and ahhs from everyone around him.. And for good reason, as the guitars are stunning to behold, and alive with tone and response. Congrats. :up:

I first played a couple of Isaac Jang’s guitars at the Memphis Guitar Show in 2015. One in Cocobolo, the other Brazilian. Both were unbelievably responsive, even across all strings and frets, with a glassy bell-like tone—as good, or better, than any guitars I have played before or since. Oops, Gitarro, just noticed your mention of an earlier post of mine! Of course one never knows what posts get read, but great if that one helped spark interest. What you wrote at top is exactly what I heard and saw. Great also to see how well Isaac has fared since 2015, so deserved! Congrats on what sounds like a wonderful commission. —Richard

I love Isaac's work ... this will be fun to watch!

Congrats on the new commission. Looking forward to following this thread. I still have a long journey ahead until I reach your stage to be able to determine my Platinum Age guitar. Poor Marcus will continue to be pestered by me in many more years to come ;)

I have amended my initial post because I had somehow forgotten that this thread is not the first build thread involving Jang guitars. Back in 2015 or 2016, Trevor Moyle of TAMCO posted a build thread on a spruce/figured mahogany OM that Isaac was building for him. (That thread is worth looking up for the interesting information there, though the photos were hosted on Photobucket and are currently not viewable).Nevertheless, I am glad to see that this thread is of interest to a good number of people because Isaac sure deserves the recognition.

Also to clarify what I meant by this guitar being a replacement for two other guitars, I did not mean that the Jang OM can capture the full tonal signature of both guitars, because that is impossible. It isn't even possible for a luthier to exactly reproduce the tone of another luthier, let alone two master luthiers of such renown. As well the two guitars concerned are very disparate and different from each other. What I did mean was that Isaac's guitars seem to possess enough of the essence of what I particularly like in both guitars.

Moving on with the build process photos, here is another batch!

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/NdC1EYO.jpg[/IMG]

https://i.imgur.com/5gJ45SE.jpg