Quote:
Originally Posted by rlouie
Wade,what kind of neck profile are you going with??? does Howard have his own type of profile or did you just describe what you wanted???
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That's actually one of the details we've yet to thrash out. The neck on my existing Gibson AJ is like a rock and roll electric guitar neck, very fast and slim, but we haven't yet gotten to the point where it's crucial that we decide what the neck profile on this one is going to be.
We only just both signed off on the woods and body shape a few days ago! There were a lot of options for us both to consider.
As for working with Howard, it's been fun. As he mentioned, I'm not the sort of custom guitar customer who'll tell a guitarbuilder where and how to build or brace a guitar - that would be like Howard coming up to me in the middle of a performance and telling me what chord voicings or tempos I should be using in a song:
"You're doing it all WRONG! 'Born To Be Wild' is supposed to be a soft, gentle BALLAD!!"
Every handbuilder I know has had experiences with custom guitar customers who try to micromanage every aspect of the build - though Howard is extremely discreet and has never so much as
hinted about any such experiences. But I know he's had customers who have a hard time discerning where that line needs to be drawn, simply because folks like that
do go with the territory when you're a custom guitarbuilder.
But that is most emphatically
not my style. My approach to a custom instrument order is more like: "Here's the sound I'm looking for, I'd kinda like it to be in this body shape, and that set of wood looks like it might work." As for the rest of it, I'm more like: "Go get 'em, tiger!"
Because what I've discovered over the years is that luthiers get most inspired and deliver their finest efforts when you sort of point them in the direction you'd like them to go, and then turn them loose.
As for which tonewoods are most fashionable or whether there's bearclaw figure in the top or any of that, to me it's unimportant because none of that bears directly on the tone. I never order a custom instrument for the bragging rights, I do it to get an instrument that I can't get any other way.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller