I had the great privilege to visit Steve's shop last Thursday and then again yesterday morning. He invited me to come over and play his oak parlor guitar (I had remarked on Facebook that I had never played an oak guitar) and I was impressed by that, but not being a real parlor aficionado, the guitars I was smitten by were all larger ones. The beautiful OM with primavera back and sides struck me as just about ideal in terms of balance, string separation, and sweetness. Steve brought it out when I told him that I gravitated toward mahogany, saying it was similar. I loved the clarity in the mid-range and trebles, but the low end struck me as being more profound and resonant than your typical mahogany b&s guitar - more like rosewood, maybe - which makes it the best of both worlds in my book. If I'd had the scratch it would have come home with me.
But then I might have regretted not playing the bubinga guitar more, or the "John Sebastian" SJ. Truly an embarrassment of riches. If anyone is on the fence about any of those, you'd better snap them up before my ship comes in!
