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Old 10-03-2017, 03:15 PM
savvas savvas is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 16
Default NL-00

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Originally Posted by savvas View Post
The sound is intriguing. It’s very loud, quite balanced and strong while also being very articulate with no sense of boominess, ‘flabbiness' or confused resonances. I guess maybe a combination of the body depth and the walnut b&s? The mid-range in particular - the D and G strings have very effective voices which I’m pleased with - I’ve often found the G string on small guitars to be somewhat ‘flat’ and difficult to activate with fingers alone!...
I'd like to try to add a few more comments to the above. First this is a new guitar (and all of Ed's guitars will be relatively 'young' I suppose) I'm consciously adjusting my expectations accordingly. While my NL-00 has a very responsive, resonant and clear voice, it also still feels like I'm going to see a fair bit of opening-up and maturation - which I'm really looking forward to. I'm hoping that individual notes - especially in the mids and trebles - will acquire a somewhat fuller quality with time.

At present - while the fundamental tones are beautiful, crystalline and resonant - the additional partials that seem to add up to a really full string tone (as opposed to body resonance etc) feel like they are likely to develop further. Lots of inherent potential that will I guess need lots of playing to develop.

One thing that I am understanding better as my use of the instrument proceeds is the tremendous responsiveness that Ed has achieved - I presume related in part to the Lutz top. The sound is certainly very 'up front' with a high degree of sensitivity to finger tones and overall articulation.

My NL-00 is shaping up as a very satisfying guitar to play and explore composition with. It's an extremely well set-up instrument and is certainly encouraging me to advance and improve my technique. I also have a Larrivee 00-03 (sitka/mahogany) which I am comparing the new guitar with. It has a sweet and woody sound but is heavier than the NL-00 and and feels slightly more restrained. Still a great guitar of course but I certainly feel the NL-00 is a big step forward for me.

Getting my hands on this NL-00 has fired my interest in other possibilities. The NL is an articulate and balanced instrument with sparkling trebles and 'bright' tonal qualities overall. I've asked Ed how he'd achieve a similar mids and treble voices with stronger, deeper and richer finger-style bass notes. He has suggested that his OM or SJ would be the way to go, maybe with EIR b/s. I'm also quite interested in his Advanced Jumbo/Sloped Shoulder designs (not sure what the differences are) - but only because I've played a couple of old and new Gibsons with quite attractive finger-style qualities.

One thing I would like to experiment with on the NL-00 is a slightly heavier gauge set of strings. On the advice of others here I've tried the D'Addario EJ-24 'med-light' set on a 00 guitar which strengthened trebles and reduced some of the 'boxiness' that small guitars seem prone to. Ed seems to generally recommend light gauge only for his guitars but my NL-00 does have tapered rather than scalloped braces which I'm hoping would add a bit of the additional strength required for heavier strings...

I'd be very interested in comments from owners of OM and SJ Halcyons...

Sam.
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