[Howard Emerson]

I'm enjoying the opportunity John has afforded me to "break-in" his experimental build, although if age counts for anything, this thing is well on its way to being broken-in because it was built in 1991 from a 4"x4" cedar fence post, including the original neck. If you've ever handled cedar you know that it is, at times, incredibly strong or incredibly weak depending on the grain direction. That turned out to be the case with the heel of the neck, so it now sports a maple neck.

It's a mere 15.25" wide with a 26" scale, and I assume John did a bunch of glue-ups to get the top & back wide enough, but I can NOT see the glue joints. Whatever the case, though, I'm enjoying finding the responses to different tunings, and in this video I'm in open C.

I'm playing an edited version of "Rumble Strut" here, and 'floppy' doesn't begin to describe a .047 silk & steel 6th string tuned down to C! Rubber-bandy, yes, but for the moment that's the story until some silk & bronze sets arrive tomorrow with higher tension. To paraphrase Richard Pryor: I believe the boy's got potential, and this old man will try to find the best voice this guitar has to offer!



Best,
Howard Emerson