Originally Posted by prickards
I have been corresponding with Drew and have taken the plunge for an SJ braz/cedar to be built next year. I'll report back for sure when the time comes. I have some preliminary impressions and very positive so far. Some background first. I have had the pleasure of owning an Olson SJ cedar/EIR and have played several others. Consistently wonderful feel and playability, some more alive than others if that makes sense. I loved mine and sold it only to fund an investment and miss the niche that it fills but dont want to pony up that kind of cash again. So I'm taking the leap of faith. I did it before with a Charis and it didnt hit the mark for me personally but no doubt it was a wonderfully built guitar. It is a very subjective thing as we all know. There are wondeful builders out there who trust the building process that they have gotten down to a science: Olson, Ryan and Bill Wise (Charis) that come to mind. My understanding is that they trust the process entirely to get very reproducible results but not much "voicing" going on if at all that I am aware. Some believe in voicing and some dont. I personally do. I do think the "process" is most important but it just makes sense to me that some fine tuning (ie, voicing) is necessary to bring the most out of wood because each piece has subtle differences even within species. That is the magic in my estimation, the feel, the mojo, to be able to tease that out. That is just a personal opinion of course but in my estimation what separates production guitars from custom built. But clearly not all production guitars are the same, and some have definitely gotten to a level of removing enough wood consistently to be very responsive guitars.
Anyway, my take on Drew Heinonen so far has been very positive. He is very friendly, very responsive to questions, and takes the time to go over any detail you ask for. He explained his process to me in detail and I think it is very promising. He has learned "the process" preparation and production from two of the best, Dana Bourgeois and Jim Olson. He has permission to base his SJ builds on the Olson SJ box shape, bracing and light build features. But at the same time, his build process offers some important differences that catch my interest. He does voice his guitars individually like Dana Bourgeois using flexing/tap tone techniques to shave wood here and there in an effort to maximize each and every box. To me, that is quite a combination, having learned the objective process of building from the master of processes, Jim Olson, and also adding some of the subjective process of voicing from one of the voicing masters, Dana Bourgeois.
I did challenge him however to use a rosette of his own design in addition to his own voicing to make the guitar uniquely Heinonen but Olsonesque if you will. I am not in search of an exact Olson copy, only Jim can do that reproducibly well. But I do love the basic sound and feel of an Olson. I like the SJ shape and feel of Jim's necks and setup. The rest I want to be Heinonen. Kind of like how the Somogyi apprentices learn and use the basic shapes and bracing concepts from Ervin but try to add their own flavor with regards to voicing and aesthetics. Yet you can still tell they belong to a very special family of guitars but they have their own mojo. Some think the students can never match the master but I think there alot of things in play there, including trying to protect your monetary investment in the "master" guitar if you've ponied up the dollars already. I do think that students can equal and even surpass the master by learning the good stuff and trying to make improvements where they can or are able. Some hit the mark, some dont but I love giving it a shot.
We shall see with Drew's guitar, the proof is in the pudding as they say. But by all indicators that I deem important, I am excited at the prospect for sure. Its going to be fun for sure. He is a great guy. Give his newest guitars a listen. I think he's onto something for sure.
|