I guess I might be the only one with an Olson SJ, Heinonen SJ, and Applegate SJ…
I can’t directly compare Applegate SJ with the other two, as it has totally different wood and different age, but my Olson SJ and Heinonen SJ use the same wood combo (Sitka/EIR) and similar decorations, and are similar in age.
Fit and finish wise, you will hardly be able to tell the difference between the two, though Olson is very slightly better.
[Olson guitar is the only luthier guitar that looks like it was made at a highend Martin or Taylor factory with no flaws whatsoever. (In this case, this is a compliment). Any other luthier guitars I’ve seen and owned have some small flaws somewhere. (I am picky. There is a 1/128 gap in the purfling or abalone inside the rosette? FLAW… there is a small finish spot that has very slight shade difference? FLAW… Does the neck thickness and shape absolutely flawless and mirror imaged? No? FLAW… Does the light reflect slightly weird on a super small spot? FLAW….Does the bracing has slight sharp edge on one tiny spot? FLAW…Is there a extremely small amount of finish build up next to the bridge or neck where it meets the body? FLAW... you get the idea…). BTW, Heinon fit and finish is definitely above average compared to my other luthier guitars. It is just not at the Olson level, but nobody is.]
Sound wise, I would say the two are more like close brothers, but they are not identical twins. However, Heinonen is probably the closest to the Olson SJ currently by any builder.
My guess is that over time he will deviate further, as luthiers tend to gain more experience they start to want to do their own voicing.
If I have to describe the difference, Heinonen SJ sounds slightly quieter, a bit less mid, and maybe a tad less sparkle on the top. The bracing pattern is the same, but the shape of the braces are slightly different.
I also agree that Olson SJ has the thinnest neck and lowest action I’ve ever played on an acoustic. In fact one feedback that I gave to Drew was that I wish the setup was better on his guitar out of the box. He said he didn’t want to set it too low out of the box, and I can understand it, but Jim does it just fine :-). In fact none of my high end acoustics guitars have near the same action as Olson SJ.
This is the spec Jim shared with me, and he did say if I tried to set other guitars to this level, most likely it will buzz. I’ve asked other technicians to set up my other guitars this low and they won’t do it as they say it will be too low and it will buzz. If I pay for a PLEK setup, I can probably get it to do it, but I don’t want to pay that much for a setup.
Quote:
“From the 14th fret it is 2/32" top of fret to bottom of string on the high E and 2.5 /32" or 5/64th" form top of fret to bottom of string on the low E. Again..from the 14th fret.
The neck is set as straight as possible ....I can't give you a number on that... I just make sure that is fretted on the 1st fret and the 10th fret ( at the same time ) there is a hint of relief... You don't want it going the other way convex.”
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