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#1
10-21-2023, 09:19 PM
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A Max Spohn OM - The Second Twin
Even though I’ve played guitar for many years it wasn’t until joining the AGF that I realized there is more to life than the single guitar I’d owned for some forty years. Seriously. Different shapes, sizes, tone woods, scale lengths, string spacing, 12-fret, 14-fret, types of bracing, yada yada. A whole new universe opened up. It took a few years, and some 20 guitars for me to figure out what I wanted in all that, what’s comfortable, what sounds good, what sounds great.
I decided to go for my first custom build. I talked to a few luthiers over the course of a year, but didn’t settle on one. And then 2 years ago I discovered Max Spohn, a luthier in Germany, who many of you are familiar with. I was immediately taken by his modern design aesthetic and the sound of his guitars which, at the time, I could only hear online. They sounded exactly like what I was looking for. Cool. So I was dithering, as ditherers do, until a new AGF pal, David (Deliberate1) announced he was in Max’s build queue. That was just enough to get me off the fence. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! I jumped and landed in the queue a few days after David. Max builds guitars in pairs, so we thought they might emerge together, and thereafter referred to our guitars as The Twins, even though they’d likely look nothing alike – fraternal twins if you will. As luck would have it, I ended up in the build pair after David. Nevertheless, they are still referred to as The Twins, with similar sizes (OM) and consecutive build numbers as evidence. In the meantime, Max was kind enough to let me borrow one of his 00s (the same one lent to David) – a genuinely nice gesture. It confirmed what I’d heard in the online demo recordings and made me appreciate even more the quality and detail of his builds. Max and I talked about the sound I was looking for. He suggested a few different possibilities for the back and side material, and we eventually settled on Wenge, a tone wood I have no experience with but evidently is an approximation to BRW tonally. I like how it’s uniformity contrasts nicely with the shapes and materials that Max uses in his inlays. Here are the pieces he selected for the back: wenge_back_pieces.jpg And the sides wengeSidePieces.jpg I was looking for a spruce top. Max likes to use Alpine Spruce (aka Swiss Moon Spruce) which he hand-picks at a supplier in the Swiss Alps: swissmill.jpg It would hard for me to think of this as a job. In fact, I'd probably intentionally pick too few tops so I could return sooner. Max uses some unique materials for his inlays, as you may have seen in his threads here: various woods, lichen, shells, and coral as examples. In my case we settled on a beautiful piece of Amboyna Burl: amboyna.jpg The color of the burl works really well with the Wenge while its swirls stand out from the Wenge’s uniform grain. Max just finished the inlay on the back: amboynaBackStrip.jpg which I think looks great. Some other deets – the guitar will be an OM w/o cutaway, with a Manzer wedge, a sound port, 14-fret, ebony fretboard, mahogany neck, 1-3/4” nut, 25” scale. That’s where it stands at the moment. More pictures to follow. 
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#2
10-21-2023, 10:25 PM
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OK, Twin Dad, I'm not saying that your offspring is prettier than mine (or the inverse), but mine is irrefutably the older sibling.
Keep those baby pictures coming, mate. TD (David)
__________________
I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent.
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#3
10-22-2023, 01:10 AM
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Great to see another Spohn thread.
And that wenge looks so different to David's maple! Wouldn't it be great to be able to play them side by side once they are both built. Pity it's a Washington/Maine situation.
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#4
10-22-2023, 07:07 AM
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Quote:
David (TD)
__________________
I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent.
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#7
10-24-2023, 09:35 AM
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#8
10-24-2023, 01:49 PM
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Max is making great progress. Here is the back, thicknessed, cut to shape, with the Amboyna Burl inlay:
back_with_inlay_600pix.jpg The sides have been cut, laminated, and are in the mold: sides_in_mold_600pix.jpg and the neck and tail blocks have been added: neck_block_600pix.jpg I'm starting to hear music...
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#9
10-24-2023, 03:07 PM
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Man, that is some chocolatey goodness.
For me, attention to detail on the small stuff you can see triggers an overall sense of confidence, on the big stuff that you can't. Look at that beautiful Amboyna inlay. Any piece would likely do, because the wood is so striking. But Max, did not rely just on the celebrity of the material. Rather he chose a piece, just the right size, that had just the right tonal gradation - from dark, to light, to dark - for the length he needed. It makes the transition from the back into the inlay, and out of it, perfect. Burl of that quality can be very expensive. Taking a hunk out of the middle of a sheet, even more so. Looking fine, Twin Dad. And if Max was working any more briskly on it, it might spontaneously combust. David
__________________
I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent.
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#10
11-01-2023, 12:20 PM
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Another update from across the pond....
Max has sanded the rim to its final dimensions. The right side is taller because of the Manzer wedge. And the kerf is glued in: Kerf_600.jpg The back seam is installed: Bottom seam_600.jpg And he has started working on the rosette, the first bit of which is shown here. Max said he can't cut a channel narrower than 0.5 mm (which seems quite narrow). He places the black inlay material in the channel next to a white strip, which is nearly invisible when complete - unless you're looking for it and have really good vision. A clever illusion to get those impossibly thin lines in his rosettes. RosetteStart_600.jpg More to come...
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#11
11-02-2023, 12:36 PM
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Looking good. It is cool to see the asymmetry in the sides, which is the Manzer. Looking forward to the rosette, since that is Max's calling card.
David
__________________
I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent.
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#13
11-16-2023, 01:08 PM
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#14
11-16-2023, 01:34 PM
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One of the things that attracted me to Max's guitars visually is the linear shapes he uses in his rosettes and headstock inlays. From a visual point of view I could imagine linear features wouldn't work well with a round sound hole and all the curves in the body shape, not to mention the lines of the strings. But he chooses the size and position of these straight lines and narrow rectangles relative to the circle of the sound hole in a way to make the mix of straight and curved integrate into (IMHO) a visually interesting composition.
During the design of the rosette, Max asks for some input on which bits you like, or don't, about his earlier examples, then sketches up a prototype for possible revision. This is the sketch we settled on: RosetteSketch_600.jpg and here is the completed result: top1_600.jpg top3_600.jpg With the forum-required image compression it's hard to see the details of the spruce top, but it has some really nice silking. Here is an expanded view of the rosette. top3Zoomed_600.jpg I'm really happy with how it turned out. I believe bracing of the top and back are where the chisels are headed next.
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