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Review: 2017 Buendia Jumbo, German/Brazilian
Some of you may be familiar with my Instrument Reviews page, which includes links to a number of extraordinary fretted instruments complete with lots of hi-res images. Several of them also include reviews which attempt to apply a consistent set of metrics to evaluate them as objectively as possible. Those instruments reviewed include:
Guitars: 2007 Circa OM 2009 Bashkin 00 2010 Circa 00 2017 Robbins R.1 Mandolins: 2013 Holst Custom F4 2013 Northfield F5 'Big Mon' 2009 Heiden Heritage Model F5 2008 Poe Deluxe F5 Cittern: 1985 Sobell 10-string At long last, I have now finally published my review of the Leonardo Buendia guitar made for me in 2017. The original build thread for this guitar can be found here. It took me over a year to thoroughly adjust to a guitar that is unique in my experience, and I feel it is only now beginning to achieve its promise. For those fans of Leo's work, those who appreciate the finest luthier-made guitars, or for those who just enjoy geeking out on every detail of great acoustic instruments, I offer this exhaustive review of my 2017 Buendia Jumbo. Enjoy.
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Jim Magill Director, The Swannanoa Gathering Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern. Last edited by jmagill; 12-28-2018 at 05:01 AM. |
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Great review, Jim. I have played a number of Leo's guitars and have been particularly taken by has mahogany guitars. I've probably played 9 or 10 at this point. However, I always play them when they're pretty much brand new. Leo works a few minutes from me. It's always gratifying to hear these instruments after they've been beaten on for a while. They really do evolve and mature.
By the way, what instruments on your review page have you actually kept? Which are the "best of the best" that you've held on to?
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Circa OM-30/34 (Adi/Mad) | 000-12 (Ger/Maple) | OM-28 (Adi/Brz) | OM-18/21 (Adi/Hog) | OM-42 (Adi/Braz) Fairbanks SJ (Adi/Hog) | Schoenberg/Klepper 000-12c (Adi/Hog) | LeGeyt CLM (Swiss/Amzn) | LeGeyt CLM (Carp/Koa) Brondel A-2 (Carp/Mad) |
#3
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Leo's work with Mahogany:P Tree, Cuban or Honduran is pretty amazing.
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-T...56266954411686 http://www.reverbnation.com/jayhowlett http://www.jayhowlett.com Guitars: I'm really happy to have a few nice ones. |
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I love your reviews, j. This one may be one of your best yet. And what a guitar! Leo is sooooo talented.
Enjoy in good health, amigo.
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____________________________________________ 1922 Martin 0-28 1933 Martin 0-17 1974 Alvarez/Yairi CY120 2010 Baranik Parlor 2013 Circa OM-18 2014 Claxton OM Traditional 2014 Blackbird Rider |
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Quote:
– The Heiden F5 mandolin was formerly owned by Ry Cooder, a pretty good judge of acoustic instruments. I haven't even thought of getting another mandolin since it crossed my path a little over three years ago. It's everything I want or need. – The Sobell cittern was my first 'Exceptional' instrument and I kept it for 32 years, but my musical tastes changed and it was being neglected. I have a 'no play, no stay' rule, so I passed it on to a friend a year ago. – Then there is the Circa OM, which I've had now for 11 years. It's still my best 'all-around-er' and the first instrument I reviewed. It does everything well enough that if I were stranded on a desert island, this would be the one guitar I'd want with me. John Slobod's one of my best guitar buddies and comes to Guitar Week every year, so he gets to follow its development. Every time he plays it, he just nods and grins with satisfaction. I think he'd call it some of his finest work. Last edited by jmagill; 12-27-2018 at 07:12 AM. |
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Thank you. You are too kind...
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UPDATE: Michael Watts published today a video interview with Leo Buendia (in Spanish!), and I've included from it some of Leo's comments about his tonal objectives in the summary section at the bottom of my review.
Last edited by jmagill; 12-28-2018 at 05:04 AM. |
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What a guitar!
What an incredible Guitar! And I believe you have set a benchmark for all reviews to come in the future… Thank you for sharing
I hope you continue to enjoy this spectacular Guitar In excellent health and spirits! Have a wonderful 2019 Paul
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4 John Kinnaird SS 12c CUSTOMS: Big Maple/WRC Dread(ish) Jumbo Spanish Cedar/WRC Jumbo OLD Brazilian RW/WRC Big Tunnel 14 RW/Bubinga Dread(ish) R.T 2 12c sinker RW/Claro 96 422ce bought new! 96 LKSM 12 552ce 12x12 J. Stepick Bari Weissy WRC/Walnut More |
#9
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A truly STELLAR looking guitar in every regard!
But...did I miss the sound clips? Howzabout some sound clips?...Please even {;-). It would be wonderful to hear it, and compare the sound heard to your descriptions/review. duff Be A Player...Not A Polisher |
#10
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Quote:
All the best MDW
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www.michaelwattsguitar.com Album Recording Diary Skype Lessons Luthier Stories YouTube iTunes Guitars by Jason Kostal, Strings by Elixir, Gefell Mics and a nail buffer. |
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I've been thinking about taking it back up to Dream Guitars and asking Paul to re-record it using the same mike setup for comparison's sake... |
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Quote:
duff Be A Player...Not A Polisher |
#13
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Unfortunately, I don't have the recording equipment necessary. It would probably be better for comparison's sake to use the same recording setup as when Al played it, since all we're doing is comparing video clips, not guitars. I have never played a guitar that sounded just like its video clip anyway, no matter how good the recording rig or player. An actual guitar vibrating under your hands and against your chest, with your ears situated above it just sounds different...
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