Taran Guitars Build - Tirga Mhor - Adirondack | African Blackwood

[Scallywag]

It's done! The guitar is essentially finished... HOORAY! Now all it needs to do is sit for a few weeks and get used to being a guitar. After that it heads to TNAG in Nashville for glamour shots, vids/recordings as part of the PR tour. Then, it comes home.

These photos really speak for themselves, so there really isn't much for me to add at the moment. Enjoy!

Matt




P.S. Here are a few shots of the wedding that I'd been eluding to. It happened, and it was an incredible day! The deed is done and we're very happy. Meet Liz





So this next photo... As the fates would have it, and being that they can be cruel, my cell phone rang right in the middle of Liz's vows. In a true fight-or-flight moment I pulled it out of my pocket, silenced it, and promptly hurled it 50 feet into the forest! It ended up being a great moment of levity and a highlight of the entire thing. When I looked down and saw Liz laughing her eyes out I knew 1000% I was marrying the right woman! This photo captured the exact moment.

[Hanter]

Amazing. You certainly performed well with the phone, a great moment captured.

The guitar looks stunning and it’s a fabulous combination of materials, love the purple too.

There’s a Chinese saying 双喜临门 which means double happiness coming through the door, this qualifies for sure. Huge congratulations on both!

[MThomson]

Congratulations on the marriage, the setting for the wedding looks incredible and the story of the phone is priceless. A family member of mine swears that the best stories happen when things go wrong and I'm sure you'll be telling your grandkids this one!

The guitar looks amazing too. Bet you're itching to get your hands on it now.

[cigarfan]

Congratulations all round! I can imagine a song about the phone incident is in the offing.

[Deft Tungsman]

Congratulations on so much happiness!!

(Someone should tell Rory how to do a proper selfie.)

[Scallywag]

It's come home...

- Matt

[MThomson]

Oh you tease! Nice case choice though. Hope you're enjoying getting to know it.

[Scallywag]

Originally Posted by MThomson

Oh you tease! Nice case choice though. Hope you're enjoying getting to know it.

More to come soon, I promise! It only arrived yesterday and I’ve been too busy to even play it yet. The anticipation is thrilling!

[chiron]

Congrats on the guitar and the wedding!

[Vaillant75]

That teasing is almost illegal

[Scallywag]

Sorry to be a tease!! Here are a couple of shots to share. I'll certainly take more soon, when I get some sunshine to light this thing up over the weekend.

First impressions? It for sure has that glassy African Blackwood thing going on, with plenty of beautiful overtones. Still very good clarity however, as they aren't overtaking the fundamental with excessive volume. Excellent balance across the strings. I certainly hear that strident quality of the Adirondack - some of that is the new string zing - but there's an interesting swell behind each note or chord that's very satisfying, emerging about a half second after the initial attack. This is the back activating. Different members of the overtone series seem to fade in and out as the notes decay. The sustain is really excellent, but those overtones actually linger for longer than the fundamental in some registers. I've never so obviously experienced that before, a complex blanket of sound just hanging in the air, pulsating, long after the notes have died. It's a haunting, etherial thing.

Interestingly the back seems to vibrate almost as much as the top. This is a spirited guitar, full of energy. The sides exhibit almost no vibration at all.

There's also a forwardness to the sound profile that very different than, say, my Kostal Jumbo. That guitar is warmer with a very deep resonance and incredibly clean mids. Notes from the Taran seem to jump out with a quicker response, and the mids have a some more hair on them, and more of an initial fullness.

It'll take some time to get used to the dimensions of this guitar, but so far it's been pretty easy to play, with a nice low-medium action that I prefer.

It's a brand new guitar so some of the qualities will change over time. Worth noting that I'm only playing fingerstyle, with nails (that haven't been shaped in about a week, so they're adding some brightness.) Strings are medium gauge 13 - 56. Current tuning is CGDGBE. No hint of flop in that low C, even when hit hard. I'll share a pic of the spec sheet soon which includes scale lengths.

I'll post more photos soon, and more impressions as they imprint onto by brain. I'll also record something soon, likely the same thing on the Taran and on the Kostal, so as to hear the differences. Both are truly excellent, and different of course.

Thanks for following along!

Matt

[MThomson]

Congratulations on a beauty of a guitar. And thanks for sharing the initial impressions I such detail. It's really interesting to hear how it contrast with a phenomenal guitar like your Kostal. Will look forward to hearing how it all evolves.

[steveh]

Great review - Having owned both Tarans and Kostals, and played plenty more of both, I think I get what you are saying. The Kostals are generally very precise, clear, and quick to respond and I'm not at all surprised to hear that the Taran takes that further, with a bit more "hair". Nowhere to hide on a guitar like this. I think that's most to do with the pretty severe top and back arching that Rory uses.

The instrument looks lovely. Build quality is second to none.

Very much looking forward to an A/B demo - those are always fun!

Cheers,
Steve

[Scallywag]

A couple of observations after about 5-7 hours on the guitar this weekend.

Really easy to play! Even those times when I’m employing a full barre at the 2nd fret are as easy as I could ask for, and that’s on a set of mediums! Left hand stuff feels great. Still settling in with the right hand for complex/faster playing, but a transparent feel is not far away. Great final setup! Haven’t needed to tweak a thing.

The bass is opening up. It’s controlled and balanced but there’s a deep breath developing. Overtones are still mostly living in the highs and true mids, but they are starting to move into the low mids. Nothing is muddy, just deeper. It’s crazy to experience the changes a new guitar goes through first hand. (fun fact, this is the first brand new guitar I’ve ever owned.)

Really smooth highs and high mids, nothing is harsh. Sounds smoother than many guitars I’ve played with this top wood.

Tons of power in the low mids. I can see why Rory was rather insistent on the Adirondack for my particular guitar. Nothing is compressing. That said, no registers are being overpowered. No idea how this was achieved. It’s kinda weird and hard to explain.

Sweet response to a light touch, but tons of power and volume on tap. The voicing in that regard is pretty impressive. The dynamic range is is good as I’ve ever played.

More to come as I keep on playing!

Matt

[FrankCousins]

Hi

This looks really exciting, I believe I may have seen this when it was on the bench! I head back to Rory's next week to finalise wood election on a build that starts in 3 or weeks time ;-)

Looks amazing!