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#46
03-08-2019, 10:36 PM
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Quote:
 -Tyler 
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#49
03-11-2019, 07:29 PM
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When we reviewed the different rosettes, I found myself unsure about the macassar ebony rosette. It's not that I didn't like simple rosettes, for example, I love the simple elegance of Isaac Jangs sound hole details. But I just wasn't sure. I will be honest, as the rest of the instrument started to take shape, I was more and more intrigued by the design. I found myself feeling like Tyler had in his mind a vision for the whole guitar that I couldn't see. In the end, I think the cohesiveness between all the elements was beautiful.
I KNEW I would like brazilian rosette. and the Lilly work on the third was the wallflower that kept getting prettier. But in the end, it would be about tone. Big, fat, full tone. It's interesting to spend so much time on esthetics when in the end, its an instrument, and is designed for music.... That's the hard part to wait for. And so I have a question for all you players and builders out there. What has your experience been with new, custom construction, in terms of the time needed to let a guitar settle in, acclimate, and become the voice it ultimately becomes? And can builders do anything to help that along? Do you have to wait for a few years to really hear the sound "open up"? What are your thoughts?
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#50
03-12-2019, 06:54 AM
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Quote:
A guitar’s sound will change pretty dramatically in the days after it is first strung up, as the woods and joints adjust to the tension and being vibrated through play, so builders will usually keep the guitar around for a while, playing it occasionally during this ‘settling in’ period, before they ship the guitar out to the client. I don’t think this is something most clients usually witness, but I got to do so at last year’s Artisan Guitar Show. I played a Tom Doerr guitar that I believe he said he had strung up the day before. Over the three days of the show I and many others played it numerous times and on the last day, I found its voice had noticeably developed. With my commissions, I’ve found that all the qualities of a great guitar’s voice are present from the very beginning, – just in different proportions or stages of refinement, but a great guitar will be great from the get-go. As it matures through playing, the constraints on its potential slowly fade away and its true qualities blossom without confinement. When it has a young voice, like most youngsters, it will need a guiding hand to develop that potential, so play it, play it, play it. Some think this process can be accelerated artificially by placing the guitar in front of a speaker and playing recorded music through it for an extended period to vibrate the strings, or by using a ToneRite, which works in basically the same way to achieve the same purpose. A friend gifted me a ToneRite a few years back and I’ve used it now on half a dozen instruments. When I first get an instrument, I keep the ToneRite on for the first full month, because hey, it couldn’t hurt, right? I don’t want to divert this thread into a discussion of the pros & cons of the ToneRite, because there are already plenty of those; I’ll simply say that after extensive use on a variety of guitars and mandolins, I haven’t noticed much acceleration in the maturation of an instrument’s voice by using one. YMMV. I write extensive reviews of my instruments which you can find at my website (or click on the links to specific instruments in my signature below), and I will usually spend months, or even a year or more with a new instrument, observing its development, until I feel like its potential is emerging and I have a real handle on its true voice before I feel confident in writing any evaluation. So yes, I think it takes a while and I don’t think there are any shortcuts; just play the heck out of it. One final thought about ‘opening up.’ I believe it’s real but I don’t think we can observe it. The time period is too long, too dependent on our questionable memories of its initial sound, and too colored by our affections for particular instruments to make any definitive evaluations. For those who like to geek out about such matters, see this thread. I think my guitars do sound better over time, which is all that matters to me, but is the guitar actually better, or have I just learned through long use how to get better tone from it, or do I just like its sound better? Still an open question...
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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; 04-21-2019 at 04:37 AM.
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#52
03-21-2019, 09:16 PM
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Lets get the MRW caught up as well. The nicely quartersawn back was a great canvas for adding more artwork to further tie the instrument's theme together.
      It was about this time that I invested in a real camera. The photos are a little out of sequence so some phone shots will still appear in the thread but I'm currently trying to shoot constantly on my Sony and not just go for the easy iphone photo.     Boom! Three boxes complete. Tomorrow Ill bring the necks into play. Have a good night guys! -Tyler
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#54
03-22-2019, 09:34 PM
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Quote:
         -Tyler
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#55
03-23-2019, 06:36 AM
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Robbins R.1ca Special Project
Beautiful inlay work Tyler. I'm looking forward to seeing all 3 of these come together.
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#59
04-11-2019, 04:09 PM
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Hey guys, I have been working crazy long hours recently and have not been able to get to my computer to post pics of these builds. I will post the rest of the build photos soon for those interested. I just completed all three guitars last night and am on my way to Artisan to display them so if anyone attending is interested you can stop by and try them for yourself. I’d love to have the feed back to add to this discussion.
-Tyler
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