Build Thread: Traugott BK Cutaway (Brazilian/German)

[steveh]

Originally Posted by Welshboy

I've never even seen a Traugott in the flesh (or should that be in the wood?). He has a phenomenal reputation. I'm sure I've seen Martin Simpson playing a Traugott R too.

Well if you ever swing by St Albans (nr London), you'd be more than welcome - in the meantime, Michael Watts has had some premium time on it and could tell you about it; I think he was impressed. I've a Model 1 that would look nice next to your New World as well. The Traugott and Sobell are very, very different guitars although both have incredible clarity, projection, and separation.

Yes, Martin had a Traugott at one time (it's on the "Four Martins" DVD for example) but I think its long gone - I was told by a luthier that he passed it to a guy who ran a music retail outfit who had the hots for a top-drawer American guitar. I was then told what the guitar was worth - I nearly fell over; it was my first encounter with what Mr Traugott's guitars fetch. At the time I thought Collings were about as expensive as it got. Time for a little readjustment. This is all long before I'd heard of Claxton, Greenfield, Somogyi, Wingert, Ryan, etc etc.

Cheers,
Steve

[bdm0509]

And the odyssey continues on...

So as I mentioned, I had three sets of Brazilian from which to use. (If you need to, look back a few posts to see those choices. Or maybe you just want to. I spend more than a fair amount of time looking at those sets... over... and over...) Based upon the photos, I really, really liked this set:



The striping; the color variation; the dramatic contrast... all of this really appealed to me. I just loved the thick bands of color and pattern, and this was almost exactly what I'd described to Jeff.

I emailed Jeff, and told him, "That's the one."

Given my wondering how this would all turn out, I did what any geeky guy would do: I cracked open PhotoShop. I found a good angled view of one of Jeff's guitars. It had neither a cutaway nor a fan fret, but I wasn't interested in that. I was interested in seeing what these pieces of wood looked like when cut into the size of a guitar.

(At this point, I should mention that while I'm a very good programmer who makes my living doing freelance web design and programming as well as doing teaching, training, and writing, I am -not- a PhotoShop guy. I subcontract out that portion of my design work. Fair warning, graphic arts folks!)

I first dropped my original choice onto the "template" guitar I had built in PhotoShop. Here's the result:



Yes! Now we're talking. Suddenly this wood came alive for me. It seems to so closely follow the lines of the body of the guitar.

So there you go; decision made. While my picture is a pale, washed-out version of what will one day show up on my doorstep, it did give me an idea of what an amazing guitar is being built by Jeff.

More to come soon, involving a unique inlay, and soon after that, hopefully we'll all be looking at progress pictures.

-B

[El Conquistador]

This would have been my choice, were it only my choice to make.
Steve

[Welshboy]

Originally Posted by steveh

Well if you ever swing by St Albans (nr London), you'd be more than welcome - in the meantime, Michael Watts has had some premium time on it and could tell you about it; I think he was impressed. I've a Model 1 that would look nice next to your New World as well. The Traugott and Sobell are very, very different guitars although both have incredible clarity, projection, and separation.

Yes, Martin had a Traugott at one time (it's on the "Four Martins" DVD for example) but I think its long gone - I was told by a luthier that he passed it to a guy who ran a music retail outfit who had the hots for a top-drawer American guitar. I was then told what the guitar was worth - I nearly fell over; it was my first encounter with what Mr Traugott's guitars fetch. At the time I thought Collings were about as expensive as it got. Time for a little readjustment. This is all long before I'd heard of Claxton, Greenfield, Somogyi, Wingert, Ryan, etc etc.

Cheers,
Steve

Thanks, Steve, I may take you up on that. My New World is one of those never-part-with guitars. I'd love a Model 1 or Martin Simpson model too.

There are so many great makers out there now - Baranik, Greenfield, Hamblin, Sheppard, Somogyi,Traugott, Wingert et al - it's a little overwhelming at times.

[MikeD]

That would be my choice as well based on what your criteria was for aesthetics of the wood.

[Larry Pattis]

Nice use of Photoshop, Brett!

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Larry Pattis

Nice use of Photoshop, Brett!

I was mighty impressed at well... I actually think that is my BK he superimposed his back on. I don't know if I'm more impressed with his photoshop skills or the wood he chose.

[K III]

Great choices so far! Traugott is really the one guy I don't know how and where to sort tonally. Maybe someone can lighten me up. What did you make choose a Traugott?

[bdm0509]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I was mighty impressed at well... I actually think that is my BK he superimposed his back on. I don't know if I'm more impressed with his photoshop skills or the wood he chose.

Ha. Believe me, the wood from which I got to choose made everything pretty easy. And yes, I believe it is your BK, Mike. It's a little ridiculous that half of Jeff's site photos are from your guitars... must be nice to have all the crown jewels of the royal collection, ha ha.

Originally Posted by K III

Great choices so far! Traugott is really the one guy I don't know how and where to sort tonally. Maybe someone can lighten me up. What did you make choose a Traugott?

It's a good question, and as you know, it's hard to get a lot of these guitars in a single room and do any true comparison. I think that's a lot of what was so great about sitting in a room with Mike (MikeD) and his collection; you really get a sense of what moves in your hands, what jumps out, and so forth.

For me, I'm looking less for a specific tone than for a tonal palette from which to draw. I play a lot of styles in a lot of tunings, so I'm not sure (given the luxury of a few really good guitars) that a slow air in DADGAD fits a particular guitar as well as a Delta blues piece, or a fast, driving Kottke piece.

So for my slower pieces or lyrical pieces, I love the feel of a Kraut, or even a Somogyi. (I keep telling myself I'm not going to get a Somogyi, I'm not going to get a Somogyi. But we'll see. The force is strong in that one...). There's something magical about the depth and resonance and, as someone recently described it to me, the strong clear note ringing out, yet surrounded by all these marvelous overtones.

On the other end of the spectrum to my ear is Jeff Traugott. His guitars are strongly fundamental, with an astounding balance. (I see Ray Kraut's guitars, as well as Somogyi's, as almost having two sets of tones: low tones, which are neither in or out of balance with the higher tones; they're just in a different sonic place altogether. That style of guitar, again, to my ear, gives me two totally different sonic spectrums: lows and mid/highs.) Jeff's guitars are obviously responsive, and his trebles are spectacular. They don't have the big thick fatness of a Mike Greenfield; they're just incredibly clear and vibrant and majestic, without becoming thin or biting.

When you play a note on a Traugott, make no mistake: you hear that note. There's no confusion. It's, in my opinion--and I think this about all the great guitars--completely unforgiving. You hear everything.

To try and give you some more tonal signposts... my Ryan is warm and resonant down low, and after years, I've figured out how it wants to be played, and wants to be touched. You can pull out a lot of fundamental in a Ryan. However, I find the trebles thin for my taste. They're not what I think of as "Taylor-thin" (I know, all you haters, just let it go. It's my opinion, that's all it is, and not worth the time it would take you to tell me I'm wrong.) But they're not as pure as the trebles of a Traugott for me. Additionally, the Traugott has a strength that for me, the Ryan trebles don't. Again, for a ballad, the Ryan is great (although I'm obviously putting my money and belief into a pair of Krauts). But the Traugott is going to spit out notes, fully formed in their intensity and sound, faster than a guitar like the Ryan, where notes tend to want to bloom a bit.

Finally, realize that by putting a long scale on the Traugott (27" to 25.65"), I'm essentially saying that while it may make it up to standard tuning, it's going to live in something like drop D. So it's meant to growl. We avoided a Brazilian rosewood bridge and fretboard for just this sort of reason: to leave every bit of attack in the guitar that we can; we're not going for "extra" warmth beyond what the natural Brazilian and German provide, but rather a strong, wood-laden tone that is clear, that develops quickly, and that rings until I choose to stop it with right-hand technique.

Well, that was far longer than I meant. Hopefully it will help, both in terms of what I hear from the Traugott and how I'm positioning this particular guitar. Questions? Ask away...

-B

[K III]

Thanks, Brett, great description.

[MikeD]

I think for all the skeptics out there that like to assume many people that buy expensive guitars don't really play much and simply buy them to collect them and look at them as objects, I feel the need to add that Brett is a heck of a player... actually he's one of the better players I've ever had the luxury to hang out with. He's a VERY well rounded player that plays many styles of music extremely well... celtic fingerstyle, bluegrass/flatpicking, classical arrangements, contemporary fingerstyle, altered tunings / standard tunings, delta blues & rock blues, folk & country... the guy plays it all and plays it all well. I've played with better players that were pure fingerstyle guitarists, or pure flatpickers, or pure blues guitarists, etc... but most people (unless they are pure virtuoso professionals) are usually only exceptoinal at a certain style or two on the guitar and can struggle with stuff outside their comfort zone. I don't think I've played with someone as well rounded as Brett in relation to how well he is able to play just about every style and adapt to the different styles and tunings... I actually felt unworthy of owning my guitars after he was done playing. So, I guess what I'm saying is that when he talks about different guitars for different styles of music and with different playing styles in comparison to what he hears and feels, he truly is experienced in what he says and knows what he is talking about.

[bdm0509]

Wow.

#humbled

What wonderful words. Back to practicing after that...

[K III]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I think for all the skeptics out there that like to assume many people that buy expensive guitars don't really play much and simply buy them to collect them and look at them as objects, ...

May I add that I don't believe you necessary need to be an extremely good player to feel and hear the difference between a poor guitar, a regular guitar and an outstanding guitar. I just play a lot of singer songwriter stuff, picked or strummed, nothing technically challenging, but believe me that when I got my first handmade guitar from Joel Stehr, it put me on Cloud #9, and when I got my Olson, since I already was on Cloud #9, I decided to occupy it for the rest of my life.

For a poor player like me it sometimes feels unfair that I can afford a guitar like a Stehr, a Gwaltney or an Olson while others that play much better can't, but I believe that I still get a lot of the benefits a truly outstanding guitar provides.

[Markart]

Very interesting thoughts on having a great selection of guitars.. To me as a painter it totally makes sense it terms of 'palettes'. Some days a simple limited palette is in order, and other days ya really just want a full blown color palette. It just depends on what strikes your mood, or in this case, a particular piece you want to play. Thanks for your insights.

[Fsgeek]

@Brett

Very nice build, Im sure it will be fantastic....

Great and vivid description on the Traugott... Thats my experience also... The tone is just pure and clear... Among my guitars I gravitate towards the Traugott and the Somogyi more...