Build Thread - The Dale Fairbanks "Fox" - Delivered!

[srick]

Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon (Phish) stopped by the Fairbanks\Iris\Circle Strings shop today and tried out some guitars - including “the Fox” (on the right).

12/22/21 UPDATE: LK was smitten with the Iris DF he tried and has put in an order for one. His comment was: "“I’ve been searching for that sound since high school, I can’t stop thinking about it."

[dave42]

Wow! Great pic! Just breaking in the new strings for you.

[srick]

I hope my friend Larry Fox (who the guitar was dedicated to) was watching from the great beyond. Leo Kottke was one of his idols.

[ataylor]

This guitar looks great, as expected. Excited for it to make its way to you shortly!

[srick]

NGD!

To begin, I am in love with this guitar. It’s my first commission. The story behind its origins, its gradually developed appearance, and its long gestation period, created an instrument that surpassed expectations. It was a journey for both myself and its maker, Dale Fairbanks. Fair warning: if you haven’t guessed it, this is a highly biased review.

Dale delivered the “Fox” on December 26th, We stayed outside because of our fears of infection. I worried about opening the case and cracking the nitro finish – Dale was not worried. In the fading afternoon sunlight of winter on a 45 degree day, I took my first strum on the guitar. It was magic. The guitar vibrated. The guitar was light in weight and the neck and fingerboard felt just right.

I’ve played and auditioned hundreds of guitars over the years and out of those, only a few have made me smile the minute I picked them up. One, in particular, was John Thomas’ 1943 Banner SJ that went to Europe and back during WWII. I asked Dale to keep this guitar in mind when building mine. JT’s guitar is a friendly one. At any event, he’s usually handing it around, encouraging others to ‘take a spin’. This guitar feels like his: It feels good and it wants to be played.

The Design: The guitar is based on Dale’s F-35 body. The mahogany for the back and sides was provided by me - its origin is detailed at the beginning of the thread. When we started the build, I had a few thoughts on design, which we both kept changing throughout the process. You see the result: a handsome looking guitar. The fretboard is based on a guitar featured in ‘Fretboard Journal’ a few years back, a 1927 Gibson Nick Lucas. By necessity (I have a nickel allergy), the frets are Jescar EVO alloy. The Rickard banjo style tuners were Dale’s idea. (BTW, they work very well!) I gave him the artwork for the ‘Fox’ logo and he incorporated it into the headstock.

The stickiest part of the design was the armrest (this may be the first and last armrest that Mr. Fairbanks places). He obsessed over some of the design issues and this delayed the project by several months. I knew what he was going through. Sometimes you have to put a problem aside for a little bit and tackle it later on. You can see the result – it was tied into the rest of the design with an ivoroid overlay. Then, during the finishing, Dale used a toner on all of these bright white pieces of plastic to get them to a similar color value. And the toner also tied in the gold color of the tuners and the frets. The end result works like a painting where you’ve worked primarily in one area of the color palette and added highlights where needed.

The Set up and tone: A custom guitar generally goes several steps beyond a factory made guitar. This one is no exception. The action is perfect up and down the neck. It takes almost the same amount of pressure at each fret and on each string to properly sound a note. It’s light and balanced. When I strum a chord I can hear the individual notes and hear them meld with each other before the sound decays. And when I pluck the strings, each string sounds bell-like. The intonation is spot on.

The guitar has an awesome thump to the bass. Interestingly, it was delivered to me tuned down a half step. When tuned to standard pitch, it lost some of that brilliance. So, I am happily playing it tuned down and using a capo as needed.

Here's the birth announcement:

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P.S. 36 hours later, this guitar is a joy to pick up and fun to play. I honestly think it’s helping me improve because I can hear its sound so clearly. Or maybe it’s just magic?

[srick]

And here are some photos taken here:

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[fredsj200]

Once again Rick, congrats!! Your guitar is just gorgeous. I'm sure it's sounding awesome and just as great as it looks.

[srick]

And if you're ever thinking of commissioning a custom guitar, I can't encourage you enough! Here are a few reasons why:

• Most luthiers will make you a part of the process, allowing you to choose various components and communicating frequently.
• The lengthy wait makes the final delivery even better.
• The cost is probably a heckuva lot more reasonable than buying several factory-made models and never 'quite' being satisfied.
• You'll support a craftperson and their family.
• You will get to brag about it and get compliments on AGF.
• You will have a one of a kind guitar that will become your lifelong companion.
• You'll be dead a long time.

Go for it. In the great scheme of things, it's not that expensive, and the spiritual enrichment you will receive is beyond calculation.

All the best,

Rick

[Kerbie]

Terrific, Rick... congratulations! I'm very happy for you. That's one heckuva nice Christmas present, isn't it?

I agree with you about custom builds. Mine have been great experiences and outcomes that exceeded my expectations. Enjoy!

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by srick

And if you're ever thinking of commissioning a custom guitar, I can't encourage you enough! Here are a few reasons why:

• Most luthiers will make you a part of the process, allowing you to choose various components and communicating frequently.
• The lengthy wait makes the final delivery even better.
• The cost is probably a heckuva lot more reasonable than buying several factory-made models and never 'quite' being satisfied.
• You'll support a craftperson and their family.
• You will get to brag about it and get compliments on AGF.
• You will have a one of a kind guitar that will become your lifelong companion.
• You'll be dead a long time.

Go for it. In the great scheme of things, it's not that expensive, and the spiritual enrichment you will receive is beyond calculation.

All the best,

Rick

That is a great summary especially the length of time we can expect to be dead!

Congrats Rick, I am glad the guitar was everything you were hoping for and then some. Also cool you have known Mr. Fairbanks so it is like having a friend build for you, which I find always enhances the experience and your ability to bond with the guitar! Very happy for you.

[BrunoBlack]

That’s really great Rick. Now the wait doesn’t seem long at all, right

Enjoy your new guitar. It looks fabulous.

[Yrksman]

Absolutely fabulous!

Interesting that it sounds better half a step down. I’ve had my F30 Roy Smeck tuned the same way virtually since I got it.

[dave42]

Again, this guitar looks so cool!
I'm very happy to hear/see it has been delivered and you can begin to enjoy the music coming from this instrument!!
Congratulations!!!!

[srick]

Originally Posted by Yrksman

Absolutely fabulous!

Interesting that it sounds better half a step down. I’ve had my F30 Roy Smeck tuned the same way virtually since I got it.

I mentioned that to Dale on Sunday and he remarked that, "Tuned down 1/2 step is a nice place to be."

So glean from that what you will!

Rick

[tommieboy]

Originally Posted by srick

I mentioned that to Dale on Sunday and he remarked that, "Tuned down 1/2 step is a nice place to be."

So glean from that what you will!

Rick

Interesting. I have always tuned my 6 strings down a half step to match my 12 strings. And yes, I have found "Tuned down 1/2 step is a nice place to be."

Tommy