The Goodall Thread (Serial Numbers, Pictures, Discuss Anything Goodall!)

[brencat]

Wow, GREAT looking guitar there Paul. I think Goodall's stash of Adi is as good as or better than Old Standard Wood. They also come out of the shop sounding full and open, not green. That Walnut is also spectacular looking.

Big Congrats!!

[KenL]

As a new Goodall owner, I am happy that this thread has risen to the top; I've enjoyed it very much. I was told that mine (#1877) was built in 2000, which would appear to be correct according to the list on page one; very early in that year, it looks like.

When mine arrived, it took me about 30 seconds to determine that this guitar would be a keeper, so I took it to Jeff Bamburg at Rocky Mountain Guitars in Salida, CO to have a K&K installed. I wasn't sure if a builder the caliber of Jeff would be interested in working on another builder's guitar, but he was delighted to have it in his shop. Turns out he knows James a bit, and had nothing but high praise for his guitars. He liked the look of mine in particular, its simple good looks especially. We agreed that the sitka top on mine is nothing short of spectacular.

I usually play my old Guild at our local open mic and the sound guy never fails to compliment it, tells me that I "got one of the good ones." I'm gearing up to play again soon, and will take the Goodall this time, and will be curious to see if he notices.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone photo, it certainly doesn't do it justice.



20190613_204436.jpg

[Karel]

May I just refer to my thread of earlier this year (https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=547656)

All I can add after having played my Goodall over the last few months is that I am sooo lucky that this stunning guitar was presented to me. My Taylors, Martins and Lowdens all made place for this beauty and we both lived happily ever after.

[IMG][/IMG]

[David MacNeill]

I gather this is the place where it’s all Goodall?

After a decade and a half, I am finally returning to the instrument that I’ve missed more than them all. The one that defined all that I value in a guitar ever since. I have found a 2000 RCJC and it is on its way to me. It is #1957.

I used to own a 2002 RGCC that I loved far more than I realized at the time. Got away from me somehow and I never stopped thinking about it. Nothing else has ever been as dynamic, as sonorous, as satisfying, as alive. I miss it like a hot blonde girlfriend.

So I’m returning to the fold with the next best thing, that may even turn out to be even better than the dream guitar — one can only hope.

https://shop.gryphonstrings.com/prod...-cutaway-57406

[247hoopsfan]

Originally Posted by David MacNeill

I gather this is the place where it’s all Goodall?

After a decade and a half, I am finally returning to the instrument that I’ve missed more than them all. The one that defined all that I value in a guitar ever since. I have found a 2000 RCJC and it is on its way to me. It is #1957.

I used to own a 2002 RGCC that I loved far more than I realized at the time. Got away from me somehow and I never stopped thinking about it. Nothing else has ever been as dynamic, as sonorous, as satisfying, as alive. I miss it like a hot blonde girlfriend.

So I’m returning to the fold with the next best thing, that may even turn out to be even better than the dream guitar — one can only hope.

https://shop.gryphonstrings.com/prod...-cutaway-57406

I live in the Bay Area and stop in at Gryphon frequently to see what's new in their used section. I played this one, and like all Goodalls it is spectacular. I have a Rosewood Standard and there is really nothing quite like them.
Give us a new guitar day report when you get it. And remember, it's been living here in the Mediterranean climate. Don't let it dry out in Idaho.

[David MacNeill]

Originally Posted by 247hoopsfan

Give us a new guitar day report when you get it. And remember, it's been living here in the Mediterranean climate. Don't let it dry out in Idaho.

I most certainly shall. If I’m lucky and heavy snow doesn’t fall in the mountain passes between, should arrive Wednesday.

No worries about humidity. I refill all my soundhole humidifiers once a month, and all my acoustics sleep in their cases when they aren’t in my hands. Been living here in Boise for ten years now with no problems.

[BrunoBlack]

Very nice David. I look forward to your NGD!

[David MacNeill]

2000 Goodall RCJC #1957

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone. -Joni Mitchell

A guitar can get under your skin. If you lose one that does, you are bound to crave it, or one very much like it. My lost 2002 RGCC is like that. I’ve been looking for well over a decade now.

And I found, unexpectedly, another member of the Goodall family that I like even more. This 2000 RCJC showed up on my radar and I could just feel it was going to be right from 500 miles away. It is not precisely the same, of course, but it pleases me in the same way while giving me a larger version of the same voice with the same feel and aesthetics. Since I already have two Grand Concert/OM-size arrows of other brands in my quiver, this Concert Jumbo/SJ is very much welcome in this house.

Condition is remarkable for a nearly twenty year old guitar. A few extremely minor nicks in invisible places, a little scuffing on the clear pickguard, and the barest evidence of having been played, and exclusively below the fourth fret at that. Twenty years of strumming cowboy chords is just fine by me. I’m just a old school folk-rocker with a home on the range.

The woods and adornments are the kind of stuff you pay mighty dearly for nowadays. Straight dark rosewood, black ebony, silky spruce, real abalone and mother of pearl. The fretboard inlays are even inlaid at identical angles so the light catches them evenly and the color changes in sync. You don’t see stuff like this on many guitars these days; if you do, that’ll be six grand minimum plus another $400 for a proper case, thank you. Would you like a set of strings with that sir?

The action was, to me, on the high side. Looks like it was never altered from original specs, but Goodall’s impeccable fretwork and fretboard carve will clearly allow much lower tolerances without issues, as long as you play with a semi-light hand as I do. One 32nd off the saddle and a half turn on the truss and everything fell right into place. Fresh set of Elixir Nano 80\20 lights and it is just about perfect.

I have medium-large hands so the generous standard Goodall neck suits me just fine. The fretboard is, I’m guessing, 12”, which is my preference on acoustics and the “dusty” end of my electrics with their compound radii. I could check it with my gauges but I’m too busy playing this guitar tonight to bother. Maybe tomorrow.

Tone? Tone for days. If you play a Goodall, you know what I mean. If my lost RGCC is Bruce Banner, my RCJC is The Hulk. Same dude, bigger footprint. Same balanced sweetness, same sustain, same tasteful yet bountiful harmonic overtones, only embiggened by the Concert Jumbo body. It’s amazing what a half-inch here and ⅞ths of an inch there can do.

All things come to those who wait, even if they’re dumb enough to sell what they love in the first place. Life lesson #417: Don’t sell the ones you love. They are scarcer than you think.

PS: There was an inch-wide dust bunny in the back end which I pulled out and examined. It has clearly been there for decades, as there were ancient embedded tonewood flakes in layers like sediment in a rock. I found this amusing in a geeky way, but this is a forum where guitar nerds like me are welcome so y’all will just have to indulge me. ~DM

EDIT: Same review with a photo: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...osts/29548373/

[jseth]

Well, congratulations on your Concert Jumbo! And welcome back to the Goodall family, as well...

I absolutely LOVE the Concert Jumbo shape/size, and have commented many times on these pages how it is "The Perfect" size/shape for an acoustic guitar for my personal tastes... big enough to move some serious air for volume, small enough to let the top move for more sensitive fingerstyle/fingerpicking... a great tone spectrum! Nothing left out or diminished/scooped, every aspect of every register rings through...

Now, I was fortunate to meet the Goodalls and become friends with James, Jean and Luke while I lived in Fort Bragg from 2009-2012, so I'm predisposed to liking their instruments because they are such marvelous folks...

But if I had never met them, I'd say the same thing about the Concert Jumbo (and every Goodall I've played - over 100 of them!). Some may not have been "my cup of tea", as they say, but the workmanship, tone and playability of all of them were nonpareil!

Enjoy that beauty... and this time? Don't sell it!

[David MacNeill]

Originally Posted by jseth

Enjoy that beauty... and this time? Don't sell it!

I hear ya brother, loud and clear — just like the glistening trebles of my gorgeous Goodall!

[Karel]

Lover's cross... The beauty of it (em)braces me!

Inside my TQMnOM6697, of which I spoke in this thread before.

Sometimes, in between changing strings I can't resist to enjoy James' and Luke's hidden masterhip.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Russrn]

Long time lurker here. Have been enjoying agf your years. I just got my first Goodall and am blown away with the hatmonics, overtones it produces. Excellent guitar. 2002 AKCJC serial number is 2695.

[Russrn]

[David MacNeill]

Originally Posted by Russrn

Excellent guitar. 2002 AKCJC serial number is 2695.

That’s a handsome guitar you’ve got there!

[David MacNeill]

Anybody know what the dark brace wood Goodall uses is? Mahogany? Stained spruce? Cedar? Redwood? I can’t tell.