Kestrel Report - piece by piece

I am not surprised that the Kestrel has a strong acoustic voice. My emerald 10hollow-bodied electric has a 2 inch body and projects beyond expectations; Alistair was surprised and so was I. My suspicion is that carbon fiber makes a big difference in sound projection. Oddly enough, I have not seen a major enhancement of projection in my full bodied nylon string CF guitars--I'm not sure what that means. My electric thin 7 does not project like my 10 acoustic, but it's closer than I had thought it would be. It's a mystery.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by EvanB

I It's a mystery.

Gotta love a good mystery

[Mark L]

How I wish you hadn’t posted that photo mot.......doggone that looks great.
How’s it sound plugged in? “Jazz tone” achievable through, say, a Princeton Reverb, or Henriksen, for example?

Congrats on what looks to be a great score. Thing of beauty.

[mot]

Originally Posted by Mark L

How’s it sound plugged in? “Jazz tone” achievable through, say, a Princeton Reverb, or Henriksen, for example?

tentative answer is yes. I got it because I was chasing a sound. At first I wanted to try something a little more out there, but Alistair reigned me in. This is the result of my collaboration with him.

It's too early to say for sure, but I am pretty sure I hear that sound I'm looking for while playing melodies quietly with this puppy. Think Wes Montgomery style but much much clumsier.

As I said in an earlier post (I think) this puppy can chunka chunka all day with the best of them and be heard with volume to spare. That's not why I got it though that style of playing is fun for a while. I got it because I was chasing a certain warm and full jazzy sound for running melodies and chords finger style. I am not certain enough to say this is the one, but I don't have any reason to say it's not the one yet. Outlook is still good that this could be though. Fingers crossed.

I have only checked it on my cheap amp so far - and it sounded great with no feedback or anything else in my limited testing. That's not enough though. I either need to get a better amp or head down to my friend's place and test it there.

I'm in the middle of finishing up some paying work, so I don't have much time to fiddle around with it. Maybe sometime after the holidays, and I am more settled.

Playing it like a fiddle? I'd like a video of that.

[mountainmaster]

Originally Posted by EvanB

Playing it like a fiddle? I'd like a video of that.

Requires a center sound hole though.

[lat18]

I had a very different opinion of the Kestral. I bought one a few months ago and sent it back after a week. (They were very nice about it and I got an X20 to replace it.) I too was chasing a certain sound: the sound of a classic acoustic archtop like an L5. I have a Loar LH700 which is a Chinese copy of an L5 and compared to the Loar the Kestral sounded thin and quiet to me. I wanted it primarily as an acoustic guitar. I have three carbon guitars now, a Rainsong WS1000, a Composite Acoustics GX, and now the X20. I like all of them and I wanted a carbon archtop, but the Kestral just didn't do it for me.

[mot]

The vote is still out here, but I have found I use it differently in different settings. I was in a small acoustic group yesterday fighting to be heard whenever I was fingerpicking, but it melded well when strumming. I had the X20 with me and found I preferred the Kestrel in that situation for strumming because the X20 came across as more mushy. Something else might have worked even better, but you use what is handy.

I desperately want to try it as a solo instrument with a decent amp on a stage or in a small jazz combo, but haven't had a chance and my jazz chops are pretty weak. Might get there sometime. On another note, it worked fine cutting through a couple of horns the other day acoustic only, but I didn't dare try fingerpicking.

I'm trying to round up a third (unknown maybe electric maybe acoustic) guitar to ABC it against an X20 and another guitar. Might just do a blind acoustic AB instead and post the recordings somewhere. My plan is hard strumming, light strumming and one or more simple finger picking trials. I'll try to make the environment as identical as possible then randomize the trials so any listener doesn't know on each event which guitar is being played except by listening for the differences.

Let me know if you have any preferences for types of trials. Whatever happens it will be an extremely simple setup.

[121]

Originally Posted by lat18

I had a very different opinion of the Kestral. I bought one a few months ago and sent it back after a week. (They were very nice about it and I got an X20 to replace it.) I too was chasing a certain sound: the sound of a classic acoustic archtop like an L5. I have a Loar LH700 which is a Chinese copy of an L5 and compared to the Loar the Kestral sounded thin and quiet to me. I wanted it primarily as an acoustic guitar. I have three carbon guitars now, a Rainsong WS1000, a Composite Acoustics GX, and now the X20. I like all of them and I wanted a carbon archtop, but the Kestral just didn't do it for me.

Have you any knowledge about the Fibertone Carbon Fiber Archtop Guitars ?
https://fibertone-guitars.com/
I've read some comments on
https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guit...t=carbon+fiber
but there doesn't seem to be much info around about the Fibertone CF Archtops.

[Fixedgear60]

Originally Posted by EvanB

I am not surprised that the Kestrel has a strong acoustic voice. My emerald 10hollow-bodied electric has a 2 inch body and projects beyond expectations; Alistair was surprised and so was I. My suspicion is that carbon fiber makes a big difference in sound projection. Oddly enough, I have not seen a major enhancement of projection in my full bodied nylon string CF guitars--I'm not sure what that means. My electric thin 7 does not project like my 10 acoustic, but it's closer than I had thought it would be. It's a mystery.

I always wondered about the relationship between the depth of a guitar and the width of the top. Which one has more bearing on the projection and sound.

Perhaps this is why the Emerald CHIMAERA has such a great sound and projects in a relatively thing body.... hummmm?

Fixed;

Along the same line of questioning, I've wondered if depth is just a small factor in sound projection. That question emerged with my thin, hollow bodied electric 7 that projects way beyond expectations.