NGD For Fast Jimmy- His Second Edwinson

[theEdwinson]

Hi, everyone,
I gotta say, one of the best things about being a luthier-for-hire is, I've made a lot of long-time friends in this work. Guitars seem to have that effect on people. They bring us together, bring out the best in us, and our shared passion for our favorite instrument and the music we make with them is always a celebration.
Jim (Fast Jimmy here on the Forum) is one of those people whom I'm proud to call a good friend. He just took delivery of his second Edwinson guitar yesterday. "First blush" report from Jim, last night, indicates he's pretty happy with it so far.
I haven't posted much so far this year, but I wanted to come up for air and show you some pics of Jim's brand-new Eclipse OM guitar.
This is the most recent addition to my line, and the Eclipse OM has quickly become my most popular guitar model. Jim's is an OM Standard (non cutaway).

First, here are some pictures of the guitar, fully constructed, before the lacquer work. Stay tuned, because the pre- and post-finish pictures look quite different.




Jim's new OM has a few special features, including an Omega-style open headstock, a Ryan-style arm bevel, and Multiscale architecture, with a gentle 25"- 25.5" scale spread. The perpendicular fret is #10. Jim and I discussed this at length when he came to visit here before the project was started. Given my preference I would standardize on this configuration, because it optimizes a guitar with good string tension for A440 standard tuning, and also works extremely well for D-based tunings. If you like to tune down to C, putting medium gauge bottom strings on will give you good tension for clean, buzz-free sound.

Jim asked me to NOT make a side sound port on this one. This is the first guitar I've made in about five years without a side port (or two). The result is, this guitar has a powerful forward projection. It's kind of surprising what happens when you play it facing an uncluttered wall from about ten feet away.
Jim does go out and play gigs occasionally, so I think this guitar will be a great stage instrument. It's also equipped with an L.R. Baggs Lyric, which has quickly become my favorite acoustic pickup. The Lyric is actually an internal microphone system. Internal mics have had a bad rep for a long time, but L.R. Baggs got this system exactly right. It sounds very clean and natural.

This guitar has a mastergrade Indian Rosewood back and sides, and a really fine Carpathian Spruce top. This wood combo is perfect for all sorts of playing styles. I've found that Carpathian and Adirondack spruces in high grades have very similar tonal character. They can produce, sweet, colorful, articulate sound for gentle fingerstyle playing, but also have a lot of headroom, so you can play aggressively with a pick and make it snarl like a junkyard dog- if that's your thing.
Jim plays with flatpicks and fingerstyle, so this guitar should be the proper tool for the job.
Another cool thing about Carpathian spruce is, in a well-built guitar, it can sound great right from the start, but it has a long arc for full tonal maturation, and it tends to sound better... and better... and better, over time.





Thanks for looking... I'll post some after-finish photos later. A hint at what happens next is the 12th-fret inlay and the Sun inlay on the back.

[BrunoBlack]

That’s a magnificent looking guitar!

[TomB'sox]

Verra nice Steve, I love the sun on the back....

[Nemoman]

Beautiful guitar, Steve--the woods look amazing! Love the headstock, the rosette, the gentle fan fret--amazing work once again!

Kudos and great job!

Your description of Carpathian resonates with my experiences as well. It can really do everything...

[Guitars44me]

Way to go!

I especially like the open headstock ...

Keep them coming and have FUN

Paul

[theEdwinson]

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone!

I intended to post more photos yesterday, but all over the county down here, we lost internet service from about 1:00PM until sometime in the middle of the night. We also had some dramatic thunderstorms moving through last night. I figured it was a zombie apocalypse, or maybe an invasion of space aliens, but by this morning, everything was back to normal.

Here are a few photos of the finished guitar, a couple days before I shipped it off to Jim.






Thanks for looking!

[Nemoman]

Wow--what a burst!

Awesome!

[mikealpine]

Oh my, that is stunning!

[bubbaprime]

Love it and the sunburst theme!
Excellent execution!

[Joel Teel]

One of the great things about sharing the workshop with Steve, is that I get to play ALL of his guitars before they’re sent out to their lucky owner. Lucky me

joel

[chasapple]

Another Edwinson masterpiece is born. Marvelous! The genius continues his work![emoji294]

[Fast Jimmy]

Hi, this is Fast Jimmy. This is my first experience with a fan fret guitar and I'm amazed at how much easier it is for me to fret what until now have been really difficult chord shapes. I wish I'd tried fan fret a long time ago.
This is really a spectacular looking guitar and looks to become my favorite.
Cheers, Jim

[chasapple]

What chord shapes do you find easier? I appreciate the fan fret on my Edwinson for dropped tunings for sure.

[Halcyon/Tinker]

I do very much like the colour scheme.

[GeoffStGermaine]

Beautiful guitar! The burst looks outstanding.