#16
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
Choice of woods - definitely. My last Irvin was moon spruce top with granadillo back and sides, ebony bridge and ebony fingerboard. No company offers that combo. I was able to pick the moon spruce top from a lot of 3 that Jean Larrivee sent up. Good luck doing THAT with Yamaha. Plus, I was able to give the luthier a lot of direction on the tone and response I desired so that he could then use that when voicing. Wayne was very familiar with my style so it was much easier for him to build the instrument that would empower that. I've ended up with an instrument that is so far beyond mass production or even 'custom shop' that I only wish I had done it sooner.
__________________
-Gordon 1978 Larrivee L-26 cutaway 1988 Larrivee L-28 cutaway 2006 Larrivee L03-R 2009 Larrivee LV03-R 2016 Irvin SJ cutaway 2020 Irvin SJ cutaway (build thread) K+K, Dazzo, Schatten/ToneDexter Notable Journey website Facebook page Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. - Leonardo Da Vinci |
#17
|
||||
|
||||
Tone, tone and….tone. By which I mean the balance of bass to treble, the balance of tone across and up the neck, the mix of fundamentals and overtones, the clarity of individual notes under differing playing styles, the attack and sustain in the notes etc, etc....
I can buy perfectly built, very playable guitars from large builders, with necks I like and a wide variety of body sizes and wood choices. I’ve done that with Martin, Taylor and Goodall in particular. But while those are all fine builders whose work is just right for many, many players, they don’t give me the tone I want, which I found when I played a few single luthier guitars at stores in the US while travelling there for work. My subsequent custom builds have all been with luthiers whose guitars I had played before I commissioned one myself, and whose tone I really liked. The next filters were the aesthetics of the guitars they built and the ease of working with the luthiers in question (in every case, a great pleasure). Once those points were sorted out, I’d talk body size, woods and embellishments, all of which are great fun but very secondary to finding a builder I like that makes guitars I like. Given the wide variety of guitars made by single luthiers, I think we owe it to ourselves to do our homework and find the builders that make instruments that are just right for each of us. |
#18
|
||||
|
||||
My $.02
Quote:
Interestingly, the modern steel string acoustic guitar was born in the factory construction, distribution and retail sales (e.g. CF Martin). The paradigm of going to a shop and auditioning a bunch of instruments (sometimes duplicates of the same model) is how most musicians were taught to select their choice for a guitar (along with price). This makes sense, in that factory instruments are built to dimension based on “average” material properties. As the result, the range of sound from different examples of a single model can range widely. This paradigm of buying, auditioning and experiencing guitars is imprinted upon guitar players. The concept of buying a steel string acoustic flat top from an individual luthier, sight unseen is anathema to most players. Luthiers, in my experience can offer some advantages in my view over factory guitars. Luthiers account for several things that a factory cannot.
What would you choose? After auditioning a few luthier’s work at a show or a at a reseller and deciding that YOU like the sound of their work I would think carefully about:
Would mainly go for choice of woods, cosmetics or dimensional specifications? None of the above. I would go for the luthier. This is the most influential decision that you will make. The choice of woods, ergonomic and cosmetic aspects in the best case should be result of a luthier responding to YOUR needs. Yes, there will be interesting choices of woods, cosmetic features and dimensions but a good luthier will guide you through these in my experience. In my experience I would rate choices in this order:
__________________
A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#19
|
||||
|
||||
A well made custom guitar will in most instances give you more sustain, clarity, and overtone complexity than higher end factory guitars. Another common trait I found was that the Santa Cruz, Froggy Bottom, and Collings guitars I owned had a level of resonance that “reverberated” through my upper body that just did not seem to be there with the very nice Taylors I have owned. That’s the main traits that have pulled me over to custom guitars.
__________________
Doerr Trinity 12 Fret 00 (Lutz/Maple) Edwinson Zephyr 13 Fret 00 (Adi/Coco) Froggy Bottom H-12 (Adi/EIR) Kostal 12 Fret OMC (German Spruce/Koa) Rainsong APSE 12 Fret (Carbon Fiber) Taylor 812ce-N 12 fret (Sitka/EIR Nylon) |