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  #16  
Old 01-18-2019, 08:21 PM
Borderdon Borderdon is offline
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good one !
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  #17  
Old 01-18-2019, 08:53 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is online now
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Originally Posted by tbeltrans View Post
Good write-up, Wade. I have never played a Maton due to lack of stock around here. However, I wanted to mention that Fret Central in Minneapolis has a nice selection of Cole Clark guitars. I have not played one yet, since I tend to focus in on what I had in mind, which was the McPherson Touring honeycomb the last time around.
Tony, I have a question for you, then. I have seen a few Cole Clarks prior to this; one in Anchorage that was loaned to me for a month, and then the company’s display at the Frankfurt Musikmesse, which is the European equivalent of the NAMM musical instrument trade show in the US.

But what I didn’t see any of the times I’ve been around Cole Clark guitars have been any with high gloss finishes. Now, I wasn’t actively looking for any, either, and it didn’t occur to me to ask. The one guy manning the Cole Clark booth at the Musikmesse was startled when he spoke to me in German and I answered him in English:

“You’re an AMERICAN!! I thought you were German!”

“It’s the blond hair,” I told him. “Even the Germans have been taking me for a German ever since I got here.”

ANYWAY, that was the one 30 second interval he had to speak to me, because right then a pushy Portuguese guitarist got into his face, and started asking a zillion technical questions in heavily accented English. I waved and said:

“I have some questions for you, but I’ll swing by later.”

He nodded in a distracted way, but when I walked by two hours later the pushy guy was seated with one of the guitars plugged into some pedals and an amp, while the Cole Clark rep was scrambling around trying to get things tweaked the way the guitarist wanted them.

I waved again, but I don’t think the company rep even saw me. Needless to say, I didn’t get any questions answered by him...

So that’s one of the questions I have for you, Tony - are there any high gloss Cole Clark guitars at your local guitar store, or are all of them satin finish? Next question: what’s the price range on them?


whm
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  #18  
Old 01-18-2019, 09:03 PM
paulvdb paulvdb is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
So that’s one of the questions I have for you, Tony - are there any high gloss Cole Clark guitars at your local guitar store, or are all of them satin finish? Next question: what’s the price range on them?
Funny but when I tested some Cole Clarks they did nothing for me, but I'm still a beginner :-). Everyone looks for something different in a guitar.

Having a quick look at Big Music's web site https://www.bigmusicshop.com.au/acou...c-guitars.html - where I bought my Maton - and you see at least 1 of these says Nitro Gloss. All the ones I've seen around Australia have been satin to accentuate the timber. So it must be more for those who really want gloss.
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  #19  
Old 01-18-2019, 09:26 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is online now
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Okay, so a high gloss finish is an option, but evidently not requested all that much, or else there’d be a lot of them in the stores. Interesting.


whm
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  #20  
Old 01-18-2019, 09:37 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post

Back to Bruce: I didn’t know you had bought a guitar from Solda’s Music in Hobart, but given your bristling guitar arsenal it didn’t surprise me at all!

I can imagine the guitar stores all across Australia treating you the way Las Vegas gambling resorts treat their big spenders: when you fly into town they meet you at the airport with a limousine, take you in air conditioned comfort to your free penthouse suite, where there’s a bottle of champagne on ice and half a dozen high end guitars in stands arrayed in a semicircle:

“We took the liberty of bringing over some guitars we thought you might enjoy, Mr. Campbell. After you’ve rested a bit, I’ll be back with the limousine to take you to the store...”

It wouldn’t surprise me if, all across Australia, every music store employee is shown your picture and given these instructions: “If Bruce Campbell shows up, be VERY nice to the man!”


Wade Hampton Miller
I can name 3 guitar stores here straight off the top of my head that hate me!

I seem to recall when Cole Clark guitars appeared on the scene that their higher spec Fat Lady 2 and 3 models were gloss finish and the lower FL1 was satin but hey, that was ages ago.
BTW neither Brad Clark or Adam Cole ( one of them was a wizard with electronics but a little eccentric and hard to work with I heard once ) are still with Cole Clark and yes, they both worked at Maton before leaving and setting up CC.
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  #21  
Old 01-18-2019, 10:08 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is online now
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After I imagined Bruce getting treated by Australian music stores like a high roller gambler in Vegas, with a comped hotel suite and flunkies fetching him from the airport in a limousine, he replied:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brucebubs View Post
I can name 3 guitar stores here straight off the top of my head that hate me!

I seem to recall when Cole Clark guitars appeared on the scene that their higher spec Fat Lady 2 and 3 models were gloss finish and the lower FL1 was satin but hey, that was ages ago.
BTW neither Brad Clark or Adam Cole ( one of them was a wizard with electronics but hard to work with I believe ) are still with Cole Clark and yes, they both worked at Maton before leaving and setting up CC.
I had heard something about that. The two founders of the National Reso-Phonic Guitar Company, Don Young and MacGregor Gaines, both worked the last Dopyera family-owned iteration of Dobro, and bought the National brand name from the family when they set off on their own. Roy McAlister worked for the Santa Cruz Guitar Company before he went off on his own, and Ed Bond of Halcyon Guitars worked for Larrivee first.

So there’s a long and honorable history of smart guitar company employees learning what to do and what NOT to do, then going out and starting their own companies.

As for those music stores hating you, Bruce, that’s overstating it. It’s not you they hate, it’s the cigars stubbed out on the tops of guitars that displease you that they object to. And the trail of empty Foster’s Lager cans that they have to pick up after your visits. And your saltwater crocodile “Cuddles” that you claim is an “emotional support animal” - if Cuddles hadn’t bitten off the hand of the assistant manager at that store in Melbourne, maybe they’d still tolerate him in the store.

But you need to leave Cuddles in the car from now on, Bruce - it’s that simple.


Wade Hampton Miller
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  #22  
Old 01-18-2019, 10:11 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
After I imagined Bruce getting treated by Australian music stores like a high roller gambler in Vegas, with a comped hotel suite and flunkies fetching him from the airport in a limousine, he replied:



I had heard something about that. The two founders of the National Reso-Phonic Guitar Company, Don Young and MacGregor Gaines, both worked the last Dopyera family-owned iteration of Dobro, and bought the National brand name from the family when they set off on their own. Roy McAlister worked for the Santa Cruz Guitar Company before he went off on his own, and Ed Bond of Halcyon Guitars worked for Larrivee first.

So there’s a long and honorable history of smart guitar company employees learning what to do and what NOT to do, then going out and starting their own companies.

As for those music stores hating you, Bruce, that’s overstating it. It’s not you they hate, it’s the cigars stubbed out on the tops of guitars that displease you that they object to. And the trail of empty Foster’s Lager cans that they have to pick up after your visits. And your saltwater crocodile “Cuddles” that you claim is an “emotional support animal” - if Cuddles hadn’t bitten off the hand of the assistant manager at that store in Melbourne, maybe they’d still tolerate him in the store.

But you need to leave Cuddles in the car from now on, Bruce - it’s that simple.


Wade Hampton Miller
What's a 'car'?

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  #23  
Old 01-18-2019, 11:15 PM
yairimann yairimann is offline
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Hey that's the best laugh I've had in a long time! Too funny.
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  #24  
Old 01-19-2019, 10:08 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
Dru, you’re correct, listing the countries I’ve visited would take another thread. Another time, perhaps.

As for bunya pine as a top wood, on the Cole Clark guitars I’ve seen it on, it looks like exceptionally wide-grained spruce. I guess it sounds like spruce, too, but since the only guitars I’ve heard it on have been Cole Clarks I don’t have enough of a frame of reference to get any more nuanced in my description than that. If I could play some bunya pine-topped Martin D-18’s next to some regular spruce-topped D-18’s I could tell you more.


It seems likely to me that, just like Robert Godin designing the S6 Seagull, whoever’s behind the Cole Clark guitar designs figured out PRECISELY how to get the best possible performance out of some hitherto neglected local tonewoods. Nobody thought to pair western red cedar tops with laminated cherry backs and sides before Godin did, and so far as I’m aware no one was pairing bunya pine tops with Queensland maple backs and sides on factory-built guitars before the Cole Clark company came along.

<<snippet>>
Thanks Wade. What a great comparison to Godin and the tonewood approach.
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  #25  
Old 01-19-2019, 10:28 PM
tiger80 tiger80 is offline
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Spent a couple weeks driving around Oz and NZ last March for a bucket list vacation trip. I came with money to buy a natively produced guitar, figuring a Cole Clark or Maton but try as I might, I just couldn't find one to suit me. The closest I came was a Maton Messiah EM100 in sitka and rosewood and it was only just as good as some of my acoustics. I had hoped to get one with native woods. I did come across a builder in Wellington,

https://www.goldbeard.co.nz/

He is presently making me one with all native NZ timbers. I don't know if it will sound good for sure but I reckon so. He has built for some fairly famous folks and has some unique designs. Cost for what I wanted is right at $3k including shipping and a case to the US. Super nice guy. If you will stop in Wellington it's not a long Uber to his shop. I can't think of a better souvenir!

Ike
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  #26  
Old 01-19-2019, 11:01 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is online now
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That’s very cool, Ike. It sounds like a road trip I should make sometime.

What woods will be used for your guitar? Will you be getting a guitar with an offset soundhole like some of those shown on his website, or will the soundhole be in the usual spot?


whm
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  #27  
Old 01-19-2019, 11:18 PM
jemartin jemartin is offline
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Sounds like a great trip Wade ... would love to do that some day. I was wondering if you had any experience playing any guitars there in Tasmania, which were built with the Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides. And if so, what was your impression of it? I read somewhere that Taylor Guitar's Andy Powers really loves to build with that wood. I just bought a (2018 Winter Namm) 358e 12 string with Lutz spruce and Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides. It sure has some bass horsepower and very open and clear tone (satin finish?) in the Grand Orchestra size.
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  #28  
Old 01-19-2019, 11:28 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Originally Posted by jemartin View Post
Sounds like a great trip Wade ... would love to do that some day. I was wondering if you had any experience playing any guitars there in Tasmania, which were built with the Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides. And if so, what was your impression of it? I read somewhere that Taylor Guitar's Andy Powers really loves to build with that wood. I just bought a (2018 Winter Namm) 358e 12 string with Lutz spruce and Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides. It sure has some bass horsepower and very open and clear tone (satin finish?) in the Grand Orchestra size.
AGF member 'Guitars & gems' bought that same 358e with Tasmanian Blackwood back & sides.
Beautiful guitar.

She posted some great pictures in this thread https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=533690
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Last edited by Brucebubs; 01-19-2019 at 11:34 PM.
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  #29  
Old 01-19-2019, 11:49 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Please to look up Paddy Burgin while you are in NZ...
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  #30  
Old 01-20-2019, 01:07 AM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jemartin View Post
Sounds like a great trip Wade ... would love to do that some day. I was wondering if you had any experience playing any guitars there in Tasmania, which were built with the Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides. And if so, what was your impression of it? I read somewhere that Taylor Guitar's Andy Powers really loves to build with that wood. I just bought a (2018 Winter Namm) 358e 12 string with Lutz spruce and Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides. It sure has some bass horsepower and very open and clear tone (satin finish?) in the Grand Orchestra size.
There was a Maton OM-sized guitar at McCann’s Music in Hobart that was all-Tasmanian blackwood, including a top made of the same wood. In years past I have also owned a late 90’s-vintage Larrivee L-03BW with blackwood back and sides with a spruce top, and a Blue Lion mountain dulcimer in the same wood combination.

Tasmanian/Australian blackwood is a member of the acaia family, as is koa. The two woods also look a lot alike, but the examples of Taz blackwood instruments that I’ve played haven’t been exact sound-alikes with koa. They seem to sound closer to rosewood than koa, in my fairly limited experience.

But it’s a visually dazzling tonewood, no question about that. The blackwood dulcimer I had made (which is now owned and played by my daughter) has the most extravagant figure in the grain of any instrument I’ve ever owned.

Anyway, I like Tasmanian blackwood as a tonewood, but caution against the assumption that it’ll sound just koa, because in my experience it doesn’t, not quite.


Wade Hampton Miller
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