Halcyon/Tinker thread

[JamesTGS]

We did an interview with the Halcyon guys last week. I ambushed them with the idea of turning on the camera so just sit back and enjoy meeting them.
https://youtu.be/Xnr3Fcts5Po?list=UU...J4Kos4sbCDBg3A

[T268]

Sweet! Can't wait to watch this later!

[Halcyon/Tinker]

It was good to check out your new digs! I'm very glad the dust collector actually fit in the truck...

[new2guitar_eh]

Nice interview....down to earth, to the point, interested in making great sounding guitars....thanks for providing the link

[fountainhead]

I love that Ed expressed how much he enjoyed creating/building great sounding guitars, but not being as caught up in the decorative (bling) part of custom guitars. What a serendipitous thing for all the guitars players out there- that want killer sounding guitars, but don't want extra stuff ornamenting them! It is such a great thing Ed went forward with this idea, and passed the savings on to the consumer. Thanks to Halcyon guitars for this fantastic business model! Kudos!

[Halcyon/Tinker]

We do have a few fancies on the go as well...it's been a while since the last glossy guitar. Looking forward to seeing them to completion.

[fountainhead]

Didn't mean to imply you don't do the fancy and glossy. It's just a refreshing and really welcomed thing to have affordable, yet sonically top-shelf instruments out there! I'm still shocked by the handmade quality and tone- may you guys keep building on your success!

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Well, to be fair, we hardly do any more.

But we are very happy to provide what we do at our price point. I really do feel it is very good value.

[pjroberts]

Originally Posted by JamesTGS

We did an interview with the Halcyon guys last week. I ambushed them with the idea of turning on the camera so just sit back and enjoy meeting them.
https://youtu.be/Xnr3Fcts5Po?list=UU...J4Kos4sbCDBg3A

Hi James - Thanks for this awesome chat with Team Halcyon! Found the discussion really insightful even having worked with Ed firsthand recently, and you really got into some of the unique Halcyon features and (excuse the word because it is overused and abused) brand -- or what Halycon stands for to customers and players, straight from Ed's mouth. The quality and craftsmanship focused without the bling (which of course Ed offers as well in Tinker). As an owner I can attest to its honesty and authenticity, something hard to come by in the noisy Internet world. Also, the building experience is made exciting, which you also highlighted ... even though most of Ed's customers are south in US, you get (I got) a front row seat on some days into the shop via the Facebook updates. I'm not sure how many builders actually do that, I had not heard of it until I found Halcyon, but it is another one of those important unique differentiators.

Ed - The torrefied jumbo is looking even more tempting. Or sounding I should say. Resistance is futile! I know it's not all the torrified Lutz, but love that full, robust sound. Vs what I imagine is a bit boomier on a dread and not quite as full on the NL 00 (?). Of course, my assumptions ... will drop you a direct mail soon.

Great video!

[Halcyon/Tinker]

That torrefied guitar is basically an OM sized guitar, 15" lower bout. I think it is very elegant. It's from the OLF SJ plan.

Here's one slated for the gloss treatment...

I also feel very fortunate to have gotten some torrefied lutz. I will be offering it in all the species soon. I'm quire curious about the stuff.

[fountainhead]

Just a little information regarding my Halcyon guitar. My AJ in Lutz / EIR is a wonderful instrument, and excels at fingerstyle or strumming. As many of you I'm sure know, each guitar reacts tonally to different strings in their own way. My experience in trying different strings has yielded these results:

D'Addario sound really good- what I'd expect.

Elixir sound really good (if you like coated strings)- great tone with that Elixir sparkle.

The far and away winner: Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze!!!!!
I think on other guitars these strings are good: evenly balanced across the spectrum and punchy.
But on the Halcyon: these strings sing! Balanced, warm, bright, punchy, yet capable of great subtlety! Overall- just plain awesome tone and feel!

Disclaimer: these are just my experiences and my opinions, and I recommend Halcyon owners do their own comparisons. But, for $5-6 I think the Aluminum Bronze deserve a shot!

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

[Gasworker]

Hi fountain. I tried the Ernie Balls on my Halcyon and Larrivee L03R and like I have for years now, returned to D'Addario EJ16's. I have never found regular light strings of any brand to sound so significantly different that I needed to leave D'Addario. I did buy 5 packs of the Ernie Balls on a deal so I use them on on my Seagull S6 cottage guitar. They are very nice.

[T268]

Maybe this is a question for a dedicated torrefying thread, but since Ed is kind enough to chime in periodically, I'd love to hear his thoughts.
As environmental conditions change, the wood expands and contracts, right? Would a piece of torrified wood glued to a non torrified b/s present a problem with stability with environmental variables? Would the non tory wood expand and contract more than the torrified piece, potentially breaking the bond at the binding? Then again, could the same concern be brought up gluing woods of different species to one another? That doesn't seem to be an issue when addressed properly. Im sure I just don't understand it enough. Thanks to anyone with insight.

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Well, your ideas aren't entirely off base.

With the torrefied stuff (and non torrefied, but baked) the tops should be very dimensionally stable. The wood shrinks but doesn't return to original dimension. The greatest change is across the grain, while along the grain is quite small. I've measured as much as 4mm difference in a half panel across the grain difference before and after. But it never returns to original dimension.

So if anything, the torrefied stuff should be more stable.

To consider the sides, the most shrinkage would happen to make a 5" deep guitar into a 4 1/2" guitar (exaggerated), not a 15" bout into a 14" bout.

But it's a moot point anyway, since I know you're looking after your guitar by keeping it from large RH fluctuations anyway...right?

[T268]

Anyone subscribed to this thread the proud owner of the Black Limba Halcyon? Curious about it. For that matter, anyone with some of the weirder tonewoods coming out of Ed's hands want to chime in with their impressions?