Surprised by the Claxton Malabar

[gitarro]

Your posts on claxtons and on your own masterful sounding cuban mahogany Claxton Traditional have also been quite an enabler for me to cause me to seek out a claxton to try out, so thank you

Originally Posted by steveh

Super pleased for you; like many of us, I know you have been chasing that "grail" guitar for sometime.

A few years ago, a UK pal of mine who is even more obsessed by guitar tone than I am, decided the mountain would go to Mohammed, got on a plane, and visited Somogyi, Traugott, Claxton et. al. in person rather than doing all his "research" long range.

To cut a long story short, he returned to the UK with a Malabar, spruce over BRW.
To this day, I remember that guitar as having the best trebles I have ever heard, and probably midrange also. It was celestial. I did find is a little lacking (only relatively) to some larger instruments bass-wise, but it was a close call; laws of physics. That guitar still haunts me.

I've said here before, I don't think I've ever come across a more consistently brilliant builder: Every single Claxton I've played has been uber top-tier. I've also found that to be the case regardless of what the b/s are made of, so I'm not at all surprised to find he's adept with maple also. My Cuban Claxton really sounds like a rosewood guitar.

Jason Kostal told me several times that he holds Ed in the very highest regard. Not every luthier can build stellar instruments but Ed can. Combine that with decades of experience and you have the real-deal. Not "shouty" instruments at all. IMHO, their refinement and balance is best appreciated once you've had a lot of instruments pass through your hands, so you are in a position to best appreciate their class.

And, as others have said, it didn't happen if there are no pics!

Cheers,
Steve

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Barry, nothing about one of Ed's guitars sounding fantastic should be a surprise. He makes fine guitars! Maple's, as back and side woods, when incorporated by a knowledgeable builder makes WONDERFUL guitars. It interacts with the top in a subtractive manner vs the additive manner that low damping rosewoods do. A fantastic guitar can be made by someone skilled in the art with either. Ed's Malabar is actually closer to a Gibson L00 in size (14-3/4") than a Martin 00 (14-1/4"). I actually consider it as a mid-sized guitar, particularly considering its body length and 4-1/4"end depth (an OM is 4-1/8" as is a 00). It likely has similar body volume to a wider, less long/deep OM sized guitar and also has a different bridge location to shape its timbre.



The difficultly in answering your question with any reliability comes down to the complex chain of custody between who/when/where the tree was harvested, sawyered/processed, seasoned/aged and eventually sold to the luthier. Once processed, it is very difficult to tell what it was. With its leaves on, it is easy to tell the difference.



Norway and Sycamore Maples are both common across the continent. While there is much overlap in their physical properties, Norway Maple on average tends to be a bit more dense and stiff than Sycamore Maple (aka European Sycamore). But with all things wood, averages do not speak to a specific tree/billet/set. Far more often you will have the wood identified by where it was harvested (e.g., Austrian Maple, Bosnian Maple etc.) because that is conveyed by the reseller vs. the genus and species.

Your posts on this forum are always knowledgeable and helpful and you have commissioned a portfolio of fine instruments which you have shared with us in the form of a series of marvlelous build threads.

I cannot agree more about the size of the malabar - it really is perfect for me in terms of how comfortable it is and yet big enough to give great tone and power. It does not seem to be much smaller than the martin OM if at all in volume but it feels much more comfortable to me to play and hold. I suspect this has to do among others with Claxton's way of making prototypes which includes carving a Styrofoam 3D replica to get a feel of how it feels like ...

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

It's also my understanding that Ed designed the Malabar as an alternative to his flagship small jumbo EM, and its 00-1/2 body dimensions place it in the "Goldilocks" zone, for sure. From its launch, the model has been a great success and worthy complement to his legendary EM.

It's all the more surprising then that only a few years later he decided to introduce his OM (the "Traditional"), which is only 1/4 inch wider across the lower bout. It all started with a request from an existing client who wanted something different from both his EM and the Malabar. (For the full story, Ed discusses the genesis of the Traditional in one of the totallyguitars videos.) Although I've never played a Malabar, I'm sure that it must feel quite different because of the bridge placement for the 12-fret neck and the deeper, longer body.

Ed's Traditional body is not a carbon copy of the classic Martin OM, however. I discovered this quite a while after the Circa OM entered my stable some nine months after I got the Claxton. The Circa is a truly great guitar (otherwise, it would not still be here!), but it is noticeably less comfortable than the Claxton. One day, I took out the old measuring tape to try to figure out why.

It was a big AHA ! moment, one that made me marvel even more at Ed's genius.

The Circa and Claxton are nearly identical in outline, and the have the same depth at the tailblock. But up at the neck block, the Claxton is a full 3/16" shallower than the Circa. It may not sound like much, but it changes the way the guitar sits on the lap, making for a significantly cozier feel. And yet, its bass response is rounder and deeper than the Circa's. Uncanny.

There aren't that many malabars around though, i believe as there are far more EMs. But I suspect there are less Traditionals and especially Composers probably due to him introducing those models much later. Least in number of all may be the Jumbo which he made for a long time customer?


I didn't know the traditional model differed in any way from the Martin om - typically all these details are well thought out and he did not just copy the shape like so many.

[Deft Tungsman]

I love this thread, gitarro !

Still waiting on those pictures...

Are you ever going to indulge the masses with some eye candy?

Originally Posted by gitarro

There aren't that many malabars around though, i believe as there are far more EMs. But I suspect there are less Traditionals and especially Composers probably due to him introducing those models much later. Least in number of all may be the Jumbo which he made for a long time customer?

The serial number of a friend's maple Malabar built in 2020 is #31/245. Thus, Ed's 245th build is his 31st Malabar.

I don't know how many EMs he's built over the past thirty years, but they make up the bulk of his output by a fair margin.

During his long career he has made several classical guitars, but how many is anyone's guess.

There are only four OMs, or Traditionals, as he calls them. The first two have perfectly quartersawn Brazilian rosewood, number one with Ed's simplest rosette, as we see in his workshop interview, and number two with the mosaic rosette, as pictured on his website. Ed built number three with Adirondack spruce and Cuban mahogany. When he presented it at Healdsburg in 2013, it was promptly snatched up by the Wizard of TAMCO, Trevor Moyle. Trevor quickly placed an order for a second one with only one "customization": no Brazilian or other CITES tonewoods, if you please. Ed paired some lovely Italian spruce with an eye-popping set of claro walnut for Traditional #4, and I'm the lucky guy who gets to play it every day.

While Ed built a handful of parlors back in the '70s, his Composer is a very recent design. He's only built two so far, the fan fret masterpiece on his website and another straight-scale guitar for a customer.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

I love this thread, gitarro !

I don't know how many EMs he's built over the past thirty years, but they make up the bulk of his output by a fair margin.

My relatively recent EM (well, probably 5+ years old now, but I'm not sure Ed has built that many since) is 134/227.

[FormerFoodie]

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

Still waiting on those pictures...

Are you ever going to indulge the masses with some eye candy?

What he said.

I'm a rosewood guy through and through, but my only maple guitar, which is now my go to guitar, has certainly challenged that!

Really enjoyed reading this post and now have added a Claxton to my list of guitars that I would like to play one day.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

I love this thread, gitarro !

Still waiting on those pictures...

Are you ever going to indulge the masses with some eye candy?





The serial number of a friend's maple Malabar built in 2020 is #31/245. Thus, Ed's 245th build is his 31st Malabar.

I don't know how many EMs he's built over the past thirty years, but they make up the bulk of his output by a fair margin.

During his long career he has made several classical guitars, but how many is anyone's guess.

There are only four OMs, or Traditionals, as he calls them. The first two have perfectly quartersawn Brazilian rosewood, number one with Ed's simplest rosette, as we see in his workshop interview, and number two with the mosaic rosette, as pictured on his website. Ed built number three with Adirondack spruce and Cuban mahogany. When he presented it at Healdsburg in 2013, it was promptly snatched up by the Wizard of TAMCO, Trevor Moyle. Trevor quickly placed an order for a second one with only one "customization": no Brazilian or other CITES tonewoods, if you please. Ed paired some lovely Italian spruce with an eye-popping set of claro walnut for Traditional #4, and I'm the lucky guy who gets to play it every day.

While Ed built a handful of parlors back in the '70s, his Composer is a very recent design. He's only built two so far, the fan fret masterpiece on his website and another straight-scale guitar for a customer.

Am having the same technical isssues i re encounter every time i post pics here, mainly because i share images here so rarely for some reason the IMG book ends do not seem to work with the URL for my photo of the malabar...

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by FormerFoodie

What he said.

I'm a rosewood guy through and through, but my only maple guitar, which is now my go to guitar, has certainly challenged that!

Really enjoyed reading this post and now have added a Claxton to my list of guitars that I would like to play one day.

Is that the Circa? I recall reading of a legendary good circa OO #18 I believe, that was owned by Al petteway originally that was supposed to be incredible. Is your own maple circa built to reproduce thta guitar?

[Deft Tungsman]

Originally Posted by gitarro

Am having the same technical isssues i re encounter every time i post pics here, mainly because i share images here so rarely for some reason the IMG book ends do not seem to work with the URL for my photo of the malabar...

Bummer. Thanks for trying.

If any such thing exists, would you mind sharing a link to images that may be hosted somewhere else in the ether?

"WE WANT TO SEE SOME MAPLE !!!", cried the peasants.

[Richard Mott]

Originally Posted by gitarro

Thanks Richard for your post. You don't post as often, but you always post insightfully on this forum and pointed me first to isaac Jane's guitars and then to Claxton Guitars, so thank you also for that! In addition congrats on the maple claxton that you inherited thoigh my condolences for the bereavement rhat inheriting no doubt entailed...is it a malabar also or is it an EM?

Hi and many thanks for your very kind note. The maple Claxton I have is a Euro spruce over Euro maple EM.

[justonwo]

I remember playing an early 2000s EM with EIR at Schoenberg. Phenomenal guitar. The Dolce Vita Malabar that sold at LC is something I should have snatched up.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by justonwo

I remember playing an early 2000s EM with EIR at Schoenberg. Phenomenal guitar. The Dolce Vita Malabar that sold at LC is something I should have snatched up.

As far as i can rwcall, i do not remember LC's owner has ever in more than 20 years posting any comment on the tone of any of the guitars he put up fornsale through his shop, except for the Dolce Vita. It must have been an extraordinary guitar indeed...

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Richard Mott

Hi and many thanks for your very kind note. The maple Claxton I have is a Euro spruce over Euro maple EM.

As I get older, the more important I realise it is that we recognise rhe good that others do, and to treat all with kindness, for what is life if it is not a recognition of the grace that enables us to live and an exchange of the grace that we are privileged to be able to show each other?

Does your em have a light reddish burst on the top? I recall an EM like that being advertised for sale at Music Emporium maybe 8 years or so ago - that was another claxton that intrigued me at the time but that i didnt have the guts to go for given my wrong ideas about maple then ...

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

Bummer. Thanks for trying.

If any such thing exists, would you mind sharing a link to images that may be hosted somewhere else in the ether?

"WE WANT TO SEE SOME MAPLE !!!", cried the peasants.

I will try and find another photosharing website that works better. Any recommendations as to which free site is best and easiest to use?

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by gitarro

I will try and find another photosharing website that works better. Any recommendations as to which free site is best and easiest to use?

You could spend the $25 and become a charter member here. Then you can skip all the bogus hosting sites and Post directly from your photo library in your device!

All these sites want to harvest our data. If I have to open another app, it does not happen often.

Well worth it IMO

Cheers

Paul