Surprised by the Claxton Malabar

[Bob Womack]

Claxton Malabar. First thing that came to mind:


Claxton Fruitcake bar. Velcro mind.

Bob

[cbjanne]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Which guitar of Mark’s do you have? I have two of his instruments (a 14”, 12-fret Pinyon and a 15-1/4”, 14-fret Bristlecone) and I find Mark’s guitars to be beautifully balanced but fat trebles to be a signature aspect to its timbre.

I have a Sugar Pine. Here’s my guitar: https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/in...ugar-pine.html

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks…beautiful guitar…

Originally Posted by cbjanne

I have a Sugar Pine. Here’s my guitar: https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/in...ugar-pine.html

[PTL]

Would you perchance do a recording to share? Love to hear the tone.

Thanks

Originally Posted by gitarro

First, a little history...

I have been commissioning and buying and selling guitars for a long time and have gone through quite a few guitars. Fairly early on, I got my hands on a jumbo that was made by a luthier many enthusiasts consider to be probably or at least among the very best in the world. This.guitar influenced me significantly in what I considered to be a world class guitar. What I can remember from it to this day was the best and most profound bass I have ever heard. But it also imprinted a bias towards rosewood and spruce - especially brazilian rosewood and adirondack spruce. As well because of it, I believed that a small guitar could never give the fullness of tonality and sound that were needed.

This understanding was reinforced by many more guitars that I played or owned since then - many of them made by some of the most respected luthiers in the world. A good guitar was at least OM in size and always made of spruce and rosewood, preferably brazilian rosewood.

Turn the clock quite a few years and by now I had tried the guitars of almost all the luthiers whose work I was intrigued by. But there was one luthier whose work I had not played yet - Ed Claxton. I had always heard good things about his work and no one ever had a negative thing to say about him or of the tone of any of his guitars as far as I came across. But it was not easy for me to come across one of his guitars as they were not very frequently on the market and not often at a time when I was able to afford one, or it woukdbe sold beforehand or somethint would occur that would frustrate my chance to try one.

I finally got my hands on a euro spruce and euro maple malabar. I now have a new reference standard for the best guitar i have ever played. Furthermore, it overturns all my guitar prejudices and assumptions. Despite not being made of rosewood, it seems to have the reverb and richness of rosewood. It has among the greatest bloom of any guitar I have ever played. Despite being smaller than an OM and being 12 fret, it has power and volume and fullness of sound. It has directness and a level of instant responsiveness that would be absent from a rosewood guitar. It has the best treble and mid of any guitar I have possibly ever played - suppleness, fatness of fundamental, clarity, warmth, an almost human quality and sorority of timbre. Spmething about its tonality made songs played on it sound nicer to my ear. Despite its size, it has nothing lacking in its bass at all - true, it is not as big as that jumbo so many years ago but at the same time it is not out of proportion with the rest of the tone - now I understand what perfect balance means. The bass is satisfying, deep, totally debunking my prejudices that non rosewood guitars could never deliver a great bass to my ears. Best of all, there is a sense like I am coming home about it that makes it my favourite guitar of all the guitars I have ever tried.

In short, this malabar is as close as it gets to a perfect guitar that I have ever encountered! I never thought I would say this of a small Maple guitar, of all things...

[Carey]

cbjanne's Claxton guitar appears to have a non-ebony fingerboard. If so, I think that's neat.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by PTL

Would you perchance do a recording to share? Love to hear the tone.

Thanks

I am afraid my playing skills wouldnt do the guutar justice and on top of that i do not have any recording equipment that would be able to make a decent recording.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Carey

cbjanne's Claxton guitar appears to have a non-ebony fingerboard. If so, I think that's neat.

It is an old growth brazilian rosewood board, if i recall his build thread correcrly.

[cbjanne]

Originally Posted by Carey

cbjanne's Claxton guitar appears to have a non-ebony fingerboard. If so, I think that's neat.

Thanks. The fretboard is indeed BRW. It can be seen better here.



I second the motion for a sound clip of Gitarro’s Malabar, if in any way possible.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by cbjanne

I finally found the time to chime in. What a beautiful guitar, man! May it serve you well. And I'm sure it will.

I used an awful lot of time and energy a few years back to find my dream guitar, and it turned out to be a Claxton Malabar made of spruce and maple. Just like Marc said (and thanks for the kind compliments) it's an intuitive instrument above all. With no other guitar can I form such a connection. The combination of the very light build, superb quality woods, beautiful execution and general good karma from Ed's supremely capable hands just makes it... right.

Gitarro contacted me before he made the purchase, asking about my experience comparing the Malabar with my other quality guitar, a spruce/BRW Blanchard. I said that in the Blanchard I hear a really tight bass vs the rounder response of the Claxton -- the former stops ringing the nanosecond I dampen the strings, the latter has a slight boominess. The midrange is slightly scooped in the Blanchard, prominent and expressive in the Claxton. The highs are brilliant and shimmering in the Blanchard, drier in the Claxton.

When I strum or play with a singer, my first choice is the Blanchard. It gives room for the midrange in the vocals and compliments it with the sparkling high overtones, usually with beautiful results. But when I play fingerstyle and really want to express myself with melody, there's nothing as good as the Claxton. It sings and responds in a way that is difficult to explain in words. I just know it's right for me.

Here's my guitar. It's finished in French polished spirit varnish too. Ed makes his varnish using a recipe that contains different wood resins in addition to shellac. This might contribute to the scent Gitarro asked about?



And I cannot help but attach a song here. It's called Saturnus, and it's written by me and my vocalist friend. The Malabar is there every step of the way, blended in the mix with other instruments. A couple of acoustic solo parts can be heard too.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6wYg6...54900c9de34769
Youtube:https://youtu.be/yvFzIQtYBgI

Congratulations on new guitar once again!

Thanks for your helpful comments and descriptions of your guitars which really helped reassure me that euro maple can deliver the tonal goods - or rather ed claxton can with maple!

Here is a clip of my guitar as played by the incomparable doug young - many thanks to doug for kindly allowing the use of this clip...

[Kenny B]

I just have to say that listening to a recording of Doug Young playing his Maple Malabar back in 2007 or 2008 was my inspiration to having a maple guitar built for me. I ended up commissioning a maple Beneteau that surprisingly is for sale due to factors which I hope to be resolved in the future.

I think the key here is what kind of sound that maple and only maple will give to a fingerstyle guitarist. It really forces one to concentrate on playing cleanly and accurately, something I still struggle with to this day.

Again, thanks to Doug Young and his example of the maple Malabar and for Ed Claxton for building such wonderful instruments.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Kenny B

I just have to say that listening to a recording of Doug Young playing his Maple Malabar back in 2007 or 2008 was my inspiration to having a maple guitar built for me. I ended up commissioning a maple Beneteau that surprisingly is for sale due to factors which I hope to be resolved in the future.

I think the key here is what kind of sound that maple and only maple will give to a fingerstyle guitarist. It really forces one to concentrate on playing cleanly and accurately, something I still struggle with to this day.

Again, thanks to Doug Young and his example of the maple Malabar and for Ed Claxton for building such wonderful instruments.

This maple malabar is certainly more precise than most of my previous guitars but my perception is it doesnt punish poor playing the way the traugott i owned previously would. It is always warm and even when i flub my notes (which happens frequejtpy!) It still doesnt sound like a cacophony.

I hope your circumstances get better and you ate able to keep that beneteau!

[gitarro]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D51-vE-3Zbg

I wasn't able to attach the video directly here for some reason so here's a link to a video clip of the guitar in action.

[Cocobolo Kid]

A gorgeous Brazilian/Euro Claxton EM-C just popped up for sale on Dream Guitars. It does have some condition issues, so be sure to check that out under "Specs".

https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/20...e-111-186.html

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by Cocobolo Kid

A gorgeous Brazilian/Euro Claxton EM-C just popped up for sale on Dream Guitars. It does have some condition issues, so be sure to check that out under "Specs".

https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/20...e-111-186.html

It must have been heart breaking to have such a beautiful guitar with such spectacular tonewoods get cracked..

[Deft Tungsman]

Originally Posted by gitarro

This maple malabar is certainly more precise than most of my previous guitars but my perception is it doesnt punish poor playing... It is always warm and even when i flub my notes (which happens frequejtpy!)

Replace “Maple Malabar” with “Claro Traditional”, the rest of the sentence remains equally true !! Unless my playing is REALLY off, the Claxton always sounds deeply musical, regardless of context.

The EM-C on Dream Guitars looks stunning, for sure!! The “issues” sound minor but worthy of leveraging for a discount. Although I’m careful with my guitar, the ultra thin French polish finish on the soundboard is easy to put dents in. No biggie, if you love the guitar. Well repaired cracks, in my experience, are nothing to worry about either, provided you take proper care of the instrument thereafter.

The news in the guitar’s description that Ed Claxton has retired from building guitars saddens me. But that shall pass. I imagine that he’s enjoying his newfound freedom very much. Now that he’s hung up his apron for good, I wish nothing more for him than a long, healthy life, traveling across the land, pursuing his many other interests.