#16
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I played in a band for a while with a Virginian who grew up in North Carolina, and picked up some southern expressions from him.......taught him a bit of our Aussie lingo as well Last edited by larren; 08-11-2018 at 06:49 AM. |
#17
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Steve Mcilroy A25c (Cedar, English Walnut) with Schatten HFN (custom MiSi Crystal Jack Preamp, putty install.) Maton 75th Anniversary OM 50th Anniversary Fender Am Std Strat. Gretsch 6120 Nashville Players in Blue. Line 6 Helix. If I played as much as I read threads, I'd be a pro.... |
#18
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When I was first becoming acquainted with Jamie Kinscherff's guitars, he had just completed one with Australian Blackwood b/s and Adirondack top. At the time, I wasn't conversant enough with his instruments to make any distinction between them, the blackwood model High Noon was stunning in both sound and appearance.
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-Raf |
#19
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Almost by accident in a sense both my acoustic guitars are Tassie Blackwood w' Sitka.
The first, which is about to celebrate its 21st birthday, is a lovely custom built 'Martin' style 000 made by one of our most respected luthiers Gerard Gilet. It is a lovely soft 'honey' coloured guitar, the back and sides lightly figured compared to some and the top 'honey' darkened with time. Mine is a cutaway and I had input into the curve and shape so am very happy. Initially however I was going with Mahogany. Didn't know not what of about Blackwood really 21 years ago. But after discussions and tossing thoughts back and forth this is what I went with and I am not disappointed at all. Rich and clear and rings beautifully. Not as deep or punchy as Rosewood perhaps, but I love it. My second is a Maton 808c Nashville, that's the brown burst looking one w' a matte finish, again Blackwood and Spruce. Now I will in no way claim these two sound the same. Age for one, quality of wood selection and detail on the custom are far greater than the Maton. It is no slouch but acoustically does not match the Gilet. Then it is not meant to really. It is what it is, a very fine stage guitar. Maton go with locally sourced sustainable woods, which I applaud. Taylor have a similar philosphy and I will admit to quietly lusting after a 12 fret 612ce. Hah.. not Blackwood... oh and my great one that got away, was a Sitka over Braz Rosewood 000 cutaway made by another local guy almost 30 years ago now. I envy whoever owns that one. Could not afford it at the time..sigh.... They's all wood and strings.... but...... Kris
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Keep it Simple |
#20
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Circa OM-30/34 (Adi/Mad) | 000-12 (Ger/Maple) | OM-28 (Adi/Brz) | OM-18/21 (Adi/Hog) | OM-42 (Adi/Braz) Fairbanks SJ (Adi/Hog) | Schoenberg/Klepper 000-12c (Adi/Hog) | LeGeyt CLM (Swiss/Amzn) | LeGeyt CLM (Carp/Koa) Brondel A-2 (Carp/Mad) |
#21
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I recently visited a guitar store in Adelaide. Cole Clarke (and Maton) have a few different models but make them with all sorts of wood combinations. In the past I've like the Angel, and they had five of them, with various wood combos. I tried them all and didn't really like any of them until I played the Blackwood b/s and Bunya top - I immediately took to it. There's another Aussie timber for you.
I found this for those interested in Aussie timbers. https://guitartimbers.com/timbers/
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National Resophonic NRP 12 Fret Loar LH-700-VS Archtop Eastman E8-OM Herrmann Weissenborn Recording King RP-10 Recording King RG-35-SN Lapsteel Maton 425 12-string ESP 400 series telecaster Eastman T485 Deering Americana Banjo My Youtube |
#22
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whm |
#23
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This is yet another example of the problem of using common names for woods. Most wood species have many common names depending on where you live or what a wood broker thinks at that moment will get him the highest profit. If one cares about what wood is used on a particular guitar one needs to find out the botanical name, which in this case is Acacia melanoxylon. Acacia is the Genus and melanoxylon is the species. This particular wood is related to what is commonly called Hawaiian Koa. The botanical name for that is Acacia koa. Of the approximately 1,300 species of Acacia, the only two I am familiar with being used in guitars are the species koa and melanoxylon. In my opinion they have similarities, though koa seems to be more golden to orangish in color and melanoxylon seems to tend more towards slight lighter and browner shades. In tone I think they are similar but different with koa being a bit more unique and piano-like with melanoxylon being denser and going slightly more towards the rosewoody tones. Both are fantastic woods, but koa is close to being endangered and so very rare while melanoxylon seems to be more plentiful.
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Member #12 Acoustics: 1995 Taylor 510 1997 Taylor Custom Shop 14 size 1998 Taylor K-65 12 string 1998 Larrivee C-10E with Mucha Lady IR/Sitka Electrics: 1999 PRS Custom 22 Artist Package - Whale Blue/Ebony 1995 Fender Custom Shop 1960 Strat - Dakota/Maple 1997 Fender California Series Fat Strat - CAR/Maple 1968 Teisco e-110 Sunburst/Maple |
#24
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There’s also an acacia that grows in the continental United States that’s sometimes called “California koa.” My understanding is that it’s an introduced species, but I don’t know much more about than that. It’s not in common use as a tonewood, so far as I’m aware, but it has been used for guitar-building.
There’s also an acacia that’s being used by a number of ukulele companies, and occasionally for guitars. Again, I don’t know the exact species or whether it’s the same thing as so-called California koa. But it seems to be getting used a lot for factory-made ukuleles these days. I, for one, would really appreciate if anyone with more detailed knowledge of the acacias in question could tell us more about them. Wade Hampton Miller |
#25
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And I’m particularly fond of the binding on my Williams – it’s from a tree called Old Man Wodjil. |
#26
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Wade, I know that Bruce Sexauer has built a number of instruments from some Acacia that he harvested in Sausalito. Perhaps when he returns from The Vancouver Guitar Festival, he will chime in?
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#27
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Bruce may have used a California grown Blackwood (melanoxylon) of which many were planted in the Bay Area region going back 100-150 years ago. Another common Australian tree in California is a Blue Gum tree. (Eucalyptus) My paternal grandmother had a Blackwood tree in her front yard in Santa Rosa when I was a child. (Both are now considered as invasives. The trees, not the Grandmother)
As it happens, I have two guitars backed with Australian Blackwood. (as already noted, Australian and Tasmanian Blackwoods are of the same species. Marketeers will often look for the most exotic-sounding name that they can come up with, to make their wares more desirable. Is "German" spruce a better topwood than "Carpathian" or "Swiss" or whatever. They are all the same species. I have a guitar built with "Italian" spruce, which is called that because the builder bought it when he was in Italy. However, as Colins notes, Tasmania is the furthest south of its range, and posits a positive effect. Slower growth resulting in more stiffness, perhaps. What differences may exist in Red Spruce, between trees from the southern, warmest end of its range in the Carolinas and the wood harvested in Nova Scotia? Blackwoods cousin Koa is very much a tropical wood, so the argument that the more southerly grown Blackwood is "better" is not necessarily a given. Of course, Koa also grows from near sea level up to 7500 ft, so one has to wonder if what altitude a tree grows at has an effect on the quality of the wood as well. Winemakers talk a lot about the effects of what is termed "terroir" on the grapes from a specific location. While originally translated as "soil" or "earth," I've talked with people (both about wine and guitars) who feel that it is even better to expand the term to think of the micro-clime of a specific location, along with the characteristic of the soil itself. Ph of the soil. Amount of organic matter. Its depth. Moisture. Did the seed fall on a ridge, or in a gully? Near or father from a water source. Shelter or exposure to wind. Exposure to sun. A plant well-shaded by other larger plants may grow more slowly than one with full exposure, resulting in stiffer wood (an effect being found in tree-farmed woods as opposed to old growth) Trees subject to a constant stiff wind may respond by growing with stiffer wood in response. Trees growing on a steep hillside may be stiffer on the downhill side, resulting in differing width between rings. Trees not only may adapt to their specific micro-clime, but trees may pass on some of those characteristics over generations. A Red Spruce adapted over millennia for life in the Carolina Smokies may grow subtly differently to reflect that environment than a tree of the same species whose family -tree- is in the Adirondacks. "Different" is not automatically "better or worse" when it comes to building musical instruments. Or it might be. What was the question? Or, right. Experience and thoughts on guitars built with Australian Blackwood. As noted, I have two, and played a quite a few more. Similarly to Athens, I have a Webber Small Jumbo with Blackwood back and sides under Englemann. Now how much of the tonal quality and responsiveness goes to the top, bracing and builder, I could not say. It does have the characteristic dryness and clarity of David Webbers guitars, and I've played enough of them to know. One of my best mates, now retired, use to run a shop that sold about a 1/3 or more of David's annual output. So when I say that I've played hundreds of Webbers, that is not an exaggeration. I have. I cherry-picked this one the day it came into the shop. I also have a Larrivee Parlour, Sitka over Blackwood. Both fall into the descriptions above. The clarity, focus and punch of a good Mahogany, but with more of the overtone series found in Rosewood. Where it falls on a spectrum between the two is hard to say, particularly given that the two endpoints are moving targets themselves. I've played very overtone rich, Rosewoody guitars that had Mahogany-backs, and Rosewood guitars without the metallic edge or overtones usually associated with Rosewood but with more of a fundamental like Mahogany. I've never had the chance to directly A/B a Blackwood and a Koa backed guitar by the same builder, so I would not personally hard an opinion of where each might generally fall on the spectrum between Mahogany and Rosewood. Guitars build with Blackwood backs may or may not fall closer to the Rosewood end than a similar Koa backed guitar, but by no means do they sound like Rosewood, in my experience Both do fall somewhere in between. Which is why I bought the Webber: it has great clarity, a lovely overtone series, and is a different tonal color to the other two woods. If the builder does their job, it is a lovely tonewood from a sonic standpoint. Purddy too. OMMV TW Last edited by Mycroft; 08-12-2018 at 12:28 PM. |
#28
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Member #12 Acoustics: 1995 Taylor 510 1997 Taylor Custom Shop 14 size 1998 Taylor K-65 12 string 1998 Larrivee C-10E with Mucha Lady IR/Sitka Electrics: 1999 PRS Custom 22 Artist Package - Whale Blue/Ebony 1995 Fender Custom Shop 1960 Strat - Dakota/Maple 1997 Fender California Series Fat Strat - CAR/Maple 1968 Teisco e-110 Sunburst/Maple |
#29
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Played an all Blackwood Maton 808 today. Focused and compressed (does that make sense?)........Might be the ticket for a heavy strummer like me.
Here's a video I found of one. https://youtu.be/MZ423F6E7xI Last edited by larren; 08-14-2018 at 03:07 AM. |
#30
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Steve
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Still crazy after all these years. |