NU(R)GD - Woolson Sound Scotsman SIG

[TomB'sox]

Still loving it?

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Still loving it?

More and more each time I play! It truly is an amazing instrument.

[Aspiring]

All, I am loving this guitar more and more and it certainly sees a large portion of my daily play time.

Here is a quick recording I made up (my room and recording techniques still need some work ...)

I continue to get many compliments from all who see it. Thanks again to Tom and Paul for making this happen for me.

I was working on several holiday songs this year in open d and loved the way this one sounded on it.

[Brent Nelson]

Paul lives right up the road. He toured me through his shop and he and I would talk guitars a lot back a few years ago. Just a super nice and uber talented and smart guy. What a craftsman! I wish I had even a smidgen of those skills.

[TomB'sox]

Nice job Mr. Aspiring. I am still thrilled you won this guitar at the auction at last year's show and that you have connected to it and love it.

For the rest of you, come to the show this fall and meet Mr. Woolson who is such a great guy and so generous to have donated this guitar to our show, to add so much to the show, and to allow someone like Ron to win a guitar that is so awesome.

[Universe]

Incredible win & for the guitar to be one that just resonated with you so that you effortlessly played your go to tune.

Never heard of the luther but the name & the woods seems to be unique.

Scotsman with some whiskey barrel oak wood & a double lutz top.

Not sure about the Nomex though. It has been known to delaminate
but maybe that's when one does not know how to apply it.

Looking forward to viewing the vids.

[Universe]

I love the sound!!!!

Still that's not standard tuning.

I want a guitar that sounds like than in standard tuning.

It's so confusing to try to compare guitar sounds when they all are not in standard tuning.

Love it though!!!

[TomB'sox]

"Not sure about the Nomex though. It has been known to delaminate
but maybe that's when one does not know how to apply it."


Paul has been making quality double topped guitars for years now, so I would not worry about any issues.

[Universe]

OOh MY,,,
Serious wood working skills there. Nothing will ever look or sound like it.

The time involved to put together that wood puzzle is astronomical;!

Originally Posted by Aspiring

What's the R for? That would be Raffle. I am still in shock that I won this amazing instrument and with the entire experience.

I'd like to start this post by giving an incredible thanks to Paul Woolson for his generosity and amazing skills as a luthier.

Tom Bowersox also gets a shout out for setting this up at B.I.G. I cannot say enough about the Bowersox's generosity and openness and ability to setup such an amazing event.

I am writing this the morning after I have returned to my house in Seattle and I have been enjoying a quiet morning getting to know my new guitar. I am playing it in the early morning tranquility. I really enjoyed the guitar at Tom's but it seems to be thriving in its new location here in Seattle even more.

Like many on this forum I am a guitar geek and I enjoy the design aspects as much as I enjoy playing. Doubletops have held a particular fascination for me. When I arrived at B.I.G this year, Paul was the first luthier I spoke to and the first guitars I tried out. We had a great conversation where Paul discussed his philosophy and what he is aiming for with the doubletop construction. The short of it is he is aiming towards a lighter top with less stiff bracing resulting in higher volume and greater dynamic range for a given top. Paul indicated that I basically wouldn't be able to overdrive the top and yet it would respond to a very light touch as well.

I took the two non raffle guitars for a test spin in Tom's amazing guitar room and they certainly did not disappoint. I repeatedly played around exaggerating my dynamics and they delivered as he described. I spoke with Paul at length and provided feedback that I really enjoyed the instruments and joked that I needed to hold off on any talks about purchasing as I was going to win the raffle. Little did I know ...

On to the Scotsman ...

Paul provided some back story to this guitar. Essentially it was his Covid project and he wanted also to tie in the theme of his family roots by making a tartan pattern. As seen from some of the below photos he tied this together from an insane number of individual pieces of wood. He said he spent two years and countless hours putting it together. Truly the photos do not do justice to the depth and beauty and uniqueness of this instrument. He also mentioned that he wanted to do the raffle as an opportunity to give back to the community of hand crafted guitars and their owners for his fortune in being able to make a living out of his passion for building.

The back and sides are from Walnut, Mahogany, and Whiskey Barrel white oak. The top is a doubletop with Lutz / Lutz and Nomex honeycomb. It is S|IG model which is essentially a deeper OM with a larger lower bout.

More details on the construction can be found here:

https://www.luthiersshowcase.com/product/the-scotsman/

The more I look closely at this beautiful instrument the more I am impressed with Paul's craftsmanship. The details are astounding like the way the truss rod cover blends perfectly with the head stock. the nut is a polished work of art the way the slots are cut and the finish on the polish.

When I heard my name called in the drawing I was in absolute shock. I purchased five tickets for the raffle figuring that it would end up going to a good cause. To be clear, while I am very thankful for my lot in life, I rarely win anything. The last raffle I won was about 15 years ago and it was a cakewalk for a five dollar birthday cake. Needless to say this was hardly a comparison and I am so grateful.

Kathy persuaded me to try to play up in front of everyone and I gave it a go figuring I would try a song I know incredibly well. It has history for me as the first real song I ever pulled together as a complete piece. She had heard me playing it earlier and commented on how she enjoyed my performance of it. I often use it to try out steel strings for their bass response and dynamic range. The piece is Spanish Romance and I normally play it on classical.

My incredible luck for the day was all used up in winning the instrument and was not enough to overcome the shaking and adrenaline from winning but I did give it a go and the Scotsman did its best to help me out!

As we settled in to watch the stunning concert from Christie Lenee, she started on her number "The Voice" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0TY0unJJKw.

She introduced the number with a backstory on how the story was about our inner voices with the one being the one that is speaking of how we are not worthy and the other on how we can speak to ourselves to overcome. It resonated with me in that moment to accept that this had actually happened to me and that I can in fact be the one playing this instrument.

The performance goes on and Christie invites Tony McManus up to perform with her. The ask goes out if he can use the Scotsman for the number. I am happy to oblige and had the opportunity to witness two incredible musicians performing, one with my new guitar. Later I joked with him to make sure he left some good notes in the guitar after he was done with it.

I was given a front row seat between Tom and Kathy and recorded the video below. The Scotsman has a K&K pickup in it and it sounded brilliant in this improvised run between them.

This is some of the video from the concert:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1mUaFoxUM7FHfFWy9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JUZmpHYx9KurVR3R9

You could tell that Christie is a huge Tony fan and really enjoyed the chance to play with him. I was assured that the music coming out from Tony was all due to the guitar and that all of my playing will sound equally as good!

More to come later ...