New guitar...pending

[euge_o_rama]

I wasn't planning to post anything on this topic until there was something to post. Gary surprised me by moving at hyper speed and gave me reason to post earlier than expected.

My friend Gary has taken up guitar building. He's been pressing me to order an instrument from him for a little while. Well, I really didn't need and really hadn't

Comments

[carlosbarientos]

Congrats! Like his idea of bound fingerboards...

[euge_o_rama]

It's a great idea and makes for great comfort. However, at least for the way I hold the guitar, it renders the frets functionally invisible. My "classical" instruments don't ordinarily have position markers, but I can still see where the frets are seated along the edge of the fingerboard. This does facilitate substantial position changes. I suspect that if I spent some time with one of Gary's bound guitars and became accustomed to its scale and spacing, the invisible frets would become a total non-issue, but they do make it a little awkward in just briefly picking up a guitar to noodle for the first time.

Things I want from a new guitar...

[carlosbarientos]

Some ideas I am putting together

Re: Things I want from a new guitar...

[euge_o_rama]

Wacky! Let me know how it plays when you score such a thing.

By the way, I just replied to half a dozen posts at the Topica guitar summit, and none seem to have appeared online. I don't receive posts to that forum by e-mail. Did you get any by e-mail? I know one friend ay OSU created a problem with some auto-reply feedback loop. Did all *osu.edu end up getting blocked?

[anonymous]

Cocobolo is so beautiful to look at, a good choice I would say. About the brazil rosewood, I don`t understand the fixation by guitarists and luthiers on that one. I think that the most important factor on backs is the density of the wood, the denser the wood, the thinner you can make it. This combined with the flexibility/workability of the wood.

[tom_edskes]

That was me....

[euge_o_rama]

Have you ever seen wenge as a tone wood? It is very dense and hard. It's tap tone practically pings like a xylophone. It can make for some lovely guitars, but can be a little too much.

[tom_edskes]

Never heard/seen it and it is all to the luthier to make it sound. Do you know a builder who uses it ?

[calatrava]

Cocobolo is the finest wood, even if there were still an availability of Brazilian rosewood, I would prefer cocobolo, it's much better from all viewpoints.

[euge_o_rama]

Thank you for your affirmation, Angelo. The timber of cocobolo is oily, and so difficult to glue. However, it is beautiful and still easily available. It also makes excellent pegs; I have a ca. 1835 mandolin without machines that I just had re-pegged in cocobolo. Its hardness is excellent for the purpose, and its oiliness is almost self-lubricating.

I think the only thing Brazilian rosewood can claim is tradition. It was standard for so long, and guitarists raved so loudly about it and the "old days" as it became scarce that those without experience with other rosewood species believe Brazilian is the golden standard. Another problem with Brazilian rosewood is that its black-colored lines of figure are weak points that are prone to cracking in old age.

[calatrava]

I admit that Indian rosewood is not good looking, and of course Brazilian rosewood pleases eyes much more, but almost all the guitars with a Brazilian rosewood I owned have cracked, whilst the cocobolo guitar I had until some years ago didn't crack at all, it sounded better and it was also looking better, with its natural colors.

This is not an ad!

[carlosbarientos]

$3500 later, I have a beautifully figured guitar with a Rosewood back and sides that is cracked everywhere. Cocobolo, doesn't crack? Sold

[filialucis]

Marvellous! I love both the look and the sound of cocobolo, and I agree that Brazilian isn't worth the extra price. To be honest, I tend to feel that rosewood guitars are more likely than other woods to sound a bit bland and lacking in personality; at any rate, I've never played a rosewood guitar that I'd have wanted to own.

And Panormo? Oh very yes. Remember Saara? :)

[euge_o_rama]

And Panormo? Oh very yes. Remember Saara?

I do indeed! How is the instrument treating you in recent times? I haven't been patrolling LJ as often as I'd like, but I haven't seen a musical post from you on my friends page for a little while.

To me, all the rosewoods (any Dalbergia spp. used as tone wood) sound similar. I don't believe I could consistently identify rosewood species in a well-made guitar by tone alone. The rosewoods seem to me to have a relatively complex set of overtones and a balanced aural decay. In contrast, maples (which I also like) often have a tone more focused on the principal and a rapid decay of all but the high aspects. It's only my personal perception, but I think of maple as having a beautiful linear tone with good note separation and rosewood as having a tone that favors good note interaction in support of rich-voiced chords.

[filialucis]

I haven't been posting about music much, but I did mention Saara a few weeks ago to say that I'm really happy with the way she's developing. And so is La Maestra. I like the sound so much that if I were in the market for a new full-sized guitar, I'd abandon all the tropical woods and go for maple. I love the darker tone, and a well-built maple guitar will have almost the same clarity as one made of more exotic woods. (Saara has killer separation; other period copies I've played are utterly muddy by comparison.)

[matanya]

I opted for a Central American rosewood species, cocobolo

Good choice. My seven-string Rompré is cocobolo. Best modern guitar I ever owned.

[euge_o_rama]

Thanks for yet more affirmation, Matanya.