Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Can't remember if I posted this before, but I assume I did. Not there now. Anyway....

Cocobolo back and sides
Lutz top
Lacewood Bindings
Spanish Cedar 5 piece neck with V-joint
Ebony fretboard
Cocobolo bridge
Gotoh Premium Tuning Machines
Ryan A-4 Kerfed back linings
Romanillos inspired body and bracing, as usual
French Polish finish
Recently, my friend Johnny May came by and did a couple of sound clips for me on this guitar. The first Wilde Mountain Thyme, Arr: Scott Tennant shows off the bass side of the guitar nicely. The second Barrios', La Catedral really brings out the treble side of this guitar. Both recordings were done in my office, using a Zoom H-4 recorder with no effects added. I did normalize them to about 80% to get the levels up for listening on the computer. The Barrios piece was really played very gently, and with broad dynamics.

Thanks for looking.

She sounds absolutely beautiful. I think I'm in love.

Thanks, Lillian! It's hard to tell someone how gently he was playing on the Barrios piece. It was like he was barely tweaking the strings, except for the louder portions, but even then he was not digging in. Johnnie is a good player. Currently, he's an unemployed Civil Engineer with a second degree in Music with a Guitar Performance option. I have let him keep my #3 now for the last year as a performance guitar. He really likes #5, and I may have to swap out with him, as he'll be playing in a competition in the Spring. However, before I do that, I want some other players to try it out. It, interestingly, has higher action than my last three, but is, amazingly, easier to play. Not sure I fully understand why, but really need to.

Lillian wrote:She sounds absolutely beautiful. I think I'm in love.

And I am the jealous rival.

Jim

I feel for John. The County just terminated the last of our consultant contracts. All the engineering will be done in house until things turn around. It's tough being a Civil right now. I wish him the best of luck in his contest.

I wonder if it would be worth you doing a new nut for one of the others to raise the action a bit and see what that does for it's playability.

Jim, I'm closer than you are.

Granted the entire country is between me and that guitar, but at least I don't have any huge bodies of water to deal with.

Thanks. None of them are bad, I was just surprised by this one. I was playing along, and noticed that I didn't have the usual flubbed notes on bar chords. Then, when I was talking to Johnnie about the action, and how high it was, and it's within the norms, he also commented about how easy it was to play.