| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
 Posted - 05/11/2004 : 02:09:56 AM
|
Piffle
Thanks for the web site, I will check it out. As for the wood, the few I have seen were the same throughout, and I plan to do the same; koa, top to bottom, front to back Think I might use a chunk of walnut from the old farm back east for the headstock, end block maybe the bridge. Fossil ovory nut. The only other deviation from koa I am contemplating at the moment is maybe a wild piec e of birdseye maple or some purple heart for the fingerboard. I want to try to get some of the rope binding, too. Met a feelow on Maui who makes the Bear Creek guitars, makes his own "rope", so i will try to buy some from him. THink that would look cool.
Raymond, as far as the tone goes, that is myh biggest worry, that it will sound worthy of the components i use. I do have a good friend who is a luthier, and I will ask him if he can give me sone guidance in that regard. It sure would be worth the price. Just going throught thcatalogs looking for tools is mind boggling. You coujld invest enough to buy several vintage Weissenborns for the amount you might spend on tools if you got every "indispensible" tool they advertise. Gotta start somewhere, got the wwod, the desire, willing to find the time. Put me in, coach!
Karl |
Karl
Frozen North |
 |
|
|
`Ilio Nui
`Olu`olu
USA
826 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2004 : 10:35:43 AM
|
I've never bought a guitar in my life. All my guitars have bought me. After my '60s rock and roll days I took a ten year break from music (of course two years in the Army, a few years in college and a wife who didn't support my playing contributed to this). Once free from those restrictions (including the wife) it was time to buy a guitar. I went looking for what I knew to be the best: Martin, Gibson, Guild, etc.I played them all in every music store in the SF Bay Area. They all sucked. One day I picked up and Ovation (God knows I'd never buy a plastic guitar) and it was magic. It played itself. I bought it and it was my main axe for many years. Even though I don't like the narrow neck for Slack, It still sounds good for the folk-rock style I played for years. The same story applies to the two very old Santa Cruz dreadnoughts I bought in the early '80s. Koa backs and sides (they used Koa because it was cheaper than Rosewood) and Spruce tops. There was a magic about the feel and sound. For deep tunings like Ni`ihau/Moana Loa there's nothing better to my ears. After attending my first Aloha Music Camp in `01 I realized I needed a different guitar (there went the Ovation). Again, I went on a search with a bias towards Martin, etc. I had played Taylors, but wasn't much impressed. Guess what I ended up buying., A 314 Taylor cutaway, Imbuia Wood back and sides, with a spruce top. Even after it played me for the first time I put it back on the shelf and said if it was still there in a month and it was still magical, I'll buy it. Well.... About six months later I was in Los Gatos Guitar Gallery and there were many luscious guitars on the wall (Huss and Dalton, Goodall, Larrivee, Klaxton, etc) There was a small dreadnought by a luthier in Truckee, CA, named Randall Kramer. I should never have picked it up. My God, it had Rosewood sides and everybody knows that's no good for Slack Key. It's my main baby now and to my ears I'd put it up against all comers.
After that long winded diatribe, I just want to suggest GO PLAY as many guitars as you can. When one picks you, money won't be nearly as important as the joy of making music with your soulful wooden partner. Have you ever seen Ozzie's Beach Guitar or John Keawe's Gomes? They're beat, but they're beautiful.
Mahalo
`Ilio nui, Dr. Dave, Dave (whichever. It's all good) |
Edited by - `Ilio Nui on 05/11/2004 10:43:32 AM |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
