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Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
 Posted - 01/02/2007 : 4:21:39 PM
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6665726
SoundClips: Audio Experiences
The Music of Guitar Wood
All Things Considered, December 22, 2006 ยท Master luthier TJ Thompson of West Concord, Mass., demonstrates how guitar wood sounds before it's made into guitars... and how a guitar-maker's task is to find the music in the wood.
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Andy |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2007 : 4:38:43 PM
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Yeah, heard this live. Neat. BUT, I have heard other sets that equal his Adirondack, like, for instance a flitch that Kawika Hurd split from a cedar stump. It had 2 blue sap stripes and rang like a temple gong. Yes, cedar, which is supposed to be soft and mushy. (I was stupid and asked him to save it for me, not knowing that he would never make another instrument that didn't go to Japan.)
And then there was a whole series of sets that Kim Walker tapped out for a class from the architecture school at Yale (a lesson in the properties of wood) - sounded like a carillon. TJ is swell, but I think he has a bias toward Ad. The German sounded dull and I *know* others don't sound like that, because they are in my house. And yours, too, Andy.
BTW, TJ thinks that every guitar should be a 30's Martin. Just so you know. And a friend of mine heard TJ's latest at a New Year Day picking party at Kim's. Kim said he would have been proud to have made it.
Fun, though.
...Reid |
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javeiro
Lokahi
USA
459 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 2:41:55 PM
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| Interesting clip and the concept does seem to make some sense. I would guess that even various guitars made from a particular species of wood, or even from the same tree, might sound different not only because of differences in the grain, density and other characteristics of the wood but also because of all the other variables in the guitar making process. To illustrate the point, I remember when my brother was visiting us a couple of years ago, he was on a quest for an all mahoghany Martin. He played many of them in various stores and ended up buying one from Guitar Center in Tukwila. Even there, they happened to have three of the same model in stock. He tried all three of them and they all sounded slightly different. |
Aloha,
John A. |
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JeffC
Lokahi
USA
189 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 3:30:51 PM
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| I had a similar experience when I was shopping for my Martin. At the time I narrowed it down to the D28s and played all the ones Gryphon had in stock at the time, and settled on the one that sounded best to my ear at the time. They all had differences, despite being made from the same woods. |
Jeff
Making Trout Country safe for Slack Key! |
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slackkeymike
Lokahi
440 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2007 : 08:31:19 AM
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There is a video teaching series over at Luthiersforum.com. This is all about tap-tone. If some would like, I could send the videos to Andy (or you could just go to the forum and watch them).
Mike |
Aloha, Mike |
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