Body shape

[strawintogold]

Oh, sorry, lol. I'm sure it was my misunderstanding I'm a little fried.

It sounds like they have a chronic case of old man musings. You know, back in the day, blah, blah. Which is stupid, things evolve. Just because they don't initially evolve successfully doesn't meant they should be discounted. Frankly, I don't see it as a failing on Guild's part at all, I mean, how many airplanes did the Wright Brothers go through?

I for one, hope they work it out because those are pretty guitars. I might be able to work past my bolt on 'thing' if they could tweak the design sucessfully. You know, I'm the kind of person who doesn't want THE BRAND NAME which is why I started looking at Larrivee in the first place. Who wants to have the same guitar everyone else does just because everyone else does? I'm more likely to look at someone whi is trying something new because it tells me there is a creative energy in place.

Don't let the grumblers get you down. Years from now they'll be saying the same thing. Misery loves company, but it's not one I think either of us enjoy.

holly

[GA-ME]

"I think most people buy guitars with their egos rather than their ears...."   This could not be stated any better. Most fiddle players look at guitars and see perfectly good wood mucked up with plastic finishes. Guitarists by and large buy with eyes not ears!

My friend is a virtouso on several stringed instruments and makes his living performing and repairing instruments. He regularly plays as a solo act on what he considers the best acoustic guitar he has ever owned. It's a SCGC OM in EI Rosewood/ADI and people come up to him all the time and say that guitar sounds great, almost as good as a Martin. He just says thanks while thinking, I'm an authorized Martin service guy and in 40+ years of playing/repairing I've never had a Martin that sounded this good!

He has owned this particular OM for over 15 years now, the longest any guitar has hung around, and says it sounds better than nearly all the highly sought after pre-war Martins he has ever handled. Now, his family used to own several area music stores and when they started out they used to go to Philly, Baltimore, D.C. and raid the pawn shops, in the late fifties, buying up the guitars that are so treasured now for used stock. He has had MANY great guitars in his hands and he says it fascinates him how many people "hear" with their eyes and not ears.

[Danny]

"I think most people buy guitars with their egos rather than their ears...."   This could not be stated any better. Most fiddle players look at guitars and see perfectly good wood mucked up with plastic finishes. Guitarists by and large buy with eyes not ears!

My friend is a virtouso on several stringed instruments and makes his living performing and repairing instruments. He regularly plays as a solo act on what he considers the best acoustic guitar he has ever owned. It's a SCGC OM in EI Rosewood/ADI and people come up to him all the time and say that guitar sounds great, almost as good as a Martin. He just says thanks while thinking, I'm an authorized Martin service guy and in 40+ years of playing/repairing I've never had a Martin that sounded this good!

He has owned this particular OM for over 15 years now, the longest any guitar has hung around, and says it sounds better than nearly all the highly sought after pre-war Martins he has ever handled. Now, his family used to own several area music stores and when they started out they used to go to Philly, Baltimore, D.C. and raid the pawn shops, in the late fifties, buying up the guitars that are so treasured now for used stock. He has had MANY great guitars in his hands and he says it fascinates him how many people "hear" with their eyes and not ears.

Very good thoughts GA-ME. I am tring to learn how to "tap" the tops of gits and hear the differences. I don't buy on looks alone myself. In fact the LSV-11 which was the best looking guitar I have owned to date took me the longest time to decide to buy it.
       However I have very high hopes for the soon to be finished F-III, I think looks will be there, although understated. But much more so I believe the sound will be what I want. That's why I did not go for a cut a way, and why I chose Mahogany to compliment the Italian Spruce top.  It seems to me this choice will ''fit me" perfectly.
        If I could afford a SCGC or Collings 00 size I would have it. I believe these smaller companies are making some great sounding gits. (not bad on the eyes either though)

[GA-ME]

Danny, I feel you on the learning curve. I have been really trying to learn and understand what a Great Guitar means for me. The rebuild of my Soverieign is coming alog nicely and I have learned so much in this proces. The new Adi top and bracing are on and sanded to final thickness. The neck is roughed out and the heel carved and its fitted to the body. I just have to finish carving the neck and pop the fingerboard back off to install the truss rod and then cut the trussrod cavity into the neck block and top.

After that its just a matter of finishing the guitar and  fretting and gluing the neck on and set up. I really learned a lot by voicing the top and bracing. There really is a point, when you take your time, that the top just comes alive. I was shaving braces and shaving braces and gettin nervous and then wammo the top tap tone just seemed to get bell like and a real nice tight note resonating out. I had left the top thick, around .12 and glued it up to the body. The back was way more resonate and musical when tapped than the front was. I wanted it thicker where it met the kerfing, becuase I was letting the tone bars float rather than notching them in.

After all the neck fitting was done I had a couple of dings I needed to steam out and sand down and then I started sanding the top dow with 100 grit. Man, in a few minutes it happened again, the top just came alive and was vibating so musically. When you hold her and talk she just resonates your voice so well. When I hold her close to a radio/stero you can feel the air pumping out of her like someone is blowing breath on your face. I took her to Junior's shop and he said man that is better than I expected you to get her. Its going to sound good. I was high as a kite from his simple statemets. Now, lets just hope she has enough structiral support when I string her up.

I figure when I have completed a doze or two guitars I might start to really know something about this stuff 'cause just the couple of repairs and making this guitar has taught me so much already!

[Danny]

  I'm hoping you have some pics of this to eventually share with us. It would help me and others who are attempting to repair old guitars. In fact my Fender/Sovereign needs repairs, but it has to wait for now. I was told that mine has Brazilian RW fretboard and bridge and Brazilian Mahogany sides and back. So someday I'll make it a smooth player.