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Anybody have his voicing dvds? And if so how do you like them?

John: you don't seem to be getting any feed back on this and that surprises me so I'll start. I have one of Kent's dvds on voicing.I think it's worth while but then I'm a glutton for any data that is out there.Kent has built close to 1000 guitars I think and certainly he knows what he is doing.He is very sure of his material and very reinforcing in what he tries to put across.He takes a different approach in how he shapes his bracing and also in the shape that he makes the bracing conform to.He does a number of tops in the demo part and explains the how and why as he goes along.There is also a couple of classroom type sessions on the dvd.To me it's well worth the money and I'm sure just about everyone who watches gets something from it.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I definitely think it's well worth the money, particularly for the section on figuring out what the right thickness is.

I have the DVD and I'm glad I purchased it. He doesn't build the exact tone I'm wanting to build, but I still learned lots. Kent builds a guitar with very even output across all the notes (doesn't want any note louder than the next). He also gives his theories about particular issues in a fairly long classroom session. He has a different approach and I'm sure you will learn something.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I have his DVD, used the info with good results. The top thicknessing was very helpful.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

I just purchased and watched the videos last month. Tom's description is accurate. Kent is confident in his techniques and specific on many points of what he is doing. It is his technique though, he knows how to make a guitar to sound his way and shows how to do it. I learned quite a bit from the video and do need to watch it a second time.

Kent does struggle with teaching some of the elements of voicing though, and he shares the frustration of the viewer knowing that we are hungry for the info that has to do with how the changes in bracing affect specific parameters of tone. To paraphrase "You want to hear that moving this brace a little like that will create more of this tone, it doesn't work like that" I will not argue that, I do want to understand how moving the bracing effects tone, I thought that is what voicing is, and I thought that is what the video would be all about. It was more about all the other details that influence tone, and there are quite a few.

Kent goes through a great list of variables that one can use in changing the guitars tone without changing the guitar much and recommends for the beginners, play with this and that first, don't change the bracing patterns. He does at the end recommend moving the x brace closer to the sound hole from a standard plan, but that is all you get in terms of manipulating the brace location for tone.

As a beginner I found the video very educational and will certainly be using information from these videos in future guitar work. Kent does a great job of explaining his thought process used to create the recommendations.
The student level that he is teaching to would be advanced beginner. If you are building guitar #1-5, I believe Kent's recipe will benefit your top and back and overall sound. If you are on guitars 5-10 there will be some interesting tips that are useful, and some things to try differently. If you are looking to understand how the guitar works, discussions on dipoles and Chladni stuff, this video does not go into that.

Personally I was hoping for more info on dipoles and mechanics, perhaps the Carruth video would have been a better choice for the information I am after. To conclude, I learned a ton, but was still hungry at the end of the meal. I will purchase his set up DVD at some point.

I would love to hear reviews of some of the other videos. Like a guitar, the lessons can not be all things to all people.
Rob

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I have also enjoyed the video and would recommend it. I added some of his ideas to my last three guitars and like the results. It sorta filled in some gaps for me.

Chuck

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I have it as well, but I will say that I got a lot more out of John Mayes' vid.

I must admit I bought the DVD and enjoyed some of his methodology, but I'm not keen on the way his braces were so square, but it works for him, and lets face it without playing any of the guitars made by the people whom are on the DVDs how can you gauge which technique gives the tone you like? I must say I prefered Alan Carruths DVD and John Mayes Advanced voicing is all you really need, I'd even go as far as saying save for the Ervin Somogyi books and the John Mayes and Alan Carruth DVDs to your collection and you'll have all you ever really need then like me you'll need to build like mad to find what works for you.

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes