Official Luthiers Forum!

I finally got my friend Johnnie May to record a couple of clips of #5 this afternoon. One shows off the bass pretty well, and the other the trebles.

Wilde Mountain Thyme, Arr: Scott Tennant

Barrios', El Catedral (First Movement)

Reminder of #5

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Sounds great, Waddy! But, the second link didn't work for me.

Joe

Very nice Waddy, but the second sound file in your clips directory is incorrectly named

http://waddythomson.com/Clips/Barrios_La_Catedral_on_5.mp3

To protect your clips directory from being viewed by snoopers (like myself).
You should upload a blank HTML file to the directory, that way, anyone that tries to navigate your file structure, will only view a blank page.

Your #5 is lovely and so is your friends playing.

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John S.

The link is working for me. I was having problems with it when I first uploaded it, but now it's working.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

They both sound great Waddy!

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Bobby Masten

I see what I did wrong now. You have it right, and I have it wrong. El, La... I'm not too good at languages!

The second clip should be http://waddythomson.com/Clips/Barrios_L ... l_on_5.mp3 not what I had in my first post. Sorry guys. When I saw what I did it had been too long to edit.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nice sounding Waddy, thanks for posting those.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Hi Waddy


The treble notes really sound very nice, especially the 12th fret E and F# note.
They really rings.
The 7th fret B note also rings nicely.
I think the relief for the open E could be a bit on the low side, I hear some sort of buzzing at the 1st fret.
Any chance to record the 2nd movement too?
I would like to listen to the bass.

Sen

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

I can get a hint of the tone of this instrument through my laptop computer speakers, I can only imagine that the real guitar must sound much better. Sounds pretty good!

I'd love to get mine recorded...one of these days.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Sounds lovely Waddy.
What is your action height at the 12th?

Thanks fellows, I was disappointed when I listened at home on my laptop. I normalized the clips to about 40% at my office, and they sounded pretty good, but the volume was lacking on the laptop. I should probably re-do them to about 50 or 60% and see if the dynamics are still there. I was afraid I would kill the dynamics, and both pieces depend on them. Johnnie is a good player. He showed up at my office and knocked off these in a couple of takes each. We had to re-do a couple for door slams and phone rings and email arrivals that we didn't think of before recording. This guitar has an interesting voice. Very big bass that someone like Johnny can control, and trebles that are very crystalline and even the fretted notes in some places are exactly the same as the open harmonic on another string.

David, the action height at the 12th is just under 3mm on the high E and very close to 4 on the low E. However, and I don't understand this, it is much easier to play than any of my others even though they have lower action. Johnnie thinks so too, and he has been playing my #3 since I finished it last year. I just let him keep it on loan. He loves the sound of it.

Johnnie is going to do some studio recordings for me later in the year on all of my guitars. He's a good friend to have, if you are building classical guitars.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Sen, if I could play, I would do it, but I'm a klutz at playing, except for my ensemble stuff. I do little solo playing. Also, I have trouble controlling the bass on this guitar. I get a lot of growl when I play because I always play with a heavy hand. I could never do what Johnnie does. Maybe when he takes it in the studio in a couple of months.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

The clarity and that crystalline quality on the trebles are really impressive.
Is that carbon strings?

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Build log

Thanks, Alex!

I use Oasis Carbon, Medium Tension Trebles and Savarez Corum Alliance, Normal Tension, basses. It is a great combination IMO. YMMV. The player, Johnnie, loves Gali Genius Titano's in Medium Tension. He feels they sound like matured strings faster, which a lot of players like, matured strings, that is.

He told me that he was playing #3 along with the Granery Guitars CD, on the Romanillos piece, and it was amazing how close it sounded. I loaned him the CD before I even got to listen to it.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Are you nuts? Grab it back asap, it is wonderful.

Is #5 the one with a thicker soundboard edge than before? I think it shows in the air resonance, I peaked a little at the graph and it seems to be pretty high.

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Build log

Sounds great to my ol' ears Waddy. Good clarity and separation... Keep up the great work!!

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Peter

The one I just sent you is #6, on the bench now. Thicker edges, but with a primary peak at about 76 HZ. I already have the CD back. Will try to give it a listen this weekend.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Great sound there Waddy!
It sounds to me very balanced, and in tune as well!
There's nothing like a classical git-box,
nothin' like it.
Bass sounds like a piano.

I love it, and Wild Mountain Thyme is one of my absolute favs. Kudos.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Thanks, Alan and Steve. I like Wilde Mountain Thyme too, and that arrangement is really outstanding for a solo arrangement with a little twist.

I tweaked the clips a little and re-normalized them at about 80%, which gives better volume.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I've often wondered...why do so many people refer to a guitar as "piano sounding"?

I want my guitars to sound like guitars. If I'd wanted piano sounds I'd have stuck with my piano lessons wayyyy back when!

I can't figure out what the best emoticon is for this, pick something cheeky.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Well, when I was young, a luthier I talked to strummed the strings on a guitar he built,
and said to me "sounds like a piano".
It stuck to me.