Official Luthiers Forum!

No, it is not one of my own, but one of Dave White's...

After having a liking for his guitars for a couple of years, the opportunity came to ask him to build me a Samhain model late September. It was completed at the end of November and I recieved it this week- Dave didn't get time to photograph it due to the Christmas rush ever approaching and shipping it now prevents delay!

Samhain Fómhar is the name for this guitar, Samhain being the model name, Fómhar, which is Irish Gaelic for "Harvest", indicating the time of year it was built and chosen by myself for personal reasons.

Specs:

Scale Length....650mm
Top....Lutz Spruce
Back & Sides....Cocobolo
Rosette...Cocobolo & BWB purfling
Neck...Flamed Sycamore
Fingerboard...Cocobolo
Tuners...Gold gotohs with custom made cocobolo tuner buttons
binding & purling...Cocobolo & BWB
nut...Cocobolo
saddle...Bone
Bridge...Cocobolo
Binding...Cocobolo with BWB purfling
Headplate...Cocobolo

Finish; Pre-Cat laquer over Z-Poxy,Tru-Oil neck.

I will make a poor attempt at describing the sound; Across the range, the notes are very clear and lively- with a strong presence and intensity; you literally feel every note; the basses are sonourous and bell-like, the trebles are sparkly and soulful; and the tone seems incredibly balanced with no strong overpowering fundamental. I played varying techniques to test drive the limits of this guitar, and it seems that the Samhain can cope admirably with whatever is thrown at it without sounding muddy; from choppy rhythm to gentle finger picking; but the guitar excels in Celtic music, because of the harp-like qualities of the tone. I am a firm believer in buying into tone and playability before looks; and that tone should be there with the guitar's early days. I am anticipating that Samhain Fomhar's tone will flourish and blossom in time.

In conlcusion....I really, really like it!!!

It was a great insight into the other perspective of the custom guitar world, I enjoyed the process and hope I wasn't a fussy customer!!


I am sorry I don't have a sound clip for it yet- finding the space and quiet to record in my house hold is a challenge at the best of times, but I will get somthing done by the end of weekend/early next week. For now, I hope the photographs suffice!!!

The first photograph is a set of my own cocobolo Dave used...I bought this beautiful wood from Russell Rose a couple of years ago, someone who used to be a member of this forum.

Sam . . . wow! That's just beautiful. Nearly as beautiful as the landscape around your home!

Sam...Congratulations on scoring a great looking guitar! Beautiful work, Dave!

Your photography is stunning as is the setting and very much competes with the beauty of the guitar. I'm really looking forward to hearing you play. Thanks for posting.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Sam, I've watched the progress of this guitar from Dave since its inception. You are a very lucky lady indeed to be the proud owner of one of Dave's masterpieces.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Beautiful guitar Sam. I love Dave's work.

Colin it's good to see you posting a bit.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

That is one excellent looking guitar Sam. I'm sure you're very happy.

Well done once again Dave. Beautifully done.

And yes, the setting is quite stunning indeed. Doesn't get much better

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Sam, congratulations on a great looking and I am sure a great sounding guitar, Dave White is an incredible builder.

Oh WOW is that pretty! And photographing it with that beautiful countryside doesn't hurt any either.

I like everything about this guitar and I am sure that you will too Sammy. Congrats on your superb choice of guitar and builder.

And congrats to Dave mon for crafting yet another incredible guitar!

Bless ya Hesh for saying that!!

Thanks every one for your comments.

Because it is not something I have built, I can say in my own thread that this guitar is indeed, very beautiful! If I had an ounce of Dave's talent, I'd be a happy bunny! The scenery is nice enough, but I love the way the Autumnal colours brings out the richness in the Cocobolo.

Couldn't do indoor photography on this one...

On one forum I posted on, where most people think guitars should be locked in a glass case, two people complained it was lefthanded, one compained about the piece of bracken on the bridge in one of the pics and one said it's a bad time of year to take a guitar outside! Ah well, talk about not seeing the wood for the trees...

Thanks again- and I will do everything in my power to get a soundclip up soon. Even if it's not performance quality- it takes me a while to get a good take due to being a perfectionist...

BTW, you can follow the guitar's construction on this page...

http://www.defaoiteguitars.com/page34.htm

Congrats, Sam, that is one glowing example of a guitar. And kudos to Dave for the terrific craftsmanship. I love the cocobolo, that stuff is amazing!

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

I love it, What a lucky lady you are indeed, Sam !
Congratulations !!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I really like the body shape of this guitar. Very fair curves, and, for lack of a better word, sort of "crisp" too. It's one of those instruments that keeps revealing beautiful little touches the longer you look. Very inspiring. Congratulations!
Patrick

Perhaps one of your big brothers needs to weigh in over there and kick some ass!

I'm sure one of your sound clips will grab their attention!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

JJ is right. Obviously those people are either blind or really jealous.

Its beautiful. It is curvaceous without going over the top. It begs to be held and played. David creates visual works of art that have a beautiful soul as well.

As for your photography skills, I loved the shots. When I first saw them I found myself thinking that you had used a camera on a professional level.

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Aoibeann

Not bad for a left handed guitar with a broken saddle.

Yep, Dave hit another one out of the park (I don't know enough about cricket to make that work well for Brits - something like a striker batting on drive, scoring six runs?) Anyway, a fine looking instrument, photographed beautifully! I love the shot of the neck from the side - just perfect depth of field.

Well Sam, enjoy! We look forward to sound clips!

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Very nice; except for him building it backwards.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

It's all been said already Sam, congrats to the both of you......

Shane

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Canada

Just beautiful! I like the wooden nut, the bridge/saddle, and and the sycamore neck. I've not heard of using sycamore on a guitar. Is this American sycamore or from somewhere else? I ask since there is quite a bit of sycamore around where I grew up but I was always afraid it wouldn't be stable.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Well, you gotta like that.
Congratulation Sam!
Oh and a very nice job on Daves part

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Beautiful instrument, beautiful scenery........ However it does look like rain, again.. (Thats a little joke!.....) Again beautiful instrument, Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

Oh My! What a beautiful instrument. Does it have Dave's signiture head block and carbon fiber rods?

Did I say that is a beautiful guitar?? My mind is going and I'm drooling on the laptop.

Congratulations to both and I really like the Celtic name.

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Darryl,

In Europe, Sycamore refers to a species of maple which is what this neck is. What you in the US call Sycamore is called Plane here in Europe (usually London Plane) or sometimes it's referred to as Lacewood. Confusing huh!

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

hey Sam
you lucky girl, love Dave's individual design and the sound he got from his cedar / maple guitar was excellent, so when do we get to hear a sound clip? and maybe a “user report” sometime in the future.
best wishes
Geordie

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some tunes on acoustic and guitar synth.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGeordieAdams
http://www.myspace.com/geordieadams

Sam & Dave (still a soulful combo),
As said elsewhere (w/out bracken and stick comments) this is lovely.
And NOW I know where to photograph my own guitars.
Those shots are incomparable, and give one a useful excuse to deduct the cost of a trip to England. It can now be business.
Why I haven't thought of this before....

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Soundclip!!

Found some space to record at long last. It ain't perfect by a long shot, but here it is...

Humours of Ballyloughlin, DADGAD, fingerpicked & recorded with a Zoom H2, 90 degree mic front setting on the solo, 2 channel surround otherwise. MP3 quality was 256 bit rate before upload. After that, sound quality is at the mercy of Soundclick....

A little gain and stereo butterfly (LFO) on the solo.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getpl...d=7144381&q=hi