Post by mandovark on Jun 26, 2015 16:05:12 GMT
I had a rare clear afternoon today so I took the chance to pop over to Morecambe and spend a very pleasant hour in Promenade Music. One of the staff remembered me from when I brought my Brook Tamar there last summer, so we had a nice chat about how I'd been getting on with it.
Then, naturally, it was down to the guitars. The have a few secondhand Northwoods in at the moment. They're Canadian handmade guitars and I've had mixed experiences with them in the past: a sitka/Brazilian rosewood OM of theirs was one of the nicest guitars I've ever played, but I've also tried a few that have left me cold. Anyway, I started with a sitka/rosewood cutaway OOO. My first impression was that fingerboard felt quite narrow - definitely narrower than my Brook, which would have made it a non-starter for me. It was one of the loudest guitars of its size that I've played, and would be a really good strummer or flatpicker, though it was less impressive fingerpicked. Next up was an Engelmann/rosewood OM. I don't know if it was the different kind of spruce - for some reason, I haven't tended to get on with Engelmann guitars that I've tried - but this one didn't impress me as much. It seemed to lose some of the strumming power without really gaining much in fingerpicking tone.
The next guitar I tried was the only Brook that they currently have in stock. It was a Teign (their dreadnought model) in sitka and rosewood. The neck profile was identical to my Tamar, so it felt very familiar. My first thought on playing this one was that no dreadnought has any right to sound this good fingerpicked. It's superbly balanced - it has the tone of a big guitar, but without anything overpowering or boomy. Intonation was spot on up the neck, and it sounded great with a capo higher up. The trade-off of all this is that it really doesn't sound like a traditional dreadnought - my guess is that it wouldn't appeal to players looking for a rhythm or flatpicking cannon. But for any fingerpickers who like a larger-bodied guitar, the Teign is well worth a look.
I found a Lakewood M-18 (Euro spruce/ovangkol) hidden in a corner and gave it a quick go. Nice guitar, and good value for the money, but it struck me as too similar in character to my Tamar: if I owned both, I don't think the Lakewood would get much use. Moving on from that, I checked out the mandolin section. Not much in at the moment, though I did try a Moon octave mandolin (spruce/maple). I have a soft spot for these thanks to a fondly-remembered 10-string bouzouki that I sold a few years ago. This octave reminded me why I like Moons: it had a nice, sweet tone and really easy playability. Jimmy Moon really knows how to make a fingerboard.
At this point I was about to be on my way, when I noticed one more second-hand Northwood that I hadn't tried earlier. It was a 12-fret, slothead OO in sitka and mahogany. This isn't the kind of guitar I normally go for, but I figured at this point it would be rude not to give it a go. The moment I started playing, I wished I hadn't, because I recognised it as a very real threat to my bank balance. The best way I can describe this one is that it's one of those guitars that comes with new tunes already in there. It played like a dream and sounded wonderful: it had all of the good things about smaller guitars without a hint of boxiness or harshness. It would be a superb blues picker, though I'm not a good enough blues player to make the most of it. But it also had a really atmospheric reverby quality - it's the kind of guitar where you want to pick a string just to listen to the note sustain and decay. This one was very hard to put down. It's absolutely not the kind of instrument that I'm in the market for at the moment, but I still spent most of the journey home trying to think of ways to make my bank account say that I can have it. Someone needs to go in and buy this one quickly to put me out of my misery.
So, all in all, a very pleasant afternoon. Though I'm afraid I was one of those annoying customers who play about 12k worth of guitars and then leave with only a couple of new instrument cables.
Then, naturally, it was down to the guitars. The have a few secondhand Northwoods in at the moment. They're Canadian handmade guitars and I've had mixed experiences with them in the past: a sitka/Brazilian rosewood OM of theirs was one of the nicest guitars I've ever played, but I've also tried a few that have left me cold. Anyway, I started with a sitka/rosewood cutaway OOO. My first impression was that fingerboard felt quite narrow - definitely narrower than my Brook, which would have made it a non-starter for me. It was one of the loudest guitars of its size that I've played, and would be a really good strummer or flatpicker, though it was less impressive fingerpicked. Next up was an Engelmann/rosewood OM. I don't know if it was the different kind of spruce - for some reason, I haven't tended to get on with Engelmann guitars that I've tried - but this one didn't impress me as much. It seemed to lose some of the strumming power without really gaining much in fingerpicking tone.
The next guitar I tried was the only Brook that they currently have in stock. It was a Teign (their dreadnought model) in sitka and rosewood. The neck profile was identical to my Tamar, so it felt very familiar. My first thought on playing this one was that no dreadnought has any right to sound this good fingerpicked. It's superbly balanced - it has the tone of a big guitar, but without anything overpowering or boomy. Intonation was spot on up the neck, and it sounded great with a capo higher up. The trade-off of all this is that it really doesn't sound like a traditional dreadnought - my guess is that it wouldn't appeal to players looking for a rhythm or flatpicking cannon. But for any fingerpickers who like a larger-bodied guitar, the Teign is well worth a look.
I found a Lakewood M-18 (Euro spruce/ovangkol) hidden in a corner and gave it a quick go. Nice guitar, and good value for the money, but it struck me as too similar in character to my Tamar: if I owned both, I don't think the Lakewood would get much use. Moving on from that, I checked out the mandolin section. Not much in at the moment, though I did try a Moon octave mandolin (spruce/maple). I have a soft spot for these thanks to a fondly-remembered 10-string bouzouki that I sold a few years ago. This octave reminded me why I like Moons: it had a nice, sweet tone and really easy playability. Jimmy Moon really knows how to make a fingerboard.
At this point I was about to be on my way, when I noticed one more second-hand Northwood that I hadn't tried earlier. It was a 12-fret, slothead OO in sitka and mahogany. This isn't the kind of guitar I normally go for, but I figured at this point it would be rude not to give it a go. The moment I started playing, I wished I hadn't, because I recognised it as a very real threat to my bank balance. The best way I can describe this one is that it's one of those guitars that comes with new tunes already in there. It played like a dream and sounded wonderful: it had all of the good things about smaller guitars without a hint of boxiness or harshness. It would be a superb blues picker, though I'm not a good enough blues player to make the most of it. But it also had a really atmospheric reverby quality - it's the kind of guitar where you want to pick a string just to listen to the note sustain and decay. This one was very hard to put down. It's absolutely not the kind of instrument that I'm in the market for at the moment, but I still spent most of the journey home trying to think of ways to make my bank account say that I can have it. Someone needs to go in and buy this one quickly to put me out of my misery.
So, all in all, a very pleasant afternoon. Though I'm afraid I was one of those annoying customers who play about 12k worth of guitars and then leave with only a couple of new instrument cables.