De Faoite Samradh Road Trip - South London to High Wycombe!
May 30, 2016 19:20:53 GMT
gekko, ocarolan, and 5 more like this
Post by earwighoney on May 30, 2016 19:20:53 GMT
Greetings to my dear friends of the forum,
The 'Samhain Taistealaí' Road Trip was an cornerstone of the 'old' forum, which I intently read and listened to the recordings which were a very educational and informative experience and provided introductions to not just De Faoite guitars but the myriad of players who frequent the forum who many of whom I am lucky enough to now call my friends. Several years later and a forum incarnation, I find myself involved in my first Road Trip and I would like to share my experiences of the guitar which I hope be at least partly as informative as some of the other reviews for prior Road Trips.
I collected Samradh from Mel in Crystal Palace and took the 249 bus (an important detail I must stress...) to my home in SW17, then the London Underground with inebriated Yorkshiremen on their way to Wembley Stadium for the Hull Sheffield Playoff Final and I took the guitar back to it's creator in High Wycombe.
Now, on to start the review...
I'd like to start by writing about the guitar in regards to it's 'components' before moving onto the design and considering the guitar as a whole.
Lutz Spruce Soundboard
Lutz is a variety of spruce (a naturally occurring hybrid of Sitka and White Spruces) I read a few descriptions it was close Red Spruce in it's character but I myself would describe Lutz to have the pleasing silky trebles of Sitka and the crisp attack of European Spruce but as ever it's difficult to make an evaluation of the character of a wood without making a lot of presumptions as there are a multitude of other contributing factors.
The soundboard is a really beautiful piece of spruce with golden hues and figuring. The picture below was taken with a flash and there is some element of the distorting some of the colours but it is fairly representative of the colour of the soundboard.
American Black Walnut Back and Sides
The Black Walnut I would describe as being close to Mahogany in some ways but with richer bass and trebles with a bit more sustain.
Macassar Ebony Fretboard and Bridge
Macassar is a harder and heavier than African and Indian Ebonies which are used and I believe it felt harder to the touch, and it's also less prone to shrinking and cracking than it's African and Indian counterparts; which I believe is a good thing (from unfortunate personal experiences sadly!)
Now I'll move onto some features of the guitar's design
Body Shape
The Samradh's lower bout is around the 15" mark and my point of association with other acoustic guitars in that category of size of lower bout is the OM. I found the tighter waist of the Samradh in comparison to my OM made it a very comfortable instrument. The florentine cutaway at the body join at the 13th fret allows easy access to the frets up the fretboard.
Finish
The pre-catalysed lacquer finish was very smooth to the touch, and seems to provide a good amount of durability or protection whilst being aesthetically pleasing alternative to instruments with shiny plastic finishes I own/despise.
Side Sound Port
The side sound port provided some sound towards the direction of the player and it provided a chance to look at the bracing and the guitar innards from a different angle; an unexpected source of visual stimulus in the midst of playing when my mind wonders.
Neck Construction
The multi piece neck reinforced with a truss rod and carbon fibres felt very solid and stiff with a D profile shape that retained the same thickness all the way up.
I'll now move on to my observations to how I found the guitar as a player
Ergonomics
Although the guitar is on the larger side of my personal preferences, the combination of the tighter waist and the 13th body join gave it a very comfortable body position for my picking hand and right shoulder.
The extra width at the nut (46mm to the 44.45mm) was a nice touch and the slight increase of space at the nut was appreciated. One aspect I was less taken by was the string spacing at the saddle which was a bit narrow for my likings.
Neck Profile
It didn't long to adjust to Samradh's D shaped neck profile and once I did, I found it's shape which seems to keep to the same thickness up and down the neck and my fretting hand moved up and down with great ease.
Sound and Tonality
Appreciating the inherent difficulties of describing a sense which is incredibly personal, to my ears I found the guitar to be really well balanced across the tonal spectrum, with basses, middles and trebles equally favoured, the lower registers were always articulate, and I found the trebles to be silky and there was a pleasing separation to the midrange. The guitar had a surprising amount of bass as well, which I think the 13th fret join contributes.
12 fret body joins are seen to have increased bass to their 14 fret counterparts, and 14 frets in addition to easier access to higher frets have balance up the higher frets of the fretboard. From my observations, Samradh did have a pleasing amount of bass and was incredibly balanced up the fretboard, but with the bass was always balanced.
As a player I really enjoyed the tonality which the instrument was capable of producing. My preconceptions were Dave's guitars were best suited to a lighter touch, but I didn't expect Samradh to equally resonant as when played with a greater attack, which in my preference is with brass fingerpicks and the guitar excelled at John Fahey style ragtime. I found possibly down to the EVO Gold frets fingerpicks produced occasional 'zing' on the unwound strings I presume from the EVO Golds if my picking hand was closer to the bridge, something I saw as a reminder to keep my picking hand as close to the sound hole as irrespective of using nails or fingerpicks the guitar was it's best with the picking hand over the sound hole.
Prior to taking delivery of Samradh, I was playing a Red Spruce/Mahogany 12 Fret 00 which is an incredibly loud guitar, and I have found controlling it's volume and voice to be very testing. In comparison I found Samradh's volume was much more manageable and controllable, there was a lot of tonality in it's dynamic range for expression and worked equally well with lighter and more forceful right hand techniques, which I'm unable to say for my 12 Fret 00.
The following links are recordings of improvisations, with Samradh strung with Phosphor Bronze John Pearse 12-53's recorded with a Zoom H5's inbuilt microphones placed about 12" from the sound hole and the recordings are provided with no effects. Apologies for the rushed nature of the recordings and the improvisation based nature of the pieces allow more mistakes and chord repetition than I would have liked but nonetheless I hope they provide a glimpse of the guitar's capabilities and an insight into the voice of the instrument.
The following pieces are performed in Csus2
app.box.com/s/7sua5iew16s0cbuatdvz2mrsiodoab4b
app.box.com/s/3bcduzv7af5w72uebfe9ixjqps7oi3bx
app.box.com/s/810gv3hkv1msjytfqeeggn0thx4jai1k
app.box.com/s/ws1lab75mu5t6opgg6h290ub8skleem7
app.box.com/s/u98l4vlpmd5lbrzgvwx1tzumvl9cace7
The following pieces are performed in Open G
app.box.com/s/xa8zgdtgxt2fjuxkj5vc35ttmlh3hctb
app.box.com/s/e1pdn82p6wrm83twwjt93wptd9yyldxv
app.box.com/s/6p633ktxyvi2c0m1ztk629kkjq9xdgrw
app.box.com/s/g3drvoj5dbwyuu7dojugbnkudaoh4c0r
Final Thoughts
The Lutz/Walnut De Faoite Samradh was a delight to play; it exceeded my expectations for it's ergonomic considerations and tonal capabilities. It was also a window to playing a guitar different in character to the ones I own and to aspects which I hadn't experienced in the flesh including a florentine cutaway, a sound port and a 13th fret join. The latter feature was something I only noticed after 5 days of having the guitar in my possession as until then I had been too busy playing the guitar to look at it.
Thanks to Dave for allowing me to be in possession of one of his guitars on this Road Trip, it was a really informative experience and most of all a really enjoyable one.
The 'Samhain Taistealaí' Road Trip was an cornerstone of the 'old' forum, which I intently read and listened to the recordings which were a very educational and informative experience and provided introductions to not just De Faoite guitars but the myriad of players who frequent the forum who many of whom I am lucky enough to now call my friends. Several years later and a forum incarnation, I find myself involved in my first Road Trip and I would like to share my experiences of the guitar which I hope be at least partly as informative as some of the other reviews for prior Road Trips.
I collected Samradh from Mel in Crystal Palace and took the 249 bus (an important detail I must stress...) to my home in SW17, then the London Underground with inebriated Yorkshiremen on their way to Wembley Stadium for the Hull Sheffield Playoff Final and I took the guitar back to it's creator in High Wycombe.
Now, on to start the review...
I'd like to start by writing about the guitar in regards to it's 'components' before moving onto the design and considering the guitar as a whole.
Lutz Spruce Soundboard
Lutz is a variety of spruce (a naturally occurring hybrid of Sitka and White Spruces) I read a few descriptions it was close Red Spruce in it's character but I myself would describe Lutz to have the pleasing silky trebles of Sitka and the crisp attack of European Spruce but as ever it's difficult to make an evaluation of the character of a wood without making a lot of presumptions as there are a multitude of other contributing factors.
The soundboard is a really beautiful piece of spruce with golden hues and figuring. The picture below was taken with a flash and there is some element of the distorting some of the colours but it is fairly representative of the colour of the soundboard.
American Black Walnut Back and Sides
The Black Walnut I would describe as being close to Mahogany in some ways but with richer bass and trebles with a bit more sustain.
Macassar Ebony Fretboard and Bridge
Macassar is a harder and heavier than African and Indian Ebonies which are used and I believe it felt harder to the touch, and it's also less prone to shrinking and cracking than it's African and Indian counterparts; which I believe is a good thing (from unfortunate personal experiences sadly!)
Now I'll move onto some features of the guitar's design
Body Shape
The Samradh's lower bout is around the 15" mark and my point of association with other acoustic guitars in that category of size of lower bout is the OM. I found the tighter waist of the Samradh in comparison to my OM made it a very comfortable instrument. The florentine cutaway at the body join at the 13th fret allows easy access to the frets up the fretboard.
Finish
The pre-catalysed lacquer finish was very smooth to the touch, and seems to provide a good amount of durability or protection whilst being aesthetically pleasing alternative to instruments with shiny plastic finishes I own/despise.
Side Sound Port
The side sound port provided some sound towards the direction of the player and it provided a chance to look at the bracing and the guitar innards from a different angle; an unexpected source of visual stimulus in the midst of playing when my mind wonders.
Neck Construction
The multi piece neck reinforced with a truss rod and carbon fibres felt very solid and stiff with a D profile shape that retained the same thickness all the way up.
I'll now move on to my observations to how I found the guitar as a player
Ergonomics
Although the guitar is on the larger side of my personal preferences, the combination of the tighter waist and the 13th body join gave it a very comfortable body position for my picking hand and right shoulder.
The extra width at the nut (46mm to the 44.45mm) was a nice touch and the slight increase of space at the nut was appreciated. One aspect I was less taken by was the string spacing at the saddle which was a bit narrow for my likings.
Neck Profile
It didn't long to adjust to Samradh's D shaped neck profile and once I did, I found it's shape which seems to keep to the same thickness up and down the neck and my fretting hand moved up and down with great ease.
Sound and Tonality
Appreciating the inherent difficulties of describing a sense which is incredibly personal, to my ears I found the guitar to be really well balanced across the tonal spectrum, with basses, middles and trebles equally favoured, the lower registers were always articulate, and I found the trebles to be silky and there was a pleasing separation to the midrange. The guitar had a surprising amount of bass as well, which I think the 13th fret join contributes.
12 fret body joins are seen to have increased bass to their 14 fret counterparts, and 14 frets in addition to easier access to higher frets have balance up the higher frets of the fretboard. From my observations, Samradh did have a pleasing amount of bass and was incredibly balanced up the fretboard, but with the bass was always balanced.
As a player I really enjoyed the tonality which the instrument was capable of producing. My preconceptions were Dave's guitars were best suited to a lighter touch, but I didn't expect Samradh to equally resonant as when played with a greater attack, which in my preference is with brass fingerpicks and the guitar excelled at John Fahey style ragtime. I found possibly down to the EVO Gold frets fingerpicks produced occasional 'zing' on the unwound strings I presume from the EVO Golds if my picking hand was closer to the bridge, something I saw as a reminder to keep my picking hand as close to the sound hole as irrespective of using nails or fingerpicks the guitar was it's best with the picking hand over the sound hole.
Prior to taking delivery of Samradh, I was playing a Red Spruce/Mahogany 12 Fret 00 which is an incredibly loud guitar, and I have found controlling it's volume and voice to be very testing. In comparison I found Samradh's volume was much more manageable and controllable, there was a lot of tonality in it's dynamic range for expression and worked equally well with lighter and more forceful right hand techniques, which I'm unable to say for my 12 Fret 00.
The following links are recordings of improvisations, with Samradh strung with Phosphor Bronze John Pearse 12-53's recorded with a Zoom H5's inbuilt microphones placed about 12" from the sound hole and the recordings are provided with no effects. Apologies for the rushed nature of the recordings and the improvisation based nature of the pieces allow more mistakes and chord repetition than I would have liked but nonetheless I hope they provide a glimpse of the guitar's capabilities and an insight into the voice of the instrument.
The following pieces are performed in Csus2
app.box.com/s/7sua5iew16s0cbuatdvz2mrsiodoab4b
app.box.com/s/3bcduzv7af5w72uebfe9ixjqps7oi3bx
app.box.com/s/810gv3hkv1msjytfqeeggn0thx4jai1k
app.box.com/s/ws1lab75mu5t6opgg6h290ub8skleem7
app.box.com/s/u98l4vlpmd5lbrzgvwx1tzumvl9cace7
The following pieces are performed in Open G
app.box.com/s/xa8zgdtgxt2fjuxkj5vc35ttmlh3hctb
app.box.com/s/e1pdn82p6wrm83twwjt93wptd9yyldxv
app.box.com/s/6p633ktxyvi2c0m1ztk629kkjq9xdgrw
app.box.com/s/g3drvoj5dbwyuu7dojugbnkudaoh4c0r
Final Thoughts
The Lutz/Walnut De Faoite Samradh was a delight to play; it exceeded my expectations for it's ergonomic considerations and tonal capabilities. It was also a window to playing a guitar different in character to the ones I own and to aspects which I hadn't experienced in the flesh including a florentine cutaway, a sound port and a 13th fret join. The latter feature was something I only noticed after 5 days of having the guitar in my possession as until then I had been too busy playing the guitar to look at it.
Thanks to Dave for allowing me to be in possession of one of his guitars on this Road Trip, it was a really informative experience and most of all a really enjoyable one.