Oops I did it again! Another NGD (bit of a long post!)
Apr 26, 2018 20:07:57 GMT
Martin, Wild Violet, and 10 more like this
Post by jackorion on Apr 26, 2018 20:07:57 GMT
I know, I know, another NGD…
I’ve been on holiday for a couple of weeks and, being without a guitar for that time gave me a bit of space to think about something that had been on my mind, namely that I wasn’t getting on 100% with my little Lowden S-25.
It was a great sounding little guitar, with an interesting and inspiring voice but, after an initial honeymoon period, I found that I wasn’t playing it, or I was but then putting it down quite quickly. The main thing that was bothering me about it was the neck - very slim and the string spacing seemed quite narrow (in fact I’d measured it before I went away and I’m now actually convinced that it had the 1 11/16th nut with the corresponding narrow spacing at the bridge which wasn’t what was on the paperwork) and it waas giving me hand cramps playing for more than 10-15 minutes.
Funnily enough, I’d re-bonded with my Collings OM2h Short Scale over the few months that I’d had the Lowden, and had started to appreciate the difference in tone it gave me to my Martin, whilst still having the same ‘feel’ (body size is the same, string spacing is the same).
I started to think that something that combined aspects of both my Martin and my Collings would be a good guitar for me - it would have to be an OM body size, with a 25.4 scale length, a full neck, 1 3/4 nut and 2 5/16 saddle spacing. It would also need to be rosewood back and sides with a spruce top.
I came to the conclusion that those are the guitars I like - basically versions of my Martin with different twists. I was kinda thinking along the lines of sandwiches - I like cheese sandwiches, always with some sort of chutney or pickle and, even though you can change the cheese or the chutney/pickle, it’s still at heart a cheese & pickle sandwich - and I realised that, for me, the rosewood/spruce OM is my cheese & pickle sandwich!
So, anyway, looking at guitars that met the criteria I came down to one model - the Collings OM2h Traditional. Before I’d even started down this line of thought, I’d already spent many hours listening to this demo:
and I always loved the tone of that guitar.
I’d played a preowned OM2h T a little while ago at Project Music but, at the time, I was in the mindset of needing ‘different’ guitars, hence the Lowden purchase. But I really, really liked that guitar - big neck, the right spacing, dryer in the low mids than my Martin and with that bell-like upper mids and trebles that are Collings are known for but slightly less ‘sharp’ and a very clean low end that still had some girth but no mud.
So I had to go into Project Music anyway to collect a Collings that have been delivered to them for me to review for Acoustic Review (video coming soon!) and I sat with their new Traditional OM for a while - I don’t know how long for as I completely lost myself in it… I took away the review guitar and mentioned to the guys there that I was interested in the Traditional and that I’d need to trade in my Lowden and a Custom Shop Strat at least to make the deal. They offered me a good deal to change and said I could sleep on it over the weekend before I bought the review guitar back in.
That night I started to get worried that the guitar might sell whilst I was away so, on my way to a gig the next day, I popped in again and played it for another 1/2 an hour at least and slapped a deposit down on it.
I went off to do the reviews over the weekend and had a little moment of doubt when I reviewed a KILLER Lowden F-35 Custom but I realised that the Lowden sound, to my ear at least, is so distinct that it almost stamps itself over everything you play - to go back to my cheese & pickle analogy that Lowden was like a strong blue cheese, if you love it you can’t get enough, but it dominates the taste of everything!
Anyway to get to the point, I took in my Lowden and Strat and walked out with a new guitar!
I’m very happy, I feel like I’ve made the right choice - the guitar is so well made it’s unbelievable, and the tone is beautiful. It plays how I want a guitar to play and the neck is great. It’s not the most forgiving of guitars and you need to be a bit careful about fretting properly as it will just throw that buzz out into the world if you don’t, but after a few days I’m getting used to it - it’s also made me realise how much you need to pay attention to your third finger when fingerpicking as you can really hear the difference when you hit the string right with that finger and suddenly the tone gets fat and loses any thinness that’s there if you strike it wrong.
The woods are really nice, although the grain is wider on the top than on my other Collings and the rosewood is lighter but my understanding is the woods for the Traditionals are chosen for their light weight and the guitar is quite a bit lighter than both my other Collings and my Martin. The neck has some nice subtle flame going on, and the wood 'brown' herringbone purfling is very classy looking. Oh and the case is gorgeous! Not the most practical as there's not a lot of space in it, but it's really well made and the latches are awesome! And it's loads lighter than the TKL case that came with my other Collings.
Obviously I’ve been here before with a lot of guitars and I’m wary of any grand statements, but I think that my acceptance of having a narrow range of preferences and not wanting a ‘different’ guitar to what I already have but another flavour of the same thing might mean that this is a proper keeper! IF I decide to amplify it that will be a bit tricky because of the through saddle, but I might not put anything in it and save it for home/recording/unplugged gigs (or, fingers crossed, gigs where I can mic the guitar!) as i have my Martin and the other Collings both with pickups in them. If I do decide to put a pickup in it at some point I think I'll risk the K&K as it's such a light guitar that I wouldn't want to put anything heavier than that in it.
So, if you’ve got all the way to the end of this post here’s your reward - pictures!!!
fullsizeoutput_d5f by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d60 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d61 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d63 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d64 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d65 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d66 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d67 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d62 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
I’ve been on holiday for a couple of weeks and, being without a guitar for that time gave me a bit of space to think about something that had been on my mind, namely that I wasn’t getting on 100% with my little Lowden S-25.
It was a great sounding little guitar, with an interesting and inspiring voice but, after an initial honeymoon period, I found that I wasn’t playing it, or I was but then putting it down quite quickly. The main thing that was bothering me about it was the neck - very slim and the string spacing seemed quite narrow (in fact I’d measured it before I went away and I’m now actually convinced that it had the 1 11/16th nut with the corresponding narrow spacing at the bridge which wasn’t what was on the paperwork) and it waas giving me hand cramps playing for more than 10-15 minutes.
Funnily enough, I’d re-bonded with my Collings OM2h Short Scale over the few months that I’d had the Lowden, and had started to appreciate the difference in tone it gave me to my Martin, whilst still having the same ‘feel’ (body size is the same, string spacing is the same).
I started to think that something that combined aspects of both my Martin and my Collings would be a good guitar for me - it would have to be an OM body size, with a 25.4 scale length, a full neck, 1 3/4 nut and 2 5/16 saddle spacing. It would also need to be rosewood back and sides with a spruce top.
I came to the conclusion that those are the guitars I like - basically versions of my Martin with different twists. I was kinda thinking along the lines of sandwiches - I like cheese sandwiches, always with some sort of chutney or pickle and, even though you can change the cheese or the chutney/pickle, it’s still at heart a cheese & pickle sandwich - and I realised that, for me, the rosewood/spruce OM is my cheese & pickle sandwich!
So, anyway, looking at guitars that met the criteria I came down to one model - the Collings OM2h Traditional. Before I’d even started down this line of thought, I’d already spent many hours listening to this demo:
and I always loved the tone of that guitar.
I’d played a preowned OM2h T a little while ago at Project Music but, at the time, I was in the mindset of needing ‘different’ guitars, hence the Lowden purchase. But I really, really liked that guitar - big neck, the right spacing, dryer in the low mids than my Martin and with that bell-like upper mids and trebles that are Collings are known for but slightly less ‘sharp’ and a very clean low end that still had some girth but no mud.
So I had to go into Project Music anyway to collect a Collings that have been delivered to them for me to review for Acoustic Review (video coming soon!) and I sat with their new Traditional OM for a while - I don’t know how long for as I completely lost myself in it… I took away the review guitar and mentioned to the guys there that I was interested in the Traditional and that I’d need to trade in my Lowden and a Custom Shop Strat at least to make the deal. They offered me a good deal to change and said I could sleep on it over the weekend before I bought the review guitar back in.
That night I started to get worried that the guitar might sell whilst I was away so, on my way to a gig the next day, I popped in again and played it for another 1/2 an hour at least and slapped a deposit down on it.
I went off to do the reviews over the weekend and had a little moment of doubt when I reviewed a KILLER Lowden F-35 Custom but I realised that the Lowden sound, to my ear at least, is so distinct that it almost stamps itself over everything you play - to go back to my cheese & pickle analogy that Lowden was like a strong blue cheese, if you love it you can’t get enough, but it dominates the taste of everything!
Anyway to get to the point, I took in my Lowden and Strat and walked out with a new guitar!
I’m very happy, I feel like I’ve made the right choice - the guitar is so well made it’s unbelievable, and the tone is beautiful. It plays how I want a guitar to play and the neck is great. It’s not the most forgiving of guitars and you need to be a bit careful about fretting properly as it will just throw that buzz out into the world if you don’t, but after a few days I’m getting used to it - it’s also made me realise how much you need to pay attention to your third finger when fingerpicking as you can really hear the difference when you hit the string right with that finger and suddenly the tone gets fat and loses any thinness that’s there if you strike it wrong.
The woods are really nice, although the grain is wider on the top than on my other Collings and the rosewood is lighter but my understanding is the woods for the Traditionals are chosen for their light weight and the guitar is quite a bit lighter than both my other Collings and my Martin. The neck has some nice subtle flame going on, and the wood 'brown' herringbone purfling is very classy looking. Oh and the case is gorgeous! Not the most practical as there's not a lot of space in it, but it's really well made and the latches are awesome! And it's loads lighter than the TKL case that came with my other Collings.
Obviously I’ve been here before with a lot of guitars and I’m wary of any grand statements, but I think that my acceptance of having a narrow range of preferences and not wanting a ‘different’ guitar to what I already have but another flavour of the same thing might mean that this is a proper keeper! IF I decide to amplify it that will be a bit tricky because of the through saddle, but I might not put anything in it and save it for home/recording/unplugged gigs (or, fingers crossed, gigs where I can mic the guitar!) as i have my Martin and the other Collings both with pickups in them. If I do decide to put a pickup in it at some point I think I'll risk the K&K as it's such a light guitar that I wouldn't want to put anything heavier than that in it.
So, if you’ve got all the way to the end of this post here’s your reward - pictures!!!
fullsizeoutput_d5f by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d60 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d61 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d63 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d64 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d65 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d66 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d67 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_d62 by Ben Morgan-Brown, on Flickr