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Post by nkforster on Aug 2, 2021 9:51:13 GMT
Always good to see mask, ear and eye protection being worn. And overalls. Not enough people wear overalls You'll enjoy this video then... Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on Jun 26, 2021 1:36:18 GMT
Stefan used to go on about - Early 1970s Alpha Romeo Sprint inboard brakes! A very clever design that you can apply to guitar making believe it or not. I was reminded of them some time back when I met another luthier who was into exactly the same cars. After a chat I realised I could apply it to the light top/heavy sides thing and get the guitar mass back to something more normal. I remember talking with Stefan until the early hours about Alfas... about how I almost bought an Alfa Sud, but my legs were too long and arms too short - went for a Scimitar instead and felt like Princess Anne! The brake concept sounds intriguing. How is the top isolated from the sides? Jonny Like the brakes of an early 70s Alpha! I'm not going into it Jonny, but it works a treat. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com/instruments/acoustic-guitar/model-e/
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Post by nkforster on Jun 23, 2021 12:02:49 GMT
Looking forward to hearing it. What is the concept for the sound, if not thin top/heavy sides? Jonny There is still a bit of the light top/heavy sides thing going on, but just not as extreme as in the past. And its the first time I've used this particular way of top bracing. But these days I have a structural way of building that isolates the top from the sides rather than adding a load of side mass to make it work harder. Its actually based on something Stefan used to go on about - Early 1970s Alpha Romeo Sprint inboard brakes! A very clever design that you can apply to guitar making believe it or not. I was reminded of them some time back when I met another luthier who was into exactly the same cars. After a chat I realised I could apply it to the light top/heavy sides thing and get the guitar mass back to something more normal. Sound? Well, imagine a cedar Sobell. The top was made in my SS former. You do get a less complex/more direct sound with cedar, and you do get more of an open sound. It'll be interesting to hear Tom and Ian play it as their styles are so different. I'm not sure who it will suit more, so I'm keen to hear back from them what they make of it. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com/instruments/acoustic-guitar/model-e/
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Post by nkforster on Jun 20, 2021 11:27:11 GMT
Morning all. I finally extracted my little Fishman loudbox mini from out of it's slumber the other day and spent a little time comparing and contrasting the pickups in the two Sobells. The Steinbeck has a Highlander active unit and the Model 1 has a much older LR Baggs passive unit. I had expected there to be a big volume difference, but surprisingly, it's not as noticeable as I thought it might be. Both are really clear and do a good job of making the guitar sound like an amplified version of it's acoustic self (something helped by the little loudbox). However, despite fiddling around with the limited eq settings on the amp, I can't quite get rid of some of the 'boominess', which in part I suspect is down to the natural resonance of the guitars in certain places. I don't play plugged in often and certainly don't do any 'real' gigs, but I'd like to have a little more adaptability to the plugged in sound. I'm drawn to buying a Fishman Aura Spectrum, largely because of good reviews and the fact the Fishman amp I have is a really decent bit of kit for the money. Does anyone use the Fishman, and how do you find it? I'm open to opinions and alternatives if any of you good gentlemen and ladies would like to point me in the right direction. It all depends on what you want. If you want "the natural sound of your guitar but louder" you won't get that with any pickup or preamp combination. So the next best option is to go for an amplified sound you like and a pickup that doesn't damage the acoustic sound of your guitar. Both the old LRBaggs and the newer Fishman both have a very piezo undersaddle sound. Some people really like that. If you do, great. The old LR Baggs preamps were excellent with the parametric eq/notch filter. But if you don't like the quack, you need to change the pickup. Peoples tolerance to "quack" varies considerably. I have none. The Aura is a nice idea that didn't work all that well. I did send them one of my guitars to record about 13 years ago, but the results weren't all that convincing. I've a video here: Less quacky, but only a bit. I've no idea what I did with the Aura files, which is a shame as they were not cheap to get made. If I had them, you could have a copy as that's probably the nearest thing to your Sobells that isn't a Sobell. Unless FIshman have recorded a sample by now? If you're after a decent undersaddle sound, get one with an 18V preamp like the Seymour Duncan/Dtar combo. Its less quacky than the two pickups you have. But if you're after a boom free sound, quack free sound , I'd go for a K&K and a decent DI box instead. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on Jun 15, 2021 9:45:53 GMT
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Post by nkforster on Jun 14, 2021 11:19:29 GMT
I really like building "dreads" and have made a few in the last couple of years. But recently I thought I'd try to kill a couple of birds with the same stone - make a smaller D style guitar and make a new Session King guitar. The first lot of Session King guitars were pretty unusual – very heavy, with thin soundboards and a vintage “relic” finish. Great guitars but a bit too unusual to catch on. And they were so affordable, I couldn’t really make a decent living making them. So I stopped. But recently I’ve been thinking about making a new Session King 6 string. And this is what I came up with: This is a new shape, based on my Model D. Its called the Model E. I was up all night thinking of that one. It has a Standard soundboard, hence the SS. The SK stands for Session King – stripped down and simple. So its a Model E-SS-SK. This guitar has a Western red cedar top, Queensland maple back and sides, New Guinea rosewood neck and ebony fretboard, bridge and head veneers. Like my Session King tenor guitars, only the top is bound, which looks really nice and clean. Yet again this helps make the guitar more affordable. The standard version won’t have the lovely ebony head veneer on the back of the headstock like the photo above, but you can add that as an upgrade if you’d like it. The finish is a very good, high quality satin finish to keep the price lower than my regular work. The case that it comes in is a Hiscox Pro. A decent affordable case. The guitar is shipped in a custom made plywood shipping crate for added security. Despite being a “budget” model with a lovely satin finish the guitar has hand-polished evo gold frets with semi hemispherical fret ends. And the 25.4” scale Sri Lankan ebony fretboard is bound with rocklite. The tuners are the same as my more expensive work – Gotoh 510s. So this guitar isn’t as cheap as the first lot of Session King guitars I made a few years back. But it is significantly cheaper than my regular work. I hope to make a video with the guitar in a couple of weeks’ time. I'm sending it to Ian and Tom. Should be good. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on May 26, 2021 9:11:16 GMT
Looks like a great guitar Jonny. I like Ralph. Not seen him for a few years, but he's a nice feller who does lovely work. I was reading through all this neck joint talk and was trying to think of something I could add that might help... What type of neck joint is best? This is the type of thing luthiers like taking a stand on. And the type of thing players like arguing about on forums. Spanish heel? English heel? Dovetail? Bolt on? What is best? No one knows. What experiments would you need to run to actually know? Has anyone ever ran the required experiments? No one that I'm aware of. If you haven't run the required experiments, what are we left with? Feelings and hunches. Hunches can be informed, uniformed, strongly held, or lightly held. Said with authority, said with humility. But they are still hunches. You may have been making for 40 years, but never really experimented with that area of design because of a hunch you formed years ago. The same applies to players. You try a guitar you like, it has a Spanish heel. You play another guitar, you don't like it. It has a bolt on neck. An opinion starts to form. It colours your opinion of other guitars you play. But what do you do if you play an instrument that contradicts your view? Do you change the opinion or ignore the evidence? The latter is more common than the former. People often commission instruments from makers who say what they already think or feel. Its rare for them to put their faith in someone who says the opposite of what they think or feel. And why would it be any other way? My feeling is the views expressed on this topic are much more about how people think than how guitar neck joints work. That, we'll probably never know. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on May 22, 2021 8:21:27 GMT
One spot left in this years' batch of mandolins folks. If you'd like to be included, please send me a message through my website. As well as the big Celtic F and Celtic O mandolin, there is also the new small mandolin. About the size of a regular big Sobell mandolin. F or O. I'll also be making a Session King Small Celtic mandolin - a satin finish mahogany and spruce version. Prices start at £3200 delivered. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on Feb 22, 2021 21:50:21 GMT
I didn't realise this had been found, Nigel - that's great news. Were any of the other instruments recovered? Loved the video - sounds fantastic Just two. Both guitar bouzoukis, this one and Adam Rhodes 8 string. The rest are still missing.
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Post by nkforster on Feb 22, 2021 3:00:34 GMT
Adam Rhodes just sent me this video - its the 10 string guitar bouzouki that was stolen in 2018 and found last year. Adam has it just now and it'll be going out for sale on the newsletter in a few weeks. Enjoy the tunes! Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on Dec 6, 2020 20:35:35 GMT
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Post by nkforster on Nov 28, 2020 22:49:58 GMT
Glad you enjoyed it lads. I think we've got Michael to thank for the good interview - he's done a lot of them now, and is pretty skilled. Good listener. And he's probably a bit bored of the usual questions/answers... Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on Nov 28, 2020 8:23:48 GMT
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Post by nkforster on Nov 11, 2020 10:12:54 GMT
Yes, very nice - a lovely looking instrument. I was wondering if you could help me with a manolin-related problem. What string height do you generally aim for on a mandolin (at the 12th fret, say)? I have a cheap resonator mandolin and I find the action unplayably high beyond the 5th fret but I've no idea if I just need to toughen up a bit; maybe I'm just a wimpy guitarist. Sounds to me like you need to take your mandolin for a set up when possible . Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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Post by nkforster on Nov 8, 2020 21:52:00 GMT
Most of the mandolins I make these days are my Celtic F model - it's been really popular, but I still get to make these little monsters every now and again - my A Model. They're really great - again more of a "Celtic" sound than an American sound, but with a little more "woodiness" in the bass than my Celtic mandolins. This one is heading off to Dubai in a day or two. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com
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