Last day with the Taran dreadnought, so here's a few thoughts and some videos too.
Probably as well to remember that this is in many ways an experimental prototype, albeit what seems to be a very successful one. At first strum after tuning up the loosened-for-transit and new strings I was a little underwhelmed by the sound, but since it settled down and the "new strings sound" mellowed a little I got more closely acquainted with the guitar and it's considerable charms as a distinctive and versatile instrument have become much more apparent.
This dread is a v handsome beast, and of typical appearance for Rory's guitars - plain in a good way, and very elegant and well (gloss) finished. Rory has taken the classic dread shape (of which I am not a big fan) and rounded it off a little here and there, nipped in the waist and removed the shoulder pads to create quite an appealing shape, still with usual dread dimensions for the hips (403mm) and max body depth (123mm). The pale European spruce top and rich Indian Rosewood back and sides are separated with black and white purflings and dark wood bindings giving a very elegant appearance. The rosette is a slim B/W/B/W/B/W/B circle. On a personal note, I'd have liked the rosette to match purfling/binding arrangement, with some dark wood in between the B/W lines - obviously for a commissioned guitar this could easily be achieved. The top and the back have arched contours, especially the back. The neck is, I guess, mahogany, with the headstock faced with more rosewood - the back having an attractive extension to the veneer that you'll see in the photographs. The gold Gotoh tuners have those over-contoured mini-buttons that I find both unattractive and not especially ergonomic, (I'm well aware I'm in a minority here!)- my preference here would be for some larger buttons, preferably wooden, and with a well defined "edge", which would make them a lot more tactile. Again, easily accommodated in a commissioned guitar. The headstock also carries Rory's discrete but recognisable "t." logo, and a wooden truss rod cover that seems to be held on with some gooey stuff!
The (bolt on) neck is a delight. The width at the nut is 45mm, string spacing here 36mm; and the string spacing at the bridge is 58mm. The neck profile is certainly not at all chunky, but neither is it super-slim, and as such, everything about the neck happens to be spot-on for my preferences. There is a tiny bit of neck relief, and a 12th fret action of 1mm treble E and 2.25mm bass E - maybe some 0.75 mm lower than I would tend to have on the treble side. However, it plays superbly well and very easily. I found it hard to believe when Rory told me the strings were 13-56 - they certainly didn't feel like it. No buzzes or glitches on this neck thanks to the well sorted fretwork.
The bridge is very elegantly curved, though the saddle is almost disappearing into it at the treble end - for my money it could be another 1mm or even 2mm higher on the treble side without unduly affecting playability. (see previous remarks about my action preferences). Rory did say that he felt he might have taken a bit more wood off the bridge height, which would help in some respects. The strings are quite close to the soundboard, (a millimetre or too nearer than on my Fyldes/Lowdens for instance), and this might be something that could be usefullly addressed in future dreads - I believe Rory feels so too.
Here's a picture gallery to illustrate much of this -
Audio only recording -
www.box.com/s/s9c0wudepznbt5p6p076The tune is The Seige of Ennis, and has a plectrum strummed/dum-chinged track and a flatpicked melody track - no capo. This, and the other Taran vids following, were all recorded via Zoom H2 as USB mic with flat eq and no effects. The guitar is certainly well at home with strummage, from light to fairly hefty. Bass runs spring out easily and clearly with no boominess whatsoever. The treble strings, unlike the Road Trip guitar, have a much thicker and smoother tone to them than I was expecting, yet still retaining the clarity and presence to cut through. Chords, bass notes and melody have a fast attack and sound evenly balanced across the strings and retain much of that higher up the neck too. Volume is no problem, and I'm sure the guitar would be clearly heard in acoustic ensembles even when lightly handled, and there's plenty in reserve - I got told off for being too loud in our louge, and I was trying to be restrained.
The balanced sound suits itself well to fingerstyle pieces with a fair few things going on simultaneously too, and remains articulate anywhere on the guitar allowing all parts of an arrangement to be clearly audible - here's my arrangement of "Ain't Misbehavin'", no capo, thumbpick and fingernails -
Audio only recording -
www.box.com/s/b9uz3yt0p3ul9lszh3d7I though it well suited to an almost semi-jazzy fingerpicked style, with the cut and clarity reminiscent of an archtop acoustic jazzer but with more sustain.
This guitar did seem to be really at home with a capo placed high up. I did some tinkling with a capo on a faitly unrealistic fret 9, and the sound was still sweet, chiming and bell-like in the treble - delicious. This next vid, though has the guitar with a capo on fret 4, but does include some unwound string notes nearer the dusty end than I often venture. The tune is Ralph McTell's "Wino and the Mouse", transposed to use more treble strings than Mr McT does.
Audio only recording -
www.box.com/s/gveuie9wmsceq8x87809And, finally, another fingerstyle piece with the capo at fret 4. This time it's my arrangement of quite an old tune - "The Hole in the Wall" -
Audio only recording -
www.box.com/s/2g9e1s7ntz2jjebus00aFor guitar primarily designed as a strummer/flatpicker, it manages to succeed pretty well as an all-rounder, for me at any rate. True, there isn't quite the extra-lush richness and warm bloom to the sound (at least in my hands) that a really great solo fingerstyle guitar (like Martin's spruce/blackwood Taran Tirga Beag) needs for slow and sparse pieces, but for fingerpicked song accompaniment and pieces with a bit of pace and/or detail it works superbly, and continues to do so as far up the neck as most would want, retaining clarity and balance all the way.
Its strummed and flatpicked sounds are not in typical dread territory either, being more balanced and clearer. The bass end is very controlled, retaining presence, weight, clarity and articulateness without getting boomy or out of control. Neither could I find any dead spots, not even around F# - G# where many guitars struggle a little. The trebles, as I've said, are less "wiry" than many dreads, and have a well rounded almost sweet timbre that I really enjoyed.
Played along with another guitar (thanks Glyn) the sound was distinctive enough to be clearly identifiable without having to play too loudly, and from a players earpoint, was easy to hear. From driving rhythm to delicate high-capo tinkling it performed very well indeed. I could imagine it beoing a great guitar in acoustic sessions, and also very probably a near ideal all-rounder guitar for plugged-in bands.
So much so that my summation of it over the phone to Rory at the weekend bears repeating -
It's a dread for those who don't particularly like dreads. And, I'm sure dyed-in-the-wood dreadheads will love it too!
Thanks again Rory for the opportunity of trying it out. Very much appreciated. I'm sure Kris will enjoy it!
Keith
PS. Here again, for the sake of completeness within this post is the audio file link for the song I posted at the beginning of this thread -
www.box.com/s/dvenzrifrvr3ex5rryxs