Ok, so I didn't get as much time in Mak's as I had hoped. By the time my train pulled in late due to hoards of luggage equipped Americans getting off a big boat and onto the train in Southampton, and then walking from Waterloo to Oxford street in the immense heat, I turned up hot and sweaty with bearly 45 minutes left to try a couple of guitars.
Anyway, in the end there was only one of the 2nd hand Brooks with the RAF logo left- someone had obviously purchased the Newlyn, leaving the Tamar for me to try. There was one other Brook there, a brand new Lyn, at the old price.
Anyway, I sat down, immediately tuned the Tamar to dropped D. And even in doing this simple act my initial reaction was "wow! this guitar is alive". I mean the whole guitar erupted into life. It was loud, it was balanced, it had a wonderful throaty voice with harmonics aplenty- in short, this took the basic Brook sound and blasted it into the stratosphere.
Whether it was the torrified Adirondack top (as perfect a top as you could hope to find) or the simply sublime claro walnut back and sides, this guitar coealesced into as fine a musical instrument as I have played recently. Putting it in Csus2 tuning and running through a few of my standards (Si Bheag Si Mhor, She Moved Through the Fare, Fields of Gold, Kishors Tune) and the fact that I did not stop playing in 15 minutes I think said everything you needed to know about how addictive a good musical instrument is. It quickly elevated itself into the top Brooks I have ever played, up there with the maple Tavy I have spoken about before. It reinforced in my mind how wonderful a small jumbo with a long scale (650mm) can be for these low tunings.
Here is the top:
Custom Brook by
Robert Jessep, on Flickr
Notice the headstock- exactly the same as the Lamorna I am currently borrowing.
And here is that truly wonderful claro walnut back and sides:
Custom Brook by
Robert Jessep, on Flickr
Also notice the tuners- I thought they were superb. I had mistakenly thought they were Waverlies, but they are Grovers- infinitely better in my view- so easy to quickly put the guitar in tune, no stiffness at all.
Now, here it the slight fly in the ointment:
Custom Brook by
Robert Jessep, on Flickr
I could not live with this. You could say that given what it is it is very tastefully done, but to me it just looks really silly. If this were mine (and oh how it wish it was) I would get the Brook lads to replace the heal cap.
Another thing that makes me wonder whether I could truly get on with this guitar is the neck- it is a typical Brook neck. I say typical but the Lamorna I currently have is atypical, in that it is a lot thicker, and so the 44mm nut width is perfectly manageable. However, on this Tamar the neck is quite thin, and it reminded me why I had got rid of stock Brooks in the past.
Anyway, it has given me serious cause to think- it a a much much more characterful instrument that the Lamorna I have. That guitar sounds like it has a built in compressor- the Tamar has a huge dynamic range. Honestly I dug in as hard as I could and the guitar kept on giving. Whether the Tamar is better than the Huss & Dalton I currently have on layaway is open to question. I think that instrument is probably my perfect instrument and I can't wait to get my hands on it in September. But honestly, if I had not found that instrument, this Tamar would have been coming home with me (save for a slight disappointment over that blasted heel inlay).
I only had time to try one more guitar- I desperately want a classical, so I had my eyes on a Burguet classical, their Vanessa model. Boy, it was horrible. I don't often say that about an instrument, but it was boxy, sounded cheap and was horrible to play. The Cordoba C10 I played in Brighton a couple of weeks ago was a far better instrument.
My trip to the palace went very well. Inspiring speeches by Alun Wyn Jones and Clive Myrie, the best cupcake I've ever tasted and all told a lovely day in the capital. Buckingham Palace gardens are far smaller than I expected. London prices though!! I stopped off at a nearby pub for lunch, and could only just afford a bowl of humous and flatbread at £7.50 !!!
Robbie
