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Post by donalmcgreevy on Feb 17, 2014 15:00:01 GMT
Hi folks, I’ve just started a new guitar and I thought some of you might like to follow the progress. To date I’ve been building my guitars in the Lagan Lutherie School but I’m now up and running in my own workshop. As the thread title suggests, this will be my new OM body shape with Cocobolo back and sides and a Californian Redwood top.   I must warn you, this might not be the quickest build thread but it would be great to get some feedback along the way. Cheers, Donal |
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Post by Martin on Feb 17, 2014 15:27:58 GMT
Well the woodsets looks stunning to begin with, Donal so it's a great start   |
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alig
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Post by alig on Feb 17, 2014 15:37:41 GMT
Good man, Donal!
Looking forward to this. The wood combination sounds interesting.
Glad the workshop's up and running.
All the best,
Alasdair.
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Feb 17, 2014 15:59:27 GMT
Looking forward to following this!
Keith
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Feb 17, 2014 16:45:11 GMT
That's a lovely looking set of Cocobolo, Donal ... should scrub up really nicely.
I was playing pool with a young man over the weekend and he had never heard the rule of having to nominate the pocket for the black ball before you take your endgame shot ... on a similar theme, before you actually start putting the woods together, what sort of sound are you hoping to get at the end of the build?
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Post by earwighoney on Feb 17, 2014 18:37:27 GMT
Good luck with the build and I look forward to seeing the build progress.
Also, have you built with redwood before? I've heard it's one of the more difficult soundboards to build with, but the only redwood guitar I've ever played was easily one of the best I've come across.
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Post by donalmcgreevy on Feb 17, 2014 19:07:55 GMT
This will be my first time using Redwood, I haven’t even played that many Redwood guitars but I’ve been hearing lots of good things about it and couldn’t resist trying it. It’s supposed to share a lot of similarities with Cedar in terms of warmth and tonal complexity but can also be driven much harder similar to Spruce. The Cocobolo will make for a very loud and powerful guitar. I’ve used it before but I would expect it to be quicker and more direct in this smaller body. I'm also sticking with the 648mm scale length for this build but I plan to build another OM shortly with a 643mm scale length. Ultimately I’m hoping for a guitar that will be quite versatile, perhaps more suited to fingerstyle with good clarity and note separation but capable of handling strumming without being too complex. Whether I can deliver that or not is another question.  |
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Post by earwighoney on Feb 17, 2014 22:14:32 GMT
This will be my first time using Redwood, I haven’t even played that many Redwood guitars but I’ve been hearing lots of good things about it and couldn’t resist trying it. It’s supposed to share a lot of similarities with Cedar in terms of warmth and tonal complexity but can also be driven much harder similar to Spruce. The Cocobolo will make for a very loud and powerful guitar. I’ve used it before but I would expect it to be quicker and more direct in this smaller body. I'm also sticking with the 648mm scale length for this build but I plan to build another OM shortly with a 643mm scale length. Ultimately I’m hoping for a guitar that will be quite versatile, perhaps more suited to fingerstyle with good clarity and note separation but capable of handling strumming without being too complex. Whether I can deliver that or not is another question. Aside from the impact on the fingers is there any difference for sound between 643mm and 648mm? What nut width and string spacing at the saddle are you planning to go for? Good choice on the redwood soundboard. I think I read somewhere even though it looks more like cedar it acts more like the harder spruces and that it's quite brittle and prone to picking up dents. Which isn't selling it's virtues! The sound however I would say from the one I have tried, it responded a lot better at being played hard than Cedar or Sitka, but retained it's 'warm analogue' (vinyl sound) sound in contrast to Englemann/Adirondack which new sound a bit too 'pure/digital' (like a 32bit 96khz digital recording) to my ears. Not sure that makes sense! I can't remember who it is here, but they have a redwood/cocobolo Lowden 12 string (which I can only imagine...) |
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Post by donalmcgreevy on Feb 18, 2014 10:58:11 GMT
Aside from the impact on the fingers is there any difference for sound between 643mm and 648mm? What nut width and string spacing at the saddle are you planning to go for? These “clientless” guitars give me an opportunity to try different things and see what suits this new body shape. I’ll be using the 643mm on an Alpine Spruce OM and I think the slightly shorter scale length will add warmth to the Spruce tone. The challenge will be to retain a strong bass, but that’s for another build thread. This guitar will have a 44mm nut width and 56mm string spacing at the saddle. |
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davewhite
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Post by davewhite on Feb 18, 2014 16:08:21 GMT
Donal,
Interesting to watch this one grow.
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Post by donalmcgreevy on Feb 18, 2014 18:51:16 GMT
Donal, Interesting to watch this one grow. Hi Dave, your input would be very welcome. |
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Post by soundout on Feb 23, 2014 22:46:15 GMT
Good luck Donal!
Last night I did my first fully acoustic solo gig with the cedar/coco guitar I got from you last year. Up till then I had used it in noisy pub sessions and on amplified gigs (K&K Pure Mini, Crown GLM mic, K&K Quantum Blender).
So last night was the first chance for the audience and myself to have a hard listen in a concert environment to the guitar all on its own. I used it for DADGAD songs and an Atkin OM for standard tuning material.
Several people made very positive comments about your guitar and for me, standing behind it, it was wonderful. Super-responsive, superloud but with plenty of tone. Brash when hit hard but subtle when played gently.
Once again I urge anyone considering a new builder to give Donal a try!
All the best
Alistair Russell
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Post by donalmcgreevy on Feb 26, 2014 19:41:30 GMT
Good luck Donal! Last night I did my first fully acoustic solo gig with the cedar/coco guitar I got from you last year. Up till then I had used it in noisy pub sessions and on amplified gigs (K&K Pure Mini, Crown GLM mic, K&K Quantum Blender). So last night was the first chance for the audience and myself to have a hard listen in a concert environment to the guitar all on its own. I used it for DADGAD songs and an Atkin OM for standard tuning material. Several people made very positive comments about your guitar and for me, standing behind it, it was wonderful. Super-responsive, superloud but with plenty of tone. Brash when hit hard but subtle when played gently. Once again I urge anyone considering a new builder to give Donal a try! All the best Alistair Russell Hi Alistair, Good to hear from you. I'm glad everything is going well with the guitar. |
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Post by donalmcgreevy on Feb 26, 2014 19:49:24 GMT
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garynava
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Post by garynava on Mar 1, 2014 16:19:01 GMT
Redwood and Cocobolo! I hope that you're wearing a dust mask Donal!
How do you find the StewMac Dremel jig?
Cheers Gary
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Jo whoever he is.
