Post by andyhowell on Jul 16, 2016 17:15:16 GMT
Casimi Guitars
Casimi @ The North American Guitar
So, the big reveal!
The last guitar Michael handed me was a Casimi C2 Signature model in Engelmann Spruce and African Blackwood. You can see from the photo that this is a very contemporary guitar design but that was not what attracted me and to be honest I didn’t notice that much!
The first thing that struck me was just how comfortable this was to hold. It sat on the lap perfectly. This felt OM sized in the lower bout, or maybe between an OM and a small jumbo. A subtle bevel made this incredibly comfortable to play. Everything felt very compact and then I realised that this was a 25.5 scale but with a 12 fret join and a cutaway. I’ve played a few of these recently, indeed when I commissioned Adrian Lucas to make my last guitar I almost asked for this but had then thought I’d give him too many specifications already. This system really does work and gives you a very comfortable guitar to play — you have the feel of a small scale with the advantages of the longer one.
And then I played on the strings. I was stopped in my tracks. I can only describe this be saying ’wow’. This is an extraordinary instrument with great dynamic range, power and presence. You don’t have to beat the shit out of it as with some of the others but if you want to do so it will handle it fine! If you want to play with real delicacy it will do that as well. It was not only great in DADGAD but handled Csus2 with ease. This is simply an extraordinary instrument.
There are some quotes on the Casimi website about it.
“The C2 Model is frankly scary”
Michael Watts
“The best acoustic I’ve ever played”
Dan Patlansky
Well I shall not argue with either of them. This is the best instrument I have ever played.
I wish I could describe it more adequately. You have the recording to listen to of course but this hardly does the real sound justice either. These simply have to be experienced in the flesh.
Once I got over the shock of the sound I was able to take in the guitar a bit. It is heavier than you might expect as a result of triple laminate sides (well at least double). The build quality is as good as you get and the finish was as strong as any I’ve come across. There is an innovative bridge system which I can’t even begin to describe (you’ll have to look at the website for that). The fingerboard is suspended above the top plate/soundboard. Given that here is probably a whacking great tone bar at the neck end of the top I’m not sure how this would effect the tone but no doubt on of our resident luthier can comment on that.
It’s a funny thing. I day later I can’t recall the sound, I suspect because I was just in awe of the thing. Whether you would think this the best guitar you have ever played I don’t know, but without any doubt it will be in your top two or three.
Casimi are an interesting company. It is South African based, in Cape Town, and is a venture of two guys Matthew Rice and Matthias Roux. Matthias worked with Canadian luthier Maingard for a decade before coming back home and starting Casini. Both are performing musicians which is behind that ingenious bridge system which allows for ultra quick string changes when on stage.
I asked Michael how he discovered them. He’d been aware of Casini for a while on the web. He met the two of them and the guitars, I think, at the Berlin Holly Grail Show. His reaction on playing them in one of their sound proof booths clearly had a similar effect on him than it did on me.
Has an African heritage had an impact on the sound? We thought it probably had. Michael’s view was that there are really two schools of quality steel string manufactures, one based around Jean Larrivee and the other around the bay area in California (Richard Hoover, Somogi, Kostal and so on). Roux clearly has a grounding in the Larrivee school but there is something very distinct and different going on here.
If I was a young, budding, fingerstyle guitarist I’d make a point of hearing one of these. Hell, if I was twenty years younger I would have put the deposit on my credit card there and then and spent the next year wondering how to find the balance. You could build a good career based around this instrument. As it is now, I have this kind of haunting feeling at the back of my head. The prices are not listed on the website but I guess we are talking around £13K.
These guitars are set to become legends and I suspect — in years to come — will be treated as holly grail type instruments. They are that good. If you get a chance to try one you must. Next on order is a 00 sized instrument and I for one will be beating a path down to Fulham to try it.
That guitar is going to haunt me for a long time. Thank goodness this one had already been snapped up — but some very lucky guy in Scotland I believe.
Casimi @ The North American Guitar
So, the big reveal!
The last guitar Michael handed me was a Casimi C2 Signature model in Engelmann Spruce and African Blackwood. You can see from the photo that this is a very contemporary guitar design but that was not what attracted me and to be honest I didn’t notice that much!
The first thing that struck me was just how comfortable this was to hold. It sat on the lap perfectly. This felt OM sized in the lower bout, or maybe between an OM and a small jumbo. A subtle bevel made this incredibly comfortable to play. Everything felt very compact and then I realised that this was a 25.5 scale but with a 12 fret join and a cutaway. I’ve played a few of these recently, indeed when I commissioned Adrian Lucas to make my last guitar I almost asked for this but had then thought I’d give him too many specifications already. This system really does work and gives you a very comfortable guitar to play — you have the feel of a small scale with the advantages of the longer one.
And then I played on the strings. I was stopped in my tracks. I can only describe this be saying ’wow’. This is an extraordinary instrument with great dynamic range, power and presence. You don’t have to beat the shit out of it as with some of the others but if you want to do so it will handle it fine! If you want to play with real delicacy it will do that as well. It was not only great in DADGAD but handled Csus2 with ease. This is simply an extraordinary instrument.
There are some quotes on the Casimi website about it.
“The C2 Model is frankly scary”
Michael Watts
“The best acoustic I’ve ever played”
Dan Patlansky
Well I shall not argue with either of them. This is the best instrument I have ever played.
I wish I could describe it more adequately. You have the recording to listen to of course but this hardly does the real sound justice either. These simply have to be experienced in the flesh.
Once I got over the shock of the sound I was able to take in the guitar a bit. It is heavier than you might expect as a result of triple laminate sides (well at least double). The build quality is as good as you get and the finish was as strong as any I’ve come across. There is an innovative bridge system which I can’t even begin to describe (you’ll have to look at the website for that). The fingerboard is suspended above the top plate/soundboard. Given that here is probably a whacking great tone bar at the neck end of the top I’m not sure how this would effect the tone but no doubt on of our resident luthier can comment on that.
It’s a funny thing. I day later I can’t recall the sound, I suspect because I was just in awe of the thing. Whether you would think this the best guitar you have ever played I don’t know, but without any doubt it will be in your top two or three.
Casimi are an interesting company. It is South African based, in Cape Town, and is a venture of two guys Matthew Rice and Matthias Roux. Matthias worked with Canadian luthier Maingard for a decade before coming back home and starting Casini. Both are performing musicians which is behind that ingenious bridge system which allows for ultra quick string changes when on stage.
I asked Michael how he discovered them. He’d been aware of Casini for a while on the web. He met the two of them and the guitars, I think, at the Berlin Holly Grail Show. His reaction on playing them in one of their sound proof booths clearly had a similar effect on him than it did on me.
Has an African heritage had an impact on the sound? We thought it probably had. Michael’s view was that there are really two schools of quality steel string manufactures, one based around Jean Larrivee and the other around the bay area in California (Richard Hoover, Somogi, Kostal and so on). Roux clearly has a grounding in the Larrivee school but there is something very distinct and different going on here.
If I was a young, budding, fingerstyle guitarist I’d make a point of hearing one of these. Hell, if I was twenty years younger I would have put the deposit on my credit card there and then and spent the next year wondering how to find the balance. You could build a good career based around this instrument. As it is now, I have this kind of haunting feeling at the back of my head. The prices are not listed on the website but I guess we are talking around £13K.
These guitars are set to become legends and I suspect — in years to come — will be treated as holly grail type instruments. They are that good. If you get a chance to try one you must. Next on order is a 00 sized instrument and I for one will be beating a path down to Fulham to try it.
That guitar is going to haunt me for a long time. Thank goodness this one had already been snapped up — but some very lucky guy in Scotland I believe.
Attachments:
Whinge yes 
Jo whoever he is.
