Post by robmc on Dec 28, 2017 17:09:58 GMT
Since Christmas has been and gone and the New Year is nearly upon us, I thought I’d share my guitar related news to fill the gap, not that I’m wishing time away, really quite happy to not be at work…!
Earlier in the year my Kinkade Kingsdown had its neck reset which was carried out by Alan Arnold, a guitar builder and repairer based in Attleborough, not far from Norwich. I got on well with Alan and whilst I was there I was able to have a noodle on a few of his guitars and also had a sneaky peek inside his wood store… I suspect this is a well-rehearsed method employed by builders as a form ofentrapment enticement. With the seed sown I started thinking about the possibility of a guitar build for me by Alan.
At the time I had a sitka / silver oak Larrivee parlour which, for some reason, wasn’t hitting the spot for me and it has since been sold on to add funds to the guitar pot, I had been thinking about a ‘bigger’ small bodied guitar for a little while.
Based on what I had heard and played I was fairly set on a cedar top and chatting this through with Alan led to another visit to his workshop to look over possible options for the back and sides and to run through a specification for a build, he was also able to show me a similar sized guitar partway through its build so I could get a feel for the body shape and neck profile, it felt pretty comfortable!
Alan had selected back and side tonewoods that he thought would work well for a small bodied cedar topped guitar which included sets of koa, mahogany, sapele, ovangkol and walnut (claro & French)… It was great to see the woods in their raw state and consider the options.
I was predisposed to the combination of cedar / walnut and Alan seemed to think this was a good idea… ‘You’ll have a guitar on your hands with cedar / walnut…’ In the end I went with a set of the claro walnut that had attractive figuring and some flaming too. The French walnut was tempting as it was very highly figured and a wispy, smokey colour but Alan was more convinced about the claro so I went with his judgement.
The body shape is one of Alan’s models, the Phaedra, a 12 fret guitar which has a body size very similar to a standard Martin 00 but with a slightly larger lower bout. I’ve never owned an acoustic with any electrics before but I wanted the option of using a pickup so I took Alan’s advice and have opted for a Headway HE4, I’ve found there’s a lot of advice and opinions on pick up systems and it seems a very subjective subject but I did listen to some comparisons on line and I liked the Headway (there is a good Ben Walker video where he compares the Headway to a Fishman blend, I personally much preferred the Headway). Actually, Ben was looking for a different option to the Headway fitted in his Fylde, which he had some misgivings about…. A subjective subject!
So after a few cups of coffee, we agreed details and I left Alan to it, but before I went I asked if he could periodically take some photos of the build and he kindly agreed and has sent some on, rather than leave them to gather dust in my Outlook I thought they may be of interest to some of the folk on here and a thread would be a nice record of the build! The pictures are all quick camera-phone shots taken in the workshop, I’ll be making a visit in the New Year, before the box is closed to have a good look at the innards so I’ll try and take some pictures then too, the spec is as follows:
Phaedra Build Spec
00 body
12 fret neck
Western red cedar soundboard
Claro Walnut back and sides
Mahogany neck with carbon fibre rod reinforcement
Ebony fingerboard, bridge and head plate
Ebony bindings with bwb purfling
Abalone & walnut rosette
Abalone position dot markers on 5, 7 & 9th frets (descending diameter, Martin style)
Walnut heel cap
Ebony tapered bottom inlay with purfling
Gloss nitrocellulose finish (satin to neck)
Gotoh 510 machine heads, hopefully nickle with ebony buttons (solid peghead)
46mm nut
57mm string spacing at bridge
Headway pick up
Hiscox case
Nickle strap buttons
Dutch fret wire
Ebony bridge pins
Photos to follow...
Earlier in the year my Kinkade Kingsdown had its neck reset which was carried out by Alan Arnold, a guitar builder and repairer based in Attleborough, not far from Norwich. I got on well with Alan and whilst I was there I was able to have a noodle on a few of his guitars and also had a sneaky peek inside his wood store… I suspect this is a well-rehearsed method employed by builders as a form of
At the time I had a sitka / silver oak Larrivee parlour which, for some reason, wasn’t hitting the spot for me and it has since been sold on to add funds to the guitar pot, I had been thinking about a ‘bigger’ small bodied guitar for a little while.
Based on what I had heard and played I was fairly set on a cedar top and chatting this through with Alan led to another visit to his workshop to look over possible options for the back and sides and to run through a specification for a build, he was also able to show me a similar sized guitar partway through its build so I could get a feel for the body shape and neck profile, it felt pretty comfortable!
Alan had selected back and side tonewoods that he thought would work well for a small bodied cedar topped guitar which included sets of koa, mahogany, sapele, ovangkol and walnut (claro & French)… It was great to see the woods in their raw state and consider the options.
I was predisposed to the combination of cedar / walnut and Alan seemed to think this was a good idea… ‘You’ll have a guitar on your hands with cedar / walnut…’ In the end I went with a set of the claro walnut that had attractive figuring and some flaming too. The French walnut was tempting as it was very highly figured and a wispy, smokey colour but Alan was more convinced about the claro so I went with his judgement.
The body shape is one of Alan’s models, the Phaedra, a 12 fret guitar which has a body size very similar to a standard Martin 00 but with a slightly larger lower bout. I’ve never owned an acoustic with any electrics before but I wanted the option of using a pickup so I took Alan’s advice and have opted for a Headway HE4, I’ve found there’s a lot of advice and opinions on pick up systems and it seems a very subjective subject but I did listen to some comparisons on line and I liked the Headway (there is a good Ben Walker video where he compares the Headway to a Fishman blend, I personally much preferred the Headway). Actually, Ben was looking for a different option to the Headway fitted in his Fylde, which he had some misgivings about…. A subjective subject!
So after a few cups of coffee, we agreed details and I left Alan to it, but before I went I asked if he could periodically take some photos of the build and he kindly agreed and has sent some on, rather than leave them to gather dust in my Outlook I thought they may be of interest to some of the folk on here and a thread would be a nice record of the build! The pictures are all quick camera-phone shots taken in the workshop, I’ll be making a visit in the New Year, before the box is closed to have a good look at the innards so I’ll try and take some pictures then too, the spec is as follows:
Phaedra Build Spec
00 body
12 fret neck
Western red cedar soundboard
Claro Walnut back and sides
Mahogany neck with carbon fibre rod reinforcement
Ebony fingerboard, bridge and head plate
Ebony bindings with bwb purfling
Abalone & walnut rosette
Abalone position dot markers on 5, 7 & 9th frets (descending diameter, Martin style)
Walnut heel cap
Ebony tapered bottom inlay with purfling
Gloss nitrocellulose finish (satin to neck)
Gotoh 510 machine heads, hopefully nickle with ebony buttons (solid peghead)
46mm nut
57mm string spacing at bridge
Headway pick up
Hiscox case
Nickle strap buttons
Dutch fret wire
Ebony bridge pins
Photos to follow...
Jo whoever he is.
