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Post by nkforster on Jun 5, 2015 7:59:00 GMT
This sounds great. It must be the fullest-sounding tenor I've heard - hearing it strummed, you'd hardly know it wasn't a six-string. Have you tried it in CGDA tuning? The CGDA tuning is nice but it's just not as useful for playing with others if you play traditional/folkie/Celtic music. But you could certainly use that tuning if you changed your string gauges. As for sound - aye, there is no reason why a tenor should sound light or thin. There are quite a few tenors around now but often weak sounding - too small in the body and too heavy in the top.
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Post by nkforster on Jun 5, 2015 6:09:50 GMT
Tom who plays on the video loved the tenor, he sat and played this one all afternoon, he hardly put it down! In-between playing and cups of tea he made a really nice comment - "It's louder than a lot of tenor banjos." That's the idea! The last time I made a tenor was when I worked for Sobell - we only made one the whole time I was there, and to be honest I can't remember much about it. But they seem to be back in favour just now, may well be thanks to Seth Lakeman, who knows? Anyway, this one is based on my guitar bouzouki model and is tuned GDAE/GDAD which I believe gets called "Irish tuning." Low G is the same as my guitar bouzouki so it made sense to use the same size body - wide enough to get bass, shallow enough to project. The top is spruce, the back and sides Osage orange, the neck is mahogany. This one even has an ebony fretboard (which is quite posh for a Session King) but that because there was a spare bouzouki fretboard hanging about that was already slotted and had it's radius. Like all Session Kings it has a totally flat top, a relic finish and for one of my instruments it's quite fancy in the decoration department - in that it has dots on the fretboard! Talk about bling. Mind they are clay dots. So, here you go, enjoy the video and keep an eye on my YouTube channel as I've got a few more vids coming up from the same session. By the way, Ian Stephenson did the sound engineering and Seth Tinsley shot the video, both do a great job. Nigel www.nkforsterguitars.com/blog/loudest-tenor-guita/
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Post by nkforster on May 27, 2015 7:25:37 GMT
Ian did a few lessons years back for my YouTube channel. They've had loads of hits. Anyway, here is a much belated follow up. Enjoy! n
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Post by nkforster on May 22, 2015 17:38:10 GMT
Looks like you've been reading the luthier blog! Well done, smart looking guitar. nigel
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Post by nkforster on Apr 17, 2015 17:42:15 GMT
Is it possible to get very tall bone saddle blanks, around 14 or 15 mm? by 3 mm wide, I'm having a tough time finding any no. about 11mm is about as tall as you'll get. If you need taller there may be something amiss with your guitar's geometry unless you want a very very high action. n
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Post by nkforster on Apr 12, 2015 12:48:21 GMT
Tom is one of my favourite players - not just technically brilliant, but a musician. The other week we made a few short videos over at Ian Stephenson's place. Here is the latest one. Over on the BLOG I've made a post featuring some of the latest Session King vids so you can compare 'em. Enjoy, Nigel
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Post by nkforster on Apr 5, 2015 12:02:38 GMT
Nigel, does the publication of the e-book mean you managed to sort out the VAT issues? Session King sounds great If I sell an ebook through Amazon, I'm covered, but they take 30% of anything priced up to $9.99. 70% for anything above! For a "How to make a..." type book I'd need to charge more than £6.50 or whatever it is so then I need to set up with a company called payhip.com they handle all the VAT then. What gets me is, it's not as if Amazon pay much in the way of VAT or tax to anyone yet that's what the minister suggested when asked on the subject of small businesses....hey ho.
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Post by nkforster on Apr 5, 2015 7:51:25 GMT
Made a few videos Friday morning 'round at Ian's. He's a great sound engineer you know. Anyway, last night I sat and learned how to use iMovie...I know how to enjoy myself on a Saterday night! Here you go - a spruce/mahogany Session king. More to come I hope... Oh - here is a link to Ian's site - I highly recommend him and he's very good value.
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Post by nkforster on Apr 3, 2015 16:03:43 GMT
Some of you might be familiar with a blog I've been putting together this last year for luthiers. I've decided to roll up all the content and make it into an ebook. The blog will continue with new posts from time to time , but all the old stuff can be found here: www.theluthierblog.com/articles/the-luthier-blog-ebook/It all started when I met a great feller in Australia who had made 17 left handed guitars, but didn't know how to sell them and was running out of space! Loads of top makers contributed - Somoygi, Olsen, Greven, Traugott, Ryan... too many to mention here. Some of it is just daft fun, but some of it is really useful. There you go, n
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Post by nkforster on Mar 31, 2015 17:59:39 GMT
Don't know if I've posted this before but it's the first of two lessons with Johnny Dickinson, my favourite slide player. Johnny is all about feel, and if you watch the video's a few times, you'll get it. Hard to describe, easier to have a go if you know what I mean...
n
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Post by nkforster on Mar 30, 2015 17:37:22 GMT
The Session King looks very well worn in... it got me wondering whether there is just as much work in creating that worn look as there is in getting your more traditional gloss finish? All the best, marcus I know some makers charge more for a relic finish, but for me it's less. The feller who finishes the Session Kings has been doing this to guitars for decades so he's ace at it. And his work costs much less than a full high gloss finish which is a very time consuming process. He gives the guitar a very light nitro finish, followed by a hand polish rather than a machine buff followed by a good hiding in the back yard! Thing is, folk can have what they like, the first prototype, the all mahogany model had a family gentle spell in the "time machine", whereas we wanted to show how far you can go with this one. One customer really couldn't get away with a relic finish at all so he's paid the extra to get a high gloss finish. It'll be a very posh Session King. I just hope he doesn't ding it in the pub first time he takes it out. n www.nkforsterguitars.com/blog/another-session-king-spruce-and-mahogany/
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Post by nkforster on Mar 27, 2015 17:29:25 GMT
Here is a Session King update - a few folk have been asking about the spruce/mahogany version - here it is: I've written a bit about it on the blog.n
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Post by nkforster on Mar 17, 2015 18:30:32 GMT
Thanks Nigel and Martin. I really enjoyed reading the interview and was struck by all the thought and experimentation that you put into constantly improving your guitars Nigel. I see you've already got plenty of questions but hope it's okay to ask just one more: flat-top vs. domed top vs. cylinder top vs. Howe-Orme style top... do you decide which to use solely based on a desired tone ("Now I could blather on about the different tonal qualities but you'd be better off listening to the sound samples and forming your own opinions.") or do other factors come into play? The funky hump gets my vote on looks alone! Cheers, marcus Often the customer tells me which one they want. Sometimes they don't ,then we can work out which spec would be best for the budget they have. So maybe the factors for choosing are sonic, aesthetic and financial.
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Post by nkforster on Mar 17, 2015 18:29:19 GMT
Have you ever thought 'Enough is enough with the complex engineering aspects, I'm going to build '52 butterscotch Telecasters from now on'?
Well not really. I do find guitars are getting a bit over the top as far as appointments go, but no one could ever accuse me of that. I've noticed your guitars tend to avoid Martin sensibilities, have you ever considered building a vintage inspired scalloped X braced 12 fret 00 or something?
no. I've asked you about bracing, being ladder bracing, laminated Larson Bros bracing and you used to offer standard X bracing and laminated bracing for your guitars but you no longer offer it. Would it be possible to ask what kind of bracing pattern you use now and what lead to it's inception? Also how important do you consider the bracing to be? As an enthusiast, I myself consider the bracing to be 'the soul of the guitar', however wrong that might be!
You can ask, but I'm not telling you. What brought me to this point is all the work I've done in the past. Bracing is probably the commonest way makers delude themselves into thinking they've make an important difference, improvement or discovery by shifting or shaving something a tiny amount. So in that sense it is very important, if it's a diversion from the bigger picture of what colours sound. I read the Session King/Howe O, have 'fruitwood' bridges; would it be possible to ask what kind of fruitwood was used - is it plum? I noticed Lakewood have started offering plum for bridges now. I'm trying several different ones, but I've never seen plum. They all get stained black on my guitars so look like ebony anyway. I've noticed your guitars seem to be short of of '42/45' style adornments, would you ever build a guitar with pearl/abalone? (I myself despise that kind of stuff...)No. Never inlaid anything more than a dot. Though I did study Makie-e a traditional Japanese lacquer decoration last summer in Tokyo. It's beautiful. I may well make a guitar with some Makie-e on it for one of the shops in Japan. It's more like "onlay" than inlay. How well stocked is your wood locker? Do you ever suffer from the luthier counterpart to GAS (Guitar Acquisition syndrome) which is WAS (Wood Acquisition syndrome)?
The wood locker is groaning and yes I have suffered terribly from WAS in the past. But I'm going through a period of remission brought about by the realisation that I've more wood than I could ever use. Just bought some nice reclaimed mahogany last week mind.... Do you have a favourite tonewood for the soundboard and for the back and sides? If you can't make a good guitar with European spruce and Indian rosewood you're doing something wrong. All this is covered in the book. I've not noticed there is no 12 string guitar in your line up, have you ever built one or do you plan to? (I love the 12 string)
I've made a few for people, any of the models can be made into a 12 string. What do you see to be the future of guitar building? Like any other aspect of the luxury goods market it all depends on the state of the larger economy in general. In which case, whatever long term future there is will probably to be found in the east. But in the meantime I suspect guitars will get more and more crazy, with more and more wacky decoration and features, but as long as folk keep directing their attention on all that, I doubt they'll sound much different. Fine by me! It was mentioned that if any contemporary guitarist could play one of your guitars it would be Johnny Marr. If any deceased guitarist could play one your guitars who would it be? Me Granda Charlie. It would be nice to see him again. I'd give him one of the "Charlie" archtops I named after him. And have a whiskey with him. What is your favourite flavour of crisps? Or type of cheese? Plain and goats. One of my favourite Smiths songs is the following, do you have one?I don't listen to them these days but anything from the first three albums is great. I went to see them in Carlisle when I was 16. Ran away from school and slept in the train station. Very exciting. Naturally I was right at the front so to join in the popular game of "gobbing on the support band." (Tut tut) When The Smiths eventually started the first song I jumped up with the crowd and when I landed my shoes were missing. It was quite busy. Didn't get one of them back till the end of the gig. [/b]? [/quote]
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Post by nkforster on Mar 16, 2015 19:46:57 GMT
Do you think your guitars are more suited to any particular style of playing? Hard to say. Ian Stephenson plays with a pick and makes my guitars sound amazing. Tom Fletcher finger picks and makes then sound amazing too. I play wih my thumb, and tend to make every guitar I play sound the same! Most of of my customers play what could be called "Celtic" music or this newish genre, "modern fingerstyle." A lot, but not all play in Dadgad or open tunings. But when I play, it's more like traditional dance band playing which is basically simple jazz. I suppose one of the things I try to do is make an instrument that offers no obstacle between you and your music. You'll be limited not by the guitar but by your own tecnique, mind, not everyone wants to be in that position. That's one of the reasons why I prefer clear guitars with a lot of separation. If you look for warmth you can find it, if you want power, it's there. But if you make more traditonal sounding guitars that are naturally warmer or softer, it's very hard to achieve anything like the same power and clarity regardless of your right hand tecnique. The results then can be limited by the guitar, not by the player. hope that helps. n
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