Official Luthiers Forum!

Have any of you ever played a guitar by Eric Sahlin? He has the absolute most comfortable necks to play on for a classical guitar. His guitar necks have some type of twist contour in them according to their description. Does anybody know how this is executed? It's very hard to get your hands on one to test or measure, and his waiting list is 6-8 years. His guitars really do feel different than any other, and I've played a lot. Does anybody have any idea what I'm talking about, and if so, could you describe how the twist is executed? The last time I played one of his guitars was long before I started building, and I was way too ignorant to pay attention to those types of things back then--I just knew it played awesome!

CHeers!

John

John,

I have never seen one, but I hope someone here can educate us. It sounds interesting. Hmmm...I'll take the spruce/rosewood model.....with a twist!

Jeff

Hey, John. Give the builder a call and ask him. The worst he can say is #$@X off. That only hurts for a minute.

Seriously, many of the steel string gurus are very generous with their opinions and advice. Why not a classical guru? He may turn out to be one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. And if he is, invite him to the forum. We could always use more classical guys around here.

And if he gives you the bum's rush just remenber...we still like you!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

John,

I played and examined a Sahlin 10-string at last year's International 10-string Festival. The owner is Tom Nothnagle, from Iowa. (See his website about his cable public access TV show here.)

This guitar was built in 1985. The only thing unusual I found about the neck was that it was made of cedar. Looked like western redcedar, but I just checked my notes, and I see that I've written down Port Orford cedar. I don't recall now where that came from. Perhaps Tom said that's what it was.

Of course, being a 10-string with its characteristic extra wide neck, perhaps it did not have this twist you're refering to. I don't recall anything out of the ordinary about its contour.

It was a very well made and nice sounding instrument. Perhaps if you wrote to Tom he could give you a bit more information about it.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live