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Excuse my ignorance but what is up with Lowden??
Almost every comment about playing or hearing a Lowden played is visceral in nature, visceral but otherworldly.
I've seen fleeting images of some of you kneeling and even prostrating youselves when the name 'Lowden' is mentioned
So, what up?

Look at the other 'Lowden' threads. George Lowdens are quite simply the best guitars money can buy (rather a lot of money!). Stefan Sobell runs him a close second.

But it's all personal opinion, one man's best is another man's dog.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I've played a whole lot of them, and although they are very good guitars
I've never been taken aback at anything otherworldly. I think that they do
generally have a warmer sound than most, but in my opinion it can
occasionally come at the expense of clarity. I wouldn't choose one as a
flatpicker to keep up with a banjo and mandolin, but many seem to lean
toward offering a comfortably warm and balanced tone for fingerstyle or
chord strumming.

The one that gets me here is the Olson guitars. I've probably played a
dozen of those, and although they are very nice guitars I've never found
any to be exceptional. They're a Martin box with a Guild bridge and a flat
top. Most sound very good, but about as good as one would expect if
anyone built a Martin box with a flat top. I have a great deal of respect for
Jim as an ingenious tool and fixture maker and as an all around nice guy,
and I do like his guitars.

There are a few like this who seem to achieve a level of reverence that I
think is dispropportionate to where I would put them on the scale. I
would generally put Huss & Dalton, Collings, Merrill, Ryan, and a host of
others higher on my personal favorites list. Good for them though I
suppose. They are both excellent builders and have worked long and hard
to get where they are. I think they do both have a slightly different sound
than the norm which could be what sets them apart for many, but I also
have to think there's often a little branding involved. I just don't see them
as being the golden masterpieces that others seem to veiw them as.David Collins39081.3724421296

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Colin,
Obviously he did some things 'differently' than the main stream luthiers.
What, if you know, changes, techniques, woods, bracing etc. account for the incredible sound?

BTW-What kind of $$$ are we talking about?bob J39081.3726157407

If I'm not mistaken, George has a very nice pictorial on his site where he takes us through an entire guitar building process... There doesn't seem to be anything overly complicated or 'magical'... However, I believe the experience of a builder is not something you can quantify or qualify. It just 'is'. It's between the finger. It's all in the touch and the voicing I'm sure. As Al Caruth would say, if it looks like a guitar, it will surely sound like a guitar. The difference is in the minute details...

I personally have never had the pleasure of trying a Lowden but I can't wait!!!

I do believe they start around the 6-7k price point...

Note: I know Don Ross loves his and if I understand correctly, Lowdens' don't have truss rods. Is that correct?

Alain Desforges39081.3959259259

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

The first guitar I built was a Loud'un.


Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

here's the site, with prices and the pictorial

George is a lovely bloke and he makes great guitars. I guess the fact that relatively few of them make it out to the collonies makes them that little bit more desireable, added to the fact that most of y'all want to say you come from Ireland so want a guitar from here too!!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

[QUOTE=old man] The first guitar I built was a Loud'un.


Ron[/QUOTE]

ROFLMAO

Bob,

You may want to wait until the Don tunes in, I hear he swapped a dirty'ol Les Paul for a sweet little Mahogany Lowden original back when you could pick one up for around $700.00. Legend has it that it was the best number Lowden ever made to, is that right Don?

Cheers Mate.

Kim

[QUOTE=old man] The first guitar I built was a Loud'un.

Ron[/QUOTE]



Good one Ron...

Kim, legend has it, that Don is still groaning over opportunities lost....


Bob,
My experience with a Lowden dated back to the early '80's, when I had the opportunity to trade my Les Paul for one or buy it from a dealer in upstate NY. It was a cedar top guitar with mahogany back and sides. It was simple in adornment, but its sound was breathtaking. You have to understand though, that I'd never heard a cedar topped guitar before, so it was a new experience for me. It was airy, warm and dark, and had tremendous response to the touch of the strings.
I didn't buy it because I had never heard of a Lowden before, and couldn't quite wrap my brain around what I was experiencing enough to realize how special an instrument it was.
That said, it was a great fingerstyle guitar, but as others have said, it wasn't a bluegrass guitar.
I revere other maker's instruments equally for the tonal characteristics they achieve. Borges, Tippin, TJ Thompson, Collings, Goodall, Ryan, Olson etc. etc. all make great instruments depending on what you want to use the guitar for. But that Lowden sound is distinct and unique, and one I really like.

Don Williams39081.4602777778

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

[QUOTE=Alain Desforges] Note: I know Don Ross loves his and if I understand correctly, Lowdens' don't have truss rods. Is that correct?

[/QUOTE]

Alain,

Well my two (that date from the mid 1990's) have truss rods. They are hard to adjust though as the access is tucked right up near the neck block.

There is a big difference between a handmade George Lowden guitar, and a factory made Lowden (although factory is a bit strong as these are pretty much hand made by a small number of people)both in price and sound. There is also a big difference in sound/response between the big O model, and the more focused and punchier F (as used by Richard Thompson) and S series models. I don't like the sound of the O's but have an F is sitka/EIR and an S in cedar/EIR.

The Lowden sound tends to be a love/hate thing with people I find.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

If I had a windfall, probably the first thing I would do is order a Lowden custom, and go and pick it up meself, finished off with short trip to the Giant's Causeway...

I'd get the ferry across, 'cos I wouldn't want it bashed up on the plane!!

WHa-? Did somebody just wake me up? Ah..it was all a dream... Sam Price39081.4818865741