Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks again for all your help. I was asking for design help for guitar #2
because my first guitar was a bit boomy etc. Well, here is the great news.
I brought the guitar into Buffalo Bros. Guitars here in San Diego. They are
a very high end shop that has literally hundreds of acoustics on the
floor....from Goodall to Martin to Huss and Dalton to Weber.... No Small
builders, but very good guitars and incredibly knowledgeable people.
Someone else here on the OLF did the same....brought it into a shop to be
critiqued and shot down. Well they loved the guitar. As far as
boominess, they brought the guitar into the repair shop and did some
adjustments and gave me some advice. The lead repairman is also a
luthier. He then had about 8 sales people play it and they loved the warm
woody sound of the cedar & cocobolo. They thought it was well balanced
and that I should build another like it. I had a problem with my low E
string that was contributing to some of my sound issues. I am a beginner
in both playing and building so my judgement of the sound was based on
no experience.

Also, they spent about 2 hours with me and all the advice and set up
issues were free. They were great. I did buy my Baby Taylor there, but
they certainly didn't need to do all that they did. One person wanted me
to come back with a contour gauge to mark out the shapes of a lot guitar
necks so that I could improve mine. (they thought it was a bit flat)

I told them how I built it with all of the help of the OLF and they were
amazed. There is no way it would have been that good of a guitar
without all of the AWESOME help you have given me.

Thanks again
The Newbie Andy

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Well done Andy.

More power to you

Andy,

What did the luthier do as far as adjustment? (to affect the boominess)

Good on ya mate!

Hey Andy that's good news indeed. It sure helps boost one's ego knowing your on the right path.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=azimmer1] Thanks again for all your help. I was asking for design help for guitar #2
because my first guitar was a bit boomy etc. Well, here is the great news.
I brought the guitar into Buffalo Bros. Guitars here in San Diego. They are
a very high end shop that has literally hundreds of acoustics on the
floor....from Goodall to Martin to Huss and Dalton to Weber.... No Small
builders, but very good guitars and incredibly knowledgeable people.
Someone else here on the OLF did the same....brought it into a shop to be
critiqued and shot down. Well they loved the guitar. As far as
boominess, they brought the guitar into the repair shop and did some
adjustments and gave me some advice. The lead repairman is also a
luthier. He then had about 8 sales people play it and they loved the warm
woody sound of the cedar & cocobolo. They thought it was well balanced
and that I should build another like it. I had a problem with my low E
string that was contributing to some of my sound issues. I am a beginner
in both playing and building so my judgement of the sound was based on
no experience.

Also, they spent about 2 hours with me and all the advice and set up
issues were free. They were great. I did buy my Baby Taylor there, but
they certainly didn't need to do all that they did. One person wanted me
to come back with a contour gauge to mark out the shapes of a lot guitar
necks so that I could improve mine. (they thought it was a bit flat)

I told them how I built it with all of the help of the OLF and they were
amazed. There is no way it would have been that good of a guitar
without all of the AWESOME help you have given me.

Thanks again
The Newbie Andy
[/QUOTE]

I'm impressed, thats awesome they were so cool. I had a local shop do pretty much the opposite. As soon as they knew I wasn't there to buy a guitar they pretty much wanted me to leave.. *sigh*

_________________
CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Some of the problems in the base related to a poorly sitting bridge pin on
the low E. The ball of the string was not seated correctly. Also, my nut was
a bit high and needed to be filed down and the angle of the nut slots were
not steep enough. The action was a bit high, but I did this on purpose until
the guitar settled a bit. Now that it has I filed down the saddle a bit.
A lot of the sound "problem" was my poor playing. They have some very
fine players there and when I heard the guitar played by them, it sounded
just fine.

Thanks again

Andy

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

[QUOTE=azimmer1] A lot of the sound "problem" was my poor playing. They have some very
fine players there and when I heard the guitar played by them, it sounded
just fine.[/QUOTE]

You know, I think it's really quite rare for a newer builder to under-judge the sound of his instrument. Some I've known about think their latest guitar is a "cannon," when it sounds more like a pie tin. Gotta give you an "attaboy" for really listening critically. Also for having the fortitude to ask some experts what they really think! You've taken some giant steps toward making real-world good guitars.

A tip of the hat as well to the guys at Buffalo Bros. for taking the time to help and encourage you.

Buff. Bros. sure sounds like a fine place. I'M glad your guitar turned out good and they took the time to help you out. Way to go Andy !

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

That's really great, it's rare in this over commercial world that people are glad to help for altruistic reasons alone rather than just to make a buck. They sound like good people.

OK, so now on to #2, I'd go with the same guitar but using a European top. The top, as we are always saying is, acoustically, the most important component, so see what difference it makes. It's good not to change too many things at once.

You've obviously built a fine sounding guitar (great feeling isn't it!), remember the issues that were shown up and get to it. Oh, and don't forget to take time to sit down take out #1 and tickle it's strings, both you and #1 will appreciate it.

Colin

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

Thanks for all the kind words
It is a great ego boost, since I thought I build a bit of a dud.
Andy

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com