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I have officially started my second guitar for John Creech. John has one of my E2 models in LS Redwood/Indian. This one will be a 14 fret Brazilian/Addy dreadnought.

Here is the back being glued...





And the top.



Thanks for looking!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

i already like it. can you tell us the overall theme of the guitar? ... i anxiously await the progress of this one...

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sweat the small stuff.

A dreadnought! Fantastic. We need to see more of them on this forum.

Right Colin?

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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."

Beautiful wood Lance.Maybe someday I`ll be good enough to warrant using BRW.Until then seeing stuff guys like you and Hesh do is a real joy.
                           James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Update -
Just got of the phone with John, were doing a Carpathian top instead
Were going to use this wonderful sample that came from Steve at Colonial..

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

gotta love them dreads :)

Seems like I am in a rut building them also...I dont mind a bit though!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Lance, would you mind talking more about the decision to go with the
carpathian top? What was the conversation like? I'm glad you're posting
pics. I always like it when you document your builds.

Lance, that is really nice.  How does it sound? 

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=Don Williams] A dreadnought! Fantastic. We need to see more of them n this forum.

Right Colin?[/QUOTE]

Do you know Don, I think I'll go and start building one straight away! Just right for that bluegrass.

Colin

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

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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."

Nice wood Lance, Mr. Creech should be happy ! I listened to some
of his playing and MAN ,Is he GOOD!!J. Creech

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

[QUOTE=Colin S] [QUOTE=Don Williams] A dreadnought! Fantastic. We need to see more of them n this forum.

Right Colin?[/QUOTE]

Do you know Don, I think I'll go and start building one straight away! Just right for that bluegrass.

Colin[/QUOTE]

And Paul Simon tunes.   

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Hey everyone! Had a GREAT conversation with Lance last night about this instrument. Dave-- thank you SO much for your comments about the instrument and about me.      I feel undeserving, for sure!

We talked about Adi vs. Carpathian for the top. I've played many brz/adi guitars as well as bz/sitka and other spruce topped guitars. One thing I can echo is Lance's thoughts regarding Adi-- it seems to have a bit harsher of an attack. That's not a bad thing at all. If all you play is banjo killing bluegrass, that's a GREAT thing. However, for my playing style, I like to let the microphone do a lot of the volume work and still like to dig in pretty good at times too. The sound most pleasing to my ear is a deep, full, rich, piano like quality-- more of a Steinway sound than a Kawai sound. We think the Carpathain spruce blends the best of Adi with that slightly more tempered attack.

I don't want a pre-war dreadnaught copy. If someone wants that, he/she can go get an HD-28V off the wall with a reasonable expectation of the tonal characteristics of that instrument. I want to incorporate all the best features of the instruments I love in this instrument. We're debating a larger soundhole as well-- I'm still not sure about that yet. I do know that it will have the erroneously termed "forward shifted," scalloped braces (this should be termed "standard position" as the braces were rearward shifted from standard in Martin's production) and Lance's deftly tuned top and back bracing. The bindings and such will be wood, as I believe that every bit of wood you remove from an instrument to replace with plastic is that much of a tonal deterrent. When the time is right, I'll box up my uncle's 1985 D-28 and send it to Lance so we can duplicate the neck from it. I grew up on that one and grew to fit its neck.

We're taking the same approach on this one as the last one-- listening to what the guitar wants to be rather than what I want it to be. I'm a firm believer that the relationship between a player and the instrument is a give and take thing-- to corrupt a Presidential phrase, you have to ask what you can do for/with it rather than what it can do for/with you. That's one of the greatest things about working with Lance-- he shares that same attitude and doesn't think I'm bonkers when I say it!

Also, I owe the entire OLF a huge Thank You. Without this place, I'd have never met Lance or any of the other builders/contributors. I'm very fortunate in that I was able to use our E2 in a recording session on Monday night-- it will be featured on a CD called "A Carolina Christmas" which will hopefully be released by the end of the year. I was asked to record a solo instrumental in the tradition of "Shenandoah" and ended up doing "The First Noel / O Tannenbaum." There was only ONE guitar it could have been played on and the E2 performed like a champ.

But back to the discussion at hand-- ain't that some darn fine Braz and Carpathian? Steve-- you have definitely got some of the finest wood available, period! I don't know the story behind that Brz, but I'd love to know the story behind both sets of wood. Perhaps Lance can chime in on the Brazilian and Steve-- would you be so kind to relate how you found the Carpathian (IF you can remember-- I can imagine with all that fine wood it can get a bit muddled where it all comes from). To me, the stories behind obtaining the wood are extrordinarily interesting!

My experience with Carpathian is that it was the easiest top i ever joined! It's
easy to hide a seam on wide grain spruce without showing any runout;)

[QUOTE=pharmboycu]
The bindings and such will be wood, as I believe that every bit of wood you remove from an instrument to replace with plastic is that much of a tonal deterrent. [/QUOTE]


Interesting... I realize that it's "your show" when it comes to getting a guitar that you want, but...

I'm not quite sure where you are getting that concept from, but I would have to disagree, as would many builders and players. I don't think it makes a hoot of difference. I'm sure even Lance would have to think that it doesn't make a difference. Truthfully, some of the finest sounding instruments I've ever heard have plastic bindings. They certainly aren't as organic looking, but the sound of a guitar doesn't come from the binding material. That's a fallacy. But as they say, we sometimes hear with our eyes...and my eyes also prefer wood bindings over plastic. My ears can't hear a bit of difference though.

So Lance, do you think it makes a difference?



OK, don't answer that. No sense getting yourself in a bind with your client...pun intended.

Pretty much, all the Carpthian in the U.S. comes from the same supplier, as does most of the Adirondack folks are selling.
It is a very nice set of Carpathian, btw. At least from it's appearance.


Steve has some of the best wood in town IMHO, because he sources things very well, and works hard to get the best he can for his customers.

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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."

I hear ya Don... I doubt very much that I nor anyone else could ever hear the difference in plastic versus wood bindings. I know it's a very esoteric concept, however, in keeping with the concept of "the whole being greater than the sum of the parts," I just think the more plastic we can keep out of instruments, the better. That said, I think Ovation as done very well with plastic, echoing the earlier experiments of Maccafferi. My concept of it being a tonal deterrent is entirely self derived. I guess it allboils down to "wood is good."   

Now I follow...you're thinking in "emotional synergy" terms like I do! I'm very into natural wood on a guitar too. Unless it's a traditional Martin style instrument, I prefer it to be more organic looking. I hate using stains even to change the color, unless it's a burst. Wood IS good !

But John, Ovations? Don't get us started on them here...
Puh-leez!!!!

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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."

That's the best term I've heard to characterize my thoughts-- "emotional synergy." Further proof of your expertise there man!!!!

I'm right there with you. Natural wood is as pure as it gets. Sunbursts are pretty, but even adding the stain to the mix to create that is something I don't know if I could do.

As for Ovations, one of the greatest bluegrass tunes ever was recorded on one which is what made me take a second look at how I thought of them. I'd never have believed "Manzanita" was recorded on a plastic guitar until I heard it from the horse's mouth.   

My first guitar was an Ovation <groan>.
There. I said it. Confession time is over.

BTW, to date, every guitar I've ever made has had wood bindings, except a dobro. I figured, if I'm going to be using aluminum to make the sound, who's going to care if the bindings are Ivoroid?!

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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."

Guys I've said it before but the best guitar I've ever played, and I've played a lot in more than 40 years of playing was the all polymer guitar made by Loughborogh University here in the UK. It's the sonic characteristics of the components that matter, they calculated that for each part of the instrument then produced the correct polymer for each bit. Gordon Giltrap, was their guitarist consultant. It played outstandingly but probably cost more to make than a top of the range George Lowden, and I'd still sooner have the George Lowden.


Colin

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