Post by CTGull on Jan 20, 2020 14:56:59 GMT -5
Well, I've finished all my neck resets that were in progress. Only the fine details remain, which in the case of my guitars means they may never get done. I still have many more to work on, but my interest isn't in starting another one.
Instead of working on vintage Yamaha's, my interest seems to have drifted to finding "The One". At least out of the collection I have. Should I continue to take apart vintage Yamaha's to build "The One". Or search other guitars I have??
I've been saying lately I don't like the narrow string spacing of the vintage Yamaha's. So I've been building hybrid guitars, putting 2 different guitars together (with wider necks and string spacing), or rebuilding a wide/thick neck of a 12 string into a 6 string.
Now I've decided I don't want the boomy bottom end of a dread, I want to stick with more balanced tone of a "Folk" size.
Maybe put a 12 string neck on a smaller vintage Yamaha body?? Or take a look at the other guitars I have, mostly Seagulls and the Martin OM21.
That's going to mean making some space to be able to hang a few guitars, other than the vintage Yamaha's all over the place. Easier said than done. I have guitars and cases all over. I have to find a few empty ones and fill them.
I guess where this is leading is it seems the last week (since putting the neck back on the FG-345, ending the last neck open neck reset) I've been thinking about learning to play more, and not working on them. FINALLY!!!!! I've been messing around with fingerstyle more, which has made me more aware of notes that stand out and ruin the sound.
The last 2 days I've been playing my old favorite Seagull S6+ Folk that's been hanging over the bed with 5 year old Elixir strings. It still sounds very good. The top's got a few real good dings and it needs a neck reset. It's a bolt on, so a neck reset is not a big deal.
That makes me think about retrying the 2 other Seagull Folks I have. A modified Maritime SWS Folk, and and an Artist Mahogany Folk. The Maritime SWS Folk is spruce over mahogany. The Artist Mahogany folk is cedar over mahogany. The S6+ Folk is cedar over laminated wild cherry. I really like the brightness the laminated wild cherry adds to the sound, combined with the slight warmth of the cedar top. That might be one of the best wood combinations out there.
I still need to get the Maritime and Artist Folk guitars out to compare them, but I don't remember them being at the top of my list of favorite guitars. Only time will tell.
Worst case, I will go shopping and trade some (or many) of my Seagulls towards another guitar, AFTER much careful playing and consideration.
Another thing to consider is scale length. The older Seagulls have 24.84" scale length, which was changed (for almost all models) to 25.5" in 2013. That made many Seagull fans unhappy. The shorter scale makes them easier to play, but the longer scale has more tension and would tend to have a cleared sound. That is also noticeable with vintage Yamaha's, they tend to sound a little muddy tunes 2 steps down, but at full pitch they come alive. So I probably want a long scale guitar.
The OM21 has a 25.4" scale length, where the 000-18 has a 24.9" scale length. Here's a great video comparing 2 different scale length custom D18's. You can hear how the shorter scale length is a bit warmer, and the longer scale length is a bit brighter. For fingerstyle I want a little more brightness.
Another important thing is I want a guitar they is very responsive, which some of the vintage Yamaha's have been, particularly the mahogany models. The heavier rosewood models are typically less responsive.
There's a lot to think about, and much experimentation needed to compare the guitars I already have before considering trading some of them for another guitar. And maybe I need to learn how to play more.
Instead of working on vintage Yamaha's, my interest seems to have drifted to finding "The One". At least out of the collection I have. Should I continue to take apart vintage Yamaha's to build "The One". Or search other guitars I have??
I've been saying lately I don't like the narrow string spacing of the vintage Yamaha's. So I've been building hybrid guitars, putting 2 different guitars together (with wider necks and string spacing), or rebuilding a wide/thick neck of a 12 string into a 6 string.
Now I've decided I don't want the boomy bottom end of a dread, I want to stick with more balanced tone of a "Folk" size.
Maybe put a 12 string neck on a smaller vintage Yamaha body?? Or take a look at the other guitars I have, mostly Seagulls and the Martin OM21.
That's going to mean making some space to be able to hang a few guitars, other than the vintage Yamaha's all over the place. Easier said than done. I have guitars and cases all over. I have to find a few empty ones and fill them.
I guess where this is leading is it seems the last week (since putting the neck back on the FG-345, ending the last neck open neck reset) I've been thinking about learning to play more, and not working on them. FINALLY!!!!! I've been messing around with fingerstyle more, which has made me more aware of notes that stand out and ruin the sound.
The last 2 days I've been playing my old favorite Seagull S6+ Folk that's been hanging over the bed with 5 year old Elixir strings. It still sounds very good. The top's got a few real good dings and it needs a neck reset. It's a bolt on, so a neck reset is not a big deal.
That makes me think about retrying the 2 other Seagull Folks I have. A modified Maritime SWS Folk, and and an Artist Mahogany Folk. The Maritime SWS Folk is spruce over mahogany. The Artist Mahogany folk is cedar over mahogany. The S6+ Folk is cedar over laminated wild cherry. I really like the brightness the laminated wild cherry adds to the sound, combined with the slight warmth of the cedar top. That might be one of the best wood combinations out there.
I still need to get the Maritime and Artist Folk guitars out to compare them, but I don't remember them being at the top of my list of favorite guitars. Only time will tell.
Worst case, I will go shopping and trade some (or many) of my Seagulls towards another guitar, AFTER much careful playing and consideration.
Another thing to consider is scale length. The older Seagulls have 24.84" scale length, which was changed (for almost all models) to 25.5" in 2013. That made many Seagull fans unhappy. The shorter scale makes them easier to play, but the longer scale has more tension and would tend to have a cleared sound. That is also noticeable with vintage Yamaha's, they tend to sound a little muddy tunes 2 steps down, but at full pitch they come alive. So I probably want a long scale guitar.
The OM21 has a 25.4" scale length, where the 000-18 has a 24.9" scale length. Here's a great video comparing 2 different scale length custom D18's. You can hear how the shorter scale length is a bit warmer, and the longer scale length is a bit brighter. For fingerstyle I want a little more brightness.
Another important thing is I want a guitar they is very responsive, which some of the vintage Yamaha's have been, particularly the mahogany models. The heavier rosewood models are typically less responsive.
There's a lot to think about, and much experimentation needed to compare the guitars I already have before considering trading some of them for another guitar. And maybe I need to learn how to play more.