I’ve got two.
When my old (1950s) Martin 0-18 finally went the way of the dodo – long story involving a former owner who’d essentially loved it to death – I started to look for something new. The 14-fret 0 had been nice, sounded good, and such, but it seemed like OMs or other slightly-larger-but-smaller-than-dread size guitars had more versatility, so I started checking them out wherever possible. In the process, I came in contact with instruments by a lot of builders. At Steve Swan’s, when he was still in Kensington, I tried one after the other including some fabulous new SCGCs, until he put a battered 7-year-old used instrument – an OM cutaway – in my lap.
That one got my attention. Despite lots of evidence of heavy play, it felt great and sounded sublime. After going back and playing it a couple more times, I bought it, and that was that. It’s been my go-to for a little over twenty years now. Sounds good every which way – acoustic, plugged in, miced, whatever.
When i turned 50, DW wanted to do something special, so she suggested I see what Richard could make from a piece of Cuban mahogany I’d had for thirty years that hadn’t been turned into furniture yet. That became a 00-29 with some custom features that’s a sweet short-scale instrument with a big voice.
Only regret is not diving deeper when I first encountered SCGC. And there are some custom ideas I may explore someday if SCGC is amenable….
