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I too would like to play an SCGC 12-string IIRC, one of the performers at the 40 or 45th celebration had a 12-string OM, and even amplified it sounded great.
I want to play one of the 15” natural-finish archtops someday…..a small archtop tends to be super-focused and direct while warm. Apparently, there aren’t many of them.
I’ve pared back to essentials, more or less, with acoustics. The ones that remain cover the spectrum and satisfy on just about every level. [ editorial note: Yeah, I know, I want an African Blackwood copy of my OM, but the point remains….GAS is never satisfied, ultimately].
I still have far too many electrics – people have gifted them to me, and I’m not sure what to do with them when they’re gifts, even if I don’t use them. I use a tele, a short-scale, set-neck 2-humbucker franken-tele, and a pair of strats, one alligator-ized with a blaster and some other bits; everything else gathers dust.
Getting rid of all of the big amps – the big marshall, The SVT, the bass stack, et cetera – proved a relief. Small amps can do the same things, and they can be miced or DIed, and can be carried by normal humans. Big stacks are for people who are willing to carry them, who haven’t learned (yet) that size doesn’t matter*… 😉
All of this talk about winnowing down and thinning puts me in mind of a Zen koan written by Bob Aitken, the Honolulu-based Zen roshi and writer….in the koan, someone asks Zen Master Raven “what happens when you die?” and Raven thinks for a second and says “I give away my belongings.” Works for me.
* the marshall stack was sold to a 14-year-old girl….
Let’s be grateful that Richard taught as many people as he did.
His work has been foundational to the lineage of builders, not just in the US, but worldwide.
We got hit in Fremont; the creek rose and came over the banks in a couple of places. Got through it but ‘twas unsettling.
I concur with iim7V71M7; the 000-12-fret is probably as close as you’ll get in the SCGC line unless they do a custom one-off 0000 12-fret body with extended upper bout a la other similar 12-fret models. Having played the Martin 12-fret 0000s that Gruhn’s ordered in the past (like the one in the video), I think they sound great, though they’re right on the edge of uncomfortably large for me. .
Hank has an SCGC 12-fret 000, which by all accounts sounds great and checks off all the sonic and playability boxes; it’d be worth talking to him to get input on that. I’ve got Daniel’s Mauel 000-12, which is a big instrument of the same size…..12-fret 000s move a lot of air and are pretty big, even compared to dreads.
In general, I’m not especially a fan of putting 12-fret necks on 14-fret bodies….doing so gives up air mass that (IMO) is part of the sauce that makes a 12-fret sweeter (and may add volume), and it gives up upper-fretboard reach that I use (I know, playing over the body is a learnable skill, but cutaways are easier). The aesthetics, are, of course, personal – chacon a son gout – but not my cup of tea.
There IS precedent for a 12-fret neck on a 14-fret body. James Patterson did a bunch of 12-fret necks on 14-fret 000 bodies in the 70s, and Martin (and I think SCGC) did the same for Norman Blake. So it’s out there.
But my question is why do that with an OM Grand, when you can have more fret access and just as much power with a 14-fret neck? What would you gain that you wouldn’t get with a 12-fret 000 with extended upper body?
Being a bit pedantic….”OM” implies 14 frets on a square-shouldered body, long scale, 1-3/4” nut, and wide-ish string spacing at the bridge. The whole purpose of the original Martin OMs was greater reach and a slightly different body shape to appeal to jazz ensemble players who needed to easily get to higher notes than typical 12-fret bodies facilitated.
A short-scale OM is really a 14-fret 000, if we’re using consistent nomenclature.
A ‘12-fret OM anything’ is kind of an oxymoron. 12-fret instruments have a rounder upper bout that joins the body at the 12th fret, which is….a 12-fret 000, a very different beast than an OM (though no less wonderful), as OMs are characterized by 14-fret necks.
A 14-fret OM Grand implies one of two things: putting a 12-fret neck on a 14-fret square-shouldered body, which (IMO) reduces reach on the neck to no good purpose and doesn’t really move the bridge to a much better place, or a redesign of the body to extend the upper bout to become a true 12-fret 0000. Here’s more or less what the latter would look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiNiLZA-fZM.
It’s a huge guitar. A 12-fret dread has similar body volume….
</pedantic> that tag never really closes
A great loss. Seeing him play “Guinevere” at the 2016 Fretboard Summit reminded me of his raw talent….
Tadol’s correct.
Do some measurements of neck relief, nut action, and 12th fret action on different sets of strings. You might be surprised at how similar the measurements are between different string sets.
The SC low tension strings do indeed feel softer under the fingers than others, or at any rate more pliable on a given string than comparable sets, at least for me
Switching string sets to other brands with similar tension has (in my experience) resulted in a stiffer feel despite actual measured relief and action height not changing appreciably after the string change.
I suspect the delta in feel is due to differences in core/wrap wire sizing between SCGCs and others. For example, SCGC LTs feel softer at ~156 lbs of tension than D’Addario NB 12s with ~147 lbs of tension….and the NBs have bigger core wraps.
Hank, waiting for the new employment to take effect – not spending the money ‘til my ducks are in a row. Then it’ll be time. And hopefully the shop can take the old one in for some needed TLC.
I suspect that a mothership meetup won’t be possible until March at least – damage from the flooding has blocked routes 9, 92, 84, and 152 through the hills, 17 is a parking lot, and 156 to 1 isn’t in great shape either. 1 has some huge slides.
Going to be a bit of a challenge to get to SC on a reasonable timeframe until Caltrans gets the roads fixed.
Thanks! Yeah, I’m slouching towards retirement.
Going to get as close a copy as possible of the 1991 OM for my 60th, I think, with the current improvements – domed top, angled saddle, different bridge shape, etc.
Also, acousticmusic.com periodically orders a custom F/FS – F headstock, spruce top, mahogany back and sides. Really special instruments, worth checkin out, Here’s an older one. https://acousticmusic.org/product/santa-cruz-custom-f-2/
