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That may be more torrified top than sycamore – the sycamore looks great, but it wont put mahogany or eir out of business – or even maple –
Second that – but I’ve also had to face what a sick puppy I am, when I wonder if theres any chance I’ll outlive him and have a chance to buy that guitar from Dee –
Hank- live long and prosper! 😉
I remember my wife and I drove down to Key West while in Florida – was a great time – probably the last time I’ll have my ass grabbed by a drunk woman on the street. Now I’m just another kindly looking grandpa type –
But after leaving Fl, we went to Turks and Caicos, and I will never forget looking out across the Caribbean, and watching the thunderheads flashing in anger as they slid across the ocean far away, while we sat on a perfect beach, with perfect white sand, and perfect blue water, perfect weather, and drinks in hand – amazing –
which lasted about 2 hours. I was then so severly sunburnt that I spent the rest of the trip hiding in the darkest corner of the bar, on my ipad – which is when I found the FTC for sale in Chicago, but thats another story –
Looks like braz to me too – but I’d send an email to SCGC with the serial number, and they will give you all the details on your build –
1-13/16” nut – yumm!! Easy to say I’m quite envious –
As much as my wife would love to see my guitars in a cabinet like that, I think it would be much more about getting the number down to 6 than it would be about having them display so nicely – 😉
Well – its kinda like blaming Gutenberg for making information available to the masses. It’s hard to set rules, especially in a country that has taken the concept of Freedom of Speech to the extreme that every opinion and thought is equally valid, and that the more a belief is repeated, the more it makes it true –
Can’t blame the tools – just the product. Can’t find the video you’re referring to, but if you see, hear, or read something that is definitely untrue, you gotta call it out. The problem right now is Civil Discourse (along with simple truth and science) has disappeared as a basic expectation of our leadership and management, which then spreads quickly down the ladder – I expect its gonna get a lot worse before it starts to get better –
I’ve had to run out and do a couple emergency lock jobs this afternoon, so I haven’t had a chance to see how we did, but I can say right now that it was really wonderful to be able to talk with these guys again, and I am really looking forward to more!
now – get off my lawn!
oh – and I have asked my son to work on the graphics for the cup some more – soon, I hope –
Its usually called a “limb shadow” – its a wave in the grain of the trunk, a small distance over from where a branch was. A few slices over, and you might have a knot, a couple slices the other way, and you’d not notice it. The slight additional exposure of endgrain on the face of the wood shows up as a bit darker on the uphill side, and sometimes a little lighter on the downhill, especially in a hardwood where a darker grain-filler is used to highlight the grain. Its really nothing more than a “beauty mark”, and has no effect on tone or integrity of the material in any way. It would have been avoided in the old days because it would have been a real pain to hand-plane without risking some tear-out, which would be extremely noticeable, but thankfully we use abrasive planers to thickness tops and backs, so material with those small bits of character can be easily included in a build –
I think keeping an even rhythm is important – as in, if you start in 4/4, don’t switch unintentionally to ¾ – but tempo can, and possibly should, change during a song, at least with singers. If there’s a sad ending, or maybe an uplifting ending, then tempo can help reflect that. Its the main reason I hate playing with a drum machine – they can feel relentless. But then again, a drummer who’s had a little too much to drink can be a problem ( of course, the guitar player has probably had a little too much as well, so blame can be an awkward ) 😉
I’m trying harder to use a metronome app to keep a steadier pace, but I’m also trying to use an drum app to try playing with different drum patterns and rhythms – I’ve become very aware of how badly I can get into a boring and generic kinda rhythm when trying to play reggae or some blues. But I also have found that the insistent regularity of a drum loop can rip the soul out of a great song –
Zorro – thats a risk with undersaddle pickups – they can raise the saddle up high enough that not enough is in the slot, and it makes a great lever against the edge of ebony, and if the grain is just right – well, you know – glad it got fixed up for ya!
SCGClover – don’t be afraid. Just pay attention – but I’d be the last to try and dissuade you from another SC guitar! You know the FS was made for altered tunings? The cedar top may not be ideal for alot of percussive style, but it’d sound great even if it were a bit battle scarred – but most any model (probably without a pyramid bridge) could do the job – but it might be worth an email to Richard or Carolyn to get their opinions!
I think most of your problem might have been the heavier strings – you can put heavier strings on and tune down with little problem. But tuning up, and you start to seriously raise the tension levels, and add in slapping and percussive techniques, and bad things can happen – like bridges tearing off –
An H-12 is a pretty rare and very cool beastie. I don’t know what scale length it is, but I’m thinking it might be SC standard short, which is 24.75” – note that erics guitar has a very unique (for SC) 24.9” scale – But it could also be SC standard long, 25.37”. Why does this matter? It doesn’t, other than make it possible to look up and calculate the differences in overall string tension when you change guage or tunings –
With scale length, string size, and tuning, you can go to a variety of websites that have string tension calculators on-line, and get a sense of what your H was probably built for – https://tension.stringjoy.com – was the first one that popped up for me, but I’m not recommending or advocating for it. But get a tension base-line ( assume light guage strings for standard – although Richard usually says you can use mediums, just pay close attention to your guitar and make sure the relief is adjusted properly ). Then, compare heavier string sets, and the alternate tunings you want to use, and see how the total tension changes. Remember that those numbers are static tension (usually) and aggressive playing techniques, heavy string bending, or slapping or pounding on the strings could cause spikes in tension that may be problematic if done frequently. Traditionally built small bodied guitars were not designed for some of those styles, so think about that, too. Also, if you use raised tunings, make sure you drop the tuning back down to something resembling normal tension before you put your guitar away –
But the one thing I most remember Richard saying is that you need to pay attention to your instrument – well built guitars will usually give you plenty of warning prior to catastrophic failure. You would expect to see the relief increase, and the lower bout start to develop a larger belly. Or even a dip in the soundboard between the sound hole and the bridge. These are just some of the indications that your guitar will give letting you know that something just ain’t right – pay attention, and deal with the problems quickly as soon as you notice them, and you shouldn’t do any lasting damage. Ignore them at your guitars peril –
But those are just my thoughts –
