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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It has a distinctly different tone to the OM28, both were good. I can't say enough good about the Guatemalan rosewood.
Probably my favourite guitar right now is my moon spruce & Bhilwara. Moon spruce is not some fancy nonsense - this top wood has something magical going on. And the soft Bhilwara rosewood has mahogany's thrum/growl, EIR's bass (in fact maybe even deeper without being muddy) and overtones with no lack of mids or metallic sound, and is "woody" - it's actually phenomenal beyond belief. I really like the 'in between" woods and this one with the moon top is absolutely stunning in tone.
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Fenech VT Auditorium (Australian handmade apparently) (Spruce, some sort of very light coloured rosewood)
Taylor Jewel Kilcher signature model (used) - no I’ve not heard of them before either (Spruce, Satinwood)
Atkin 000 Dustbowl 14 - all mahogany
Atkin 000 37 Spruce and Rosewood (I think RW)
Martin OM21 (Spruce, Rosewood)
Atkin OM37 (Spruce, Rosewood)
Atkin ASJ (Spruce I think, Maple)
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Spolier - the final 3 were best/best suited to me - will do a badly worded description of how I found them all later
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My YouTube Channel
Fenech VT Auditorium (Australian handmade apparently) (Spruce, some sort of very light coloured rosewood)
This looked really nice - there were a handful of this brand there and all heavily discounted from a pretty steep price. It seemed wonderfully made and played brilliantly. It was just too much of a characteristically small-bodied sound for what I’m after (although it didn’t *look* as small as say a 00)
Taylor Jewel Kilcher signature model (used) - no I’ve not heard of them before either (Spruce, Satinwood)
This was used, a run of 1000 from about 20 (!) years ago. It played brilliantly, really articulate and open sounding but lacking in low end for something of the size I thought. Even with a pick the low strings didn’t want to give up much heft at all - don’t know if that’s a Taylor build thing or a Satinwood thing. If you like a bright guitar, it’d be fab (this one was pretty well used - a fair bit of apparent wear)
Atkin 000 Dustbowl 14 - all mahogany
This was as I recalled from the one I played elsewhere - a prominently V neck that oddly I forgot about pretty quickly - didn’t present any problems or distractions. Really responsive - light fingerpicking felt responsive and even and moderate plectrum the same. I had to remind myself this was an attractive sound because it was familiar - my 00 is all mahogany and is similarly responsive but this sounded fuller and better balanced (as you’d expect from a 000). Just felt really nice. In the past I’ve found myself preferring OM over 000 and the first hint that this was still the case was when I tuned to double drop D - a lot of the zing went away - even when capo’d up.
Atkin 000 37 Spruce and Rosewood
This started dialling me in to the Rosewood sound - very enjoyable, fuller sound but not stiff like sometimes I feel with Spruce/Rosewood . Again the drop tuning sounded much less rich (I was listening for that this time so may have been self fulfilling) so I asked for something OM scale and got presented with…
Martin OM21 (Spruce, Rosewood)
This was ace - I’d been going back and forth between various pairs of the others up to this point and comparing this and that but this was the first time I forgot that and realised I was just ‘playing’. It sounded a bit more reserved in the top end than the Atkins 000 but was beautifully balanced - it’s objectively a really good guitar. If that was the last guitar I’d played and I had cash in my pocket (neither of which were true) it’d be a no-regret purchase I suspect.
Atkin OM37 (Spruce, Rosewood)
But then, this. A different voice of OM. More of everything. If you’ve heard one of those aural exciters on a recording, like that compared to the OM21. Highs went higher. Lows went lower. String separation more pronounced. Louder from the playing position. More zingy, in a nice way. Neck profile and spacing different but both OMs were great to play. Going back and forth between them confirmed that comparison but oddly it didn’t make the 21 seem ‘worse’ - just different. I did wonder if the 21 was just newer (and the Atkin has the whole torrefied thing so maybe is just more opened up from the get go)
Atkin ASJ (Spruce I think, Maple)
Curveball time - I asked if there was anything else I should try given what I liked and this one was brought over. My first thought was that I wasn’t taken with the look - I loved the black top but the fretboard was a really pale, almost washed out rosewood that looked a bit naff (to me) particularly against the black top, and the double diamond inlays jarred a bit at first (but grew on me). Playing it though was a great experience - completely different voice to the OMs and it took my ear a minute or 2 to dial in to it but once it did I really liked it. Smidge more of a fundamental in the low strings (felt and heard - not felt like you feel
a Dread but enough) and a different character in the mids - I’m not even going to try and describe it but ‘different’ to the OM. Going back and forth between the ASJ and OM (either) took a minute for you to dial
back in to the balance of sound you were hearing and then at that point they are just fantastic sounds.
Not sure what that guitar has but Atkin use Pao Ferro a lot for fretboards and bridges, which is a little lighter than a lot of rosewood. They describe it as Santos Rosewood, iirc.
On a matter of detail, the Fenech is one of their entry-level models. They sell for between $2700 and $3000 here in Oz (£1420 to £1580). (Remember that in the UK you have twice as much VAT so prices don't match up.) Fenech is a small manufacturer not established very long. I guess that they have maybe about four staff. I don't know how much automation is involved in their workshop. Fenechs are reasonably widely distributed here in Oz but I haven't had the opportunity to play one yet.
So-called "New Guinea Rosewood" is not a rosewood at all, it's a type of padauk. The best common name to use for it is probably Narra. It is a medium-weight hardwood in the same general class as the walnuts, maples, most of the oaks, lighter acacias like Blackwood and Koa, and Sapele - i.e., lighter and much softer than rosewood, heavier and harder than mahogany and most of the mahogany-like timbers.
* The Wikipedia entry for it is a giggle - according to that, Narra is variously known as "placename padauk", "placename rosewood", "placename mahogany", and "placename redwood". What was wrong with "placename spruce"?
So mahogany grabs your ear but you already have some hog.
Jumbo's can sound incredibly rich. I prefer OM for the comfort. And tbh, for my ears - too much air push and I start to get a headache lol. But if you don't then could be a nice different model.
I'm wanting a more rosewood steered sound next but unsure if OM (again...) or OO 12 fret
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