Elferink Excalibur acoustic archtop

[Rob MacKillop]

... Downstrokes, downstrokes ... (which is for me a kind of discovery, as stupid as it might sound,
since i seldom use a pick. I was until recently squarely thinking that "all downstrokes" is a poor technique and i discarded too hastily this "naive technique" -as ChristianM77 would say- though it sure yields the best sound.

I've changed my mind about this a number of times. Sometimes, like Johnny Smith, I go for strict alteration of down and up strokes. This is the technique forwarded by Ivor Mairants in his Perfect Pick Technique book, and it also connects with my lute technique, where strong beats are played with the thumb or middle finger, weak beats with the weaker index finger. This gives an inequality of stress, which helps push the music forward.

However, I've also studied mandolin and plectrum banjo techniques, which introduced me to a different aesthetic. They use downstrokes for everything except when the music gets fast, and alteration takes over. Gypsy jazz players, who are no slouches, also use a similar technique. And often the downstrokes are rest strokes.

Two opposing techniques. I find myself using each at different times, and I try to avoid saying there is only one technique. Right now I'm working through a book from 1933 by Arthur Black, who outlines a technique of alteration, but always using a downstroke when moving to a higher string. Some modern players use this technique, though it's far from being modern.

So, no fixed technique, let music tell you what it wants, and go with that. And each piece of music is unique. Flexibility in all things. That's my approach.

[Rob MacKillop]

Neatomic, thanks for all the support you give me!

[Rob MacKillop]

I felt the first two gauges of the Philippe Bosset strings were a little light for the Big Elf. I asked, and they've agreed, to make me a 14 for the first, and an 18 for the second. I'll get them soon. However, I had a set of GHS strings in a drawer, just those gauges, and they made quite a difference. I'm sure the Bossets will be just as good.

[joman50]

Insofar as comparing an Elferink Excalibur to a D’Angelico or L5, you are more than spot on! I also have a ‘72 L5.
I would add IMHO that Elferinks stand on their own. I love mine! Jesse Van Ruller reportedly stopped touring with
his and has been playing more Gibsons. He certainly appreciates the remarkabilty a custom built Elferink. Those
guitars are works of art.

I thinking about having another Elferink built, maybe a light natural Moderne with the European tonewoods and
a side tone hole.

[JazzEJoe]

Insofar as comparing an Elferink Excalibur to a D’Angelico or L5, you are more than spot on! I also have a ‘72 L5.
I would add IMHO that Elferinks stand on their own. I love mine! Jesse Van Ruller reportedly stopped touring with
his and has been playing more Gibsons. He certainly appreciates the remarkabilty a custom built Elferink. Those
guitars are works of art.

I thinking about having another Elferink built, maybe a light natural Moderne with the European tonewoods and
a side tone hole.

in Jesse’s words, “It didn’t work out”.

[joman50]

Well, what did not work out? The business relationship or dislike of the instrument?
if Jesse and Rob dislike their guitars, that’s on them. No complaints here!

[JazzEJoe]

Well, what did not work out? The business relationship or dislike of the instrument?
if Jesse and Rob dislike their guitars, that’s on them. No complaints here!

Well, you’d have to ask Jesse directly to get an unequivocal answer but I’m guessing it was the instrument since there never was much ‘business’ to speak of.

[Cunamara]

There are lots of reasons that a guitar doesn't work out for a particular musician. I have one standard jazz guitar, a Gibson ES-175; a popular but not quite so standard Ibanez GB10 and a hand carved Cushman archtop with floating pickup, which is of the Benedetto school.

They are pretty different. I would describe the ES 175 as having the generic jazz guitar sound (generic in the Latin [genus, generate, root, etc.] sense rather than in the retail marketing sense). I would say that the L5CES also has a generic jazz sound. These two are the instruments to which everything else is compared. My Cushman and my GB10, on the other hand, each have a particular sound that varies from the generic Gibson sounds. Often that is what is appealing about them- a sound that stands out- but sometimes it seems like the generic sound is more apropos across more settings. I think that might be why one often sees professional guitarists with boutique instruments going back to an ES-175 or an L5CES, or switching between different boutique instruments.

I find myself doing this as a rank amateur; I will preferentially play the ES-175 sometimes for weeks at a time. It sounds great, the ergonomics are exceptionally good for me and it fits into a lot of different jazz settings well. However, this week I have been leaning very much towards the Cushman, which pushes more towards Peter Bernstein tonal territory and away from the ES-175 kind of bag. Between those two guitars, the GB10 has been rather neglected of late and I should rectify this because it is a wonderful guitar. As I've said before, I think if you held me at gunpoint and took all of my guitars but one, I'd probably keep the GB10 as being the most versatile of the three (although the ES-175 certainly gives it a run for its money).