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Originally Posted by DanielleOM
All of the Eastman guitars I've owned have been fantastic, but I've never tried a laminate model one.
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06-19-2021 09:50 AM
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Originally Posted by DanielleOM
I think you hit the apple on the head.
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Originally Posted by JSanta
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Thanks for that. BTW-don't forget that some Eastmans are laminated, some are carved top.
Originally Posted by Zhahn
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Originally Posted by DanielleOM
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and (for me) please the option of no or less flamed tops, and natural color again
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Stradavarius first commercial violin came out in 1666 I wonder if there is a hidden meaning? At least in the bio I read.
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Interesting. I’ve been thinking of selling my J Hall (A-1##).
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For guitars amplified with magnetic pickups, it's debatable whether all the nuances of artisanship and material selection etc make a difference in tone. Many of the engineering and metallurgical solutions for acoustic amplification simply become irrelevant or maybe even undesirable for electric guitars.
There is a Japanese scissor maker, master blacksmith Yasuhiro Hirakawa . He handcrafts gardening scissors from iron. The scissors can cost 10's of thousands of dollars each.They are (apparently) surgically price and infinitely controllable. Great tools for serious horticulturists.
I sometimes wonder if artizan electric guitars are like hiring a master blacksmith to make your lawnmower blades.
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Originally Posted by Tal_175
They'd sit around in virtual circles and chuckle "You know what those guitar collectors SPEND on the "best" guitar?"
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Originally Posted by Cunamara
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Originally Posted by Tal_175
Last edited by Woody Sound; 08-12-2021 at 01:37 PM.
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Originally Posted by Woody Sound
A lot of acoustic instrument building mastery is about the amplification mechanism and how the different building techniques affect it. When you delegate the amplification to pickups and amps, a significant portion of the complexity and historically accumulated wisdom of instrument making becomes mostly irrelevant.
A maple laminate top instrument made in a factory can end up sounding better than an instrument that has a tap tuned finest spruce top handcarved delicately by a master builder. In fact, it used to be in Sadowsky's website that Jim Hall said laminate top sounds better than carved spruce to him.
I also think different species of wood sound different. I observe that even when playing solid body guitars. But I don't think traditional tonewood selection criteria that's used to compare individual cuts of the same species apply to electric guitars. Not the same way anyway.Last edited by Tal_175; 08-13-2021 at 08:05 AM.
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Originally Posted by Tal_175
(ps - Try salt and curry in your hot cereal, you might be surprised at how good it is.)
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Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Also the details of the construction become less important. I doubt Sadowsky shaves the laminate tops or the braces to match their resonance even though every plate varies a bit in their stiffness. A high end acoustic guitar builder would have to worry about these details a lot more.Last edited by Tal_175; 08-13-2021 at 07:54 AM.
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Originally Posted by Tal_175
AKA
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Originally Posted by AKA
The guitars are assembled in Japan and go to the US for final set-up and inspection.
I recall a detailed video conversation with Roger Sadowky on Jimmy Bruno's original teaching site.
Roger's original intention was to have a US made archtop but he was unable to source laminates either domestically or in Germany that he was satisfied with.
He found a good Japanese workshop but they would only do a deal that included building the guitars too. He was satisfied that they could build the guitars to his satisfaction.
Sadowsky was happy to build in Japan because he has had his own Japanese shop for decades, staffed by someone who had worked in NYC with him. His man in Japan has discretion to build or spec certain models for the Japanese market (I've seen some Sadowsky semi-hollows in solid colours, six string basses etc in Japan).
I saw some photos somewhere years ago of the Japanese workshop that builds the Sadowsky archtops. Certainly not a factory but a modest sized workshop.Last edited by David B; 08-16-2021 at 10:09 AM.
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Thanks David.
Originally Posted by David B
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Roger Sadowsky and Yoshi Kikuchi.
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As far as I understand their collaboration didn’t survive COVID: Roger said he wound down Japanese operations and Yoshi said he started his own brand focusing on fender and 335 style instruments
Roger is scaling down his operations but says he is committed to archtops. Not clear though whether he implements any changes to archtop production
BRAND NEW: Three Dots Guitars
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Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
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Frank Vignola Model
Very desirable
$6,200 usd which is $8,400 cdn so a substantial outlay.
I have a custom Tele and a Epi Johnny A which scratch the "jazz" itch but if I had a windfall of cash . . .
Frank Vignola Model – Sadowsky Guitars
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Originally Posted by DRS
Don’t forget the sales tax (12%)!
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Originally Posted by Bach5G
Just thought I'd mention Westville Aruba as another laminate in this vein. I seriously thought about getting one but disliked some of the aesthetics.
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“I'm in Western Canada too.”
Might you be interested in a 2006 Sadowsky J Hall?
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