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I'll be 70 in July and I wanted to celebrate with an interesting guitar. For those of you who read my earlier thread about my most recent failure to bond with an archtop, this decision celebrates the surrender and acceptance of the reality that I am at heart a solid body player.
I've been following the work that Dave Weir's been doing for quite a while with his minimalist guitars and the closer I looked the more I liked his ideas. Once I sold the Kingpin ii last week I contacted him and worked out the specs for a custom build. It's an instigator (as versus a Poorboy) with a Black Limba body, and a roasted maple neck with a chunky profile and a 1 3/4 " nut width. The photo below is an instigator from his site. It really is minimalist: a one-piece slab body, no controls and a neck pickup only (an in-house mini-humbucker). Everything is designed on rigidity with insanely tight tolerances. Their reputation is for extreme clarity and responsiveness.
His build time is about 10 weeks. Add shipping from Escondido California for Dartmouth Nova Scotia and it should be here just in time for my birthday.
EDIT 05/09/2022
The build is complete and shipping out today for the very long trip from San Diego to Dartmouth (Halifax) Nova Scotia. In the meantime, I get to look at these photos of the actual guitar to stay excited.
Last edited by Jim Soloway; 05-09-2022 at 11:58 AM.
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03-20-2022 01:00 PM
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Very cool, Jim - congrats! [I like his short-scale, headless bass design, too!]
Marc
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That's nice, man. I still can't get over the idea of a snakehead minimalistic tele that I want to build even though I have way too many guitars. Unfortunately this reminded me of it.
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You discuss being 70 as though it’s a major achievement, Jim. We’re not even broken in yet
Cool guitar - I was totally unfamiliar with it! May you enjoy it as you ease into maturity.
David
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I am eyeing these for a long time ... perfect choice IMO ... may it bring the joy you are looking for.
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These look great!
Jim, are there other/similar minimalist builders in this style that you considered?
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If you knew more about my early life you would understand when I say I've been pleasantly surprised by every year I've celebrated beyond my late 30's. Vegas would not have given good odds on that becoming reality.
Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
You discuss being 70 as though it’s a major achievement, Jim. We’re not even broken in yet
Cool guitar - I was totally unfamiliar with it! May you enjoy it as you ease into maturity.
David
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Not really. I knew a few people who had Weir's Poorboy model and their recommendations were so passionate that I didn't look much further. Then when I saw how he was doing things, and I really got excited. Originally Posted by markesquire
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Actually, I was just being upbeat and optimistic about our futures, since I’m 6 years older than you and looking forward to decades more of life. And you’re not alone in having tempted fate - there was a lot of that going around when we were young. Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
I just lost a friend and mentor last month who was the first male in his family to live past 50. He always assumed he’d follow suit and did nothing to prevent it. One day he came in panic stricken at the reality that he was 51. “Maybe I should see a doctor, stop smoking, and start taking care of myself”………
He battled his demons hard enough to get a doctor, cut back on drinking, and stop smoking…..15 years later. Yet he managed to survive two strokes and a host of other nasties to pass at 88.
We got this far, my friend - the odds now favor its continuing. As I recall, the probability of reaching 85 is higher for a 75 year old than it is for a 65 year old. So let’s enjoy our bounty! A new guitar is a good start
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Way to go Jim! I'm with you on the attitude my friend. Enjoy. I really like your choice.
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Reminds me of this old Fasan for no particular reason:
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Very cool. Jim.
Just curious - you have the skills to make an excellent guitar of your own design. Why the quest with other builders/manufacturers?
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So many different ways to answer that ... Originally Posted by rictroll
Let's start with this: I had my eyes tested three weeks ago and the optometrist remarked "Well that ship has sailed" and I could only agree with him. With fairly powerful progressive bifocals, I do well enough to drive a car and cut vegetables but that's about it.
But for a better understanding you really have to know how Soloway Guitars began in the first place. I was living in Portland Oregon, playing 7-string and gigging full time. It was still early in the 7-string days and no one was making a guitar that I thought really worked properly. I had become friends with a very talented young luthier just starting out his career and I went to my wife and said "I know how to make a 7-string work right. If we build three guitars, Todd will do the hard parts and I'll finally have a guitar that doesn't drive me crazy. And by selling the other two it will be paid for." Eleven years later, when I closed down Soloway Guitars and moved back to Canada, we had built about 350 guitars and I hadn't played a single gig in about 8 years. Closing the company felt like a get-out-of-jail free card.
That was nine year ago. In those years, I have played a LOT of guitar. And while my Soloway remains my #1 instrument, I have owned a lot of different guitars without any concern for whether my name was on any of them. I enjoyed both of those things. I even played some gigs without concern for whether they would help me sell guitars. It was like getting my life back. Soloway Guitars is now being brought back to life under new ownership and my involvement is limited to consulting and advising. It's been a rewarding experience but not as rewarding as just being a guitar player: playing, recording, arranging, and obsessing just like any other guitar player.Last edited by Jim Soloway; 03-21-2022 at 08:23 AM.
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Understood. It’s important in life to follow your heart.
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Interesting guitar. I look forward to hearing you play it.
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My old guitar tech, Ralph Novak (Novax guitars) had to end his luthier career due to failing eyesight. Old age sucks, but as far as we know it still beats the alternative. Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
Play them guitars while you can!
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If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
Actually, I was just being upbeat and optimistic about our futures, since I’m 6 years older than you and looking forward to decades more of life. And you’re not alone in having tempted fate - there was a lot of that going around when we were young.
I just lost a friend and mentor last month who was the first male in his family to live past 50. He always assumed he’d follow suit and did nothing to prevent it. One day he came in panic stricken at the reality that he was 51. “Maybe I should see a doctor, stop smoking, and start taking care of myself”………
He battled his demons hard enough to get a doctor, cut back on drinking, and stop smoking…..15 years later. Yet he managed to survive two strokes and a host of other nasties to pass at 88.
We got this far, my friend - the odds now favor its continuing. As I recall, the probability of reaching 85 is higher for a 75 year old than it is for a 65 year old. So let’s enjoy our bounty! A new guitar is a good start
Seriously; the lists of people I have gigged with and the lists of people I have gigged with who are still alive are radically different. So many Lights untimely extinguished; so many voices stilled. Make the most of Life while you can, Brothers and Sisters!
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Then again, maybe all those preservatives we ate weren't as bad as we feared. I'm changing all my online avatars to a real picture of me and my family: Originally Posted by citizenk74
If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.
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Congrats on reaching 70 in July, Jim. Wishing you many more good years doing the things you love to do in advance.
Keep well. Nice guitar, that Weir.
Cheers,
Jabs
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Jim! Do you know Wendler Electrocoustic?
Instruments | Guitar Repair Kansas City | Luthier Acoustic Electric Guitar
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I do, I owned one many years ago. Dave is another guy who has a lot of cool ideas. Originally Posted by Campos
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I just got the heads up that the guitar is already in the testing stage and if all goes well it should ship next week. Lots of nice features ... from his e-mail
"The neck is a little wider than I’m used to and surprised how much it throws off muting strings. But other than that it feels really nice and plays excellent. I have the neck very flat, with just a tiny bit of relief on the bass side.
It is lighter than I expected. About 5.25 pounds. I think it is very pretty.
Pickup is lower than I like but easy to move up if you want. "
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It would be nice to be 70 again.
I'll hit my 75th in about a month. Getting old ain't for sissies. But as Stringswinger suggested, it beats the alternative, and I know of only one. I've built some 5-string solid-body mandolins like that, with no controls, just a pickup direct to the output jack. For me, the lack of a tone control is perfectly fine, but a volume control makes several things a lot easier, so I like one. But of course I'm not you. I do agree with you that building instruments at this age is far more trouble and effort than it's worth. I've stopped changing my own oil in the car, mowing my own lawn, and a few other things. Money is less of an issue now, and physical stamina becomes more of one, along with the diminishing eyesight and general inclination to give a rap. Priorities change as I age. I hope the guitar is the one of your dreams, and that you play it in good health for several decades.
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Thanks. I'll be 70 on July 6 so the guitar is actually likely to get here a bit early, even accounting for the awful, terrible, no-good service of Canada Post Originally Posted by sgosnell
It would be nice to be 70 again. I'll hit my 75th in about a month. Getting old ain't for sissies. But as Stringswinger suggested, it beats the alternative, and I know of only one. I've built some 5-string solid-body mandolins like that, with no controls, just a pickup direct to the output jack. For me, the lack of a tone control is perfectly fine, but a volume control makes several things a lot easier, so I like one. But of course I'm not you. I do agree with you that building instruments at this age is far more trouble and effort than it's worth. I've stopped changing my own oil in the car, mowing my own lawn, and a few other things. Money is less of an issue now, and physical stamina becomes more of one, along with the diminishing eyesight and general inclination to give a rap. Priorities change as I age. I hope the guitar is the one of your dreams, and that you play it in good health for several decades. As for the rest of it, we moved into a condo 6 months ago so we don't have to sweat with any of that crap. The worst for me was shoveling our driveway every time it snows, something I swore I would never do again when we moved to Mexico. On the other hand, I have no problem with stamina these days. I'm in pretty good shape and my workout for bad weather days has been up and down 1025 stairs every day. Today I started to increase that and did 1086 stair with hopes of getting to 1230 by next week. (No one has ever suggested that I am not obsessive compulsive).
I was a little concerned about the lack of volume and tone controls but that's why I picked up the Para Driver. It's not as handy as having them on the body but it should be pretty workable.
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No worries with snow here. The couple of inches we get about every decade goes away on its own soon enough.
The only other suggestion I would make is to invest in a silent plug for your cable. Without a volume control you'll need to unplug the cable when you take a break, unless your setup takes care of that, and a silent plug makes it much more pleasant. I do try to stay somewhat fit, as bad as I hate the gym, but there is no denying that I was much stronger with more stamina 50 years ago, as an airborne ranger. It's all downhill after about 20 or so. 
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