Ribbecke shootout: Halfling vs Testadura

[Mark Kleinhaut]

[Woody Sound]

Cool, but THIS is a Guitar Shootout!

[Gitterbug]

Mark, with your skills, I'm sure I could live with the shortcomings (which are none) of either guitar. Time and over again, your playing reminds me of contemporary classical music. Thank you!

[FourOnSix]

Any qualitative comparison is like splitting hairs IMO. They both sound really great as demonstrated here.

[deacon Mark]

Mark it is not the guitar it is the player. I am a traditionist by nature but these sound wonderful. It is like painting with notes.

[Max405]

Mark, You have to be the most efficient guitar player ever. You coax amazing sounds out of each guitar, with seemingly very little effort. Amazing!
I've always wanted a Ribbecke, and this certainly didn't help my bank account balance!
And one more thing, by the way, your editing/recording/engineering skills are almost as good as your playing. I absolutely know how difficult that is.
Great stuff Mark.
Joe D

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Mark, You have to be the most efficient guitar player ever. You coax amazing sounds out of each guitar, with seemingly very little effort. Amazing!
I've always wanted a Ribbecke, and this certainly didn't help my bank account balance!
And one more thing, by the way, your editing/recording/engineering skills are almost as good as your playing. I absolutely know how difficult that is.
Great stuff Mark.
Joe D

.

Thanks very much for noticing all of the details. As far as effortless goes, I’m sure you realize that the effort gets spread over many years so that the few minutes of actual playing as heard here is an actually pretty easy. The video work is still very new for me

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Mark it is not the guitar it is the player. I am a traditionist by nature but these sound wonderful. It is like painting with notes.

Thanks Mark, I appreciate your open mindedness; many traditionalists find this sort of playing yo be offensive

[ccroft]

it's almost like you can read your own mind... :-)

[Jim Soloway]

I'm going to show my own bias and say that prefer the sound of the one with the pickup set in the top. It's a bit darker and less acoustic sounding. More Jim-Hall like.

[mr. beaumont]

I'd like to accompany and play solo gigs with the Halfling, or play in a larger group with the Testadura. They're both right on. I'd lean Halfling, I think it's a more "unique" sound, the Testadura just sounds like a great humbucker jazz tone.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

I'd like to accompany and play solo gigs with the Halfling, or play in a larger group with the Testadura. They're both right on. I'd lean Halfling, I think it's a more "unique" sound, the Testadura just sounds like a great humbucker jazz tone.

Hey Jeff, you’ve read my mind! That’s exactly how it’s worked out over the years and rarely would I bring both in a gig. Given the seclusion starting with Covid, the Halfling has gotten the lion’s share of my attention, and 90% of my solo videos use it. I almost force myself to use the testa from time to time, but when I do I really fall in love with it all over again. It’s not as distinctive unique as the Halfling, but sweet as hell. And playability??? Forgetaboutit

[Sam Sherry]

{The Testa is} not as distinctive unique as the Halfling

Oh, but that peghead!!

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Oh, but that peghead!!

It helps remind me to never play anything straight