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| OK, OK, What up wit Lowdens http://www-.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=10078 |
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| Author: | bob J [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:25 am ] |
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Excuse my ignorance but what is up with Lowden?? Almost every comment about playing or hearing a Lowden played is visceral in nature, visceral but otherworldly. I've seen fleeting images of some of you kneeling and even prostrating youselves when the name 'Lowden' is mentioned 
So, what up? |
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| Author: | Colin S [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:45 am ] |
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Look at the other 'Lowden' threads. George Lowdens are quite simply the best guitars money can buy (rather a lot of money!). Stefan Sobell runs him a close second. But it's all personal opinion, one man's best is another man's dog. Colin |
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| Author: | David Collins [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:54 am ] |
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I've played a whole lot of them, and although they are very good guitars I've never been taken aback at anything otherworldly. I think that they do generally have a warmer sound than most, but in my opinion it can occasionally come at the expense of clarity. I wouldn't choose one as a flatpicker to keep up with a banjo and mandolin, but many seem to lean toward offering a comfortably warm and balanced tone for fingerstyle or chord strumming. The one that gets me here is the Olson guitars. I've probably played a dozen of those, and although they are very nice guitars I've never found any to be exceptional. They're a Martin box with a Guild bridge and a flat top. Most sound very good, but about as good as one would expect if anyone built a Martin box with a flat top. I have a great deal of respect for Jim as an ingenious tool and fixture maker and as an all around nice guy, and I do like his guitars. There are a few like this who seem to achieve a level of reverence that I think is dispropportionate to where I would put them on the scale. I would generally put Huss & Dalton, Collings, Merrill, Ryan, and a host of others higher on my personal favorites list. Good for them though I suppose. They are both excellent builders and have worked long and hard to get where they are. I think they do both have a slightly different sound than the norm which could be what sets them apart for many, but I also have to think there's often a little branding involved. I just don't see them as being the golden masterpieces that others seem to veiw them as. |
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| Author: | bob J [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:55 am ] |
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Colin, Obviously he did some things 'differently' than the main stream luthiers. What, if you know, changes, techniques, woods, bracing etc. account for the incredible sound? BTW-What kind of $$$ are we talking about? |
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| Author: | Alain Desforges [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:28 am ] |
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If I'm not mistaken, George has a very nice pictorial on his site where he takes us through an entire guitar building process... There doesn't seem to be anything overly complicated or 'magical'... However, I believe the experience of a builder is not something you can quantify or qualify. It just 'is'. It's between the finger. It's all in the touch and the voicing I'm sure. As Al Caruth would say, if it looks like a guitar, it will surely sound like a guitar. The difference is in the minute details... I personally have never had the pleasure of trying a Lowden but I can't wait!!! I do believe they start around the 6-7k price point... Note: I know Don Ross loves his and if I understand correctly, Lowdens' don't have truss rods. Is that correct? |
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| Author: | old man [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:19 am ] |
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The first guitar I built was a Loud'un.
Ron |
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| Author: | martinedwards [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:31 am ] |
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here's the site, with prices and the pictorial George is a lovely bloke and he makes great guitars. I guess the fact that relatively few of them make it out to the collonies makes them that little bit more desireable, added to the fact that most of y'all want to say you come from Ireland so want a guitar from here too!! |
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| Author: | Kim [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:44 am ] |
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[QUOTE=old man] The first guitar I built was a Loud'un.
Ron[/QUOTE]  ROFLMAO 
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| Author: | Kim [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:52 am ] |
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Bob, You may want to wait until the Don tunes in, I hear he swapped a dirty'ol Les Paul for a sweet little Mahogany Lowden original back when you could pick one up for around $700.00. Legend has it that it was the best number Lowden ever made to, is that right Don? 
Cheers Mate. Kim |
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| Author: | Don Williams [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:01 am ] |
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[QUOTE=old man] The first guitar I built was a Loud'un.
Ron[/QUOTE]
Good one Ron... Kim, legend has it, that Don is still groaning over opportunities lost....
Bob, My experience with a Lowden dated back to the early '80's, when I had the opportunity to trade my Les Paul for one or buy it from a dealer in upstate NY. It was a cedar top guitar with mahogany back and sides. It was simple in adornment, but its sound was breathtaking. You have to understand though, that I'd never heard a cedar topped guitar before, so it was a new experience for me. It was airy, warm and dark, and had tremendous response to the touch of the strings. I didn't buy it because I had never heard of a Lowden before, and couldn't quite wrap my brain around what I was experiencing enough to realize how special an instrument it was. That said, it was a great fingerstyle guitar, but as others have said, it wasn't a bluegrass guitar. I revere other maker's instruments equally for the tonal characteristics they achieve. Borges, Tippin, TJ Thompson, Collings, Goodall, Ryan, Olson etc. etc. all make great instruments depending on what you want to use the guitar for. But that Lowden sound is distinct and unique, and one I really like. |
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| Author: | Dave White [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:08 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Alain Desforges] Note: I know Don Ross loves his and if I understand correctly, Lowdens' don't have truss rods. Is that correct? [/QUOTE] Alain, Well my two (that date from the mid 1990's) have truss rods. They are hard to adjust though as the access is tucked right up near the neck block. There is a big difference between a handmade George Lowden guitar, and a factory made Lowden (although factory is a bit strong as these are pretty much hand made by a small number of people)both in price and sound. There is also a big difference in sound/response between the big O model, and the more focused and punchier F (as used by Richard Thompson) and S series models. I don't like the sound of the O's but have an F is sitka/EIR and an S in cedar/EIR. The Lowden sound tends to be a love/hate thing with people I find. |
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| Author: | Sam Price [ Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:33 am ] |
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If I had a windfall, probably the first thing I would do is order a Lowden custom, and go and pick it up meself, finished off with short trip to the Giant's Causeway... I'd get the ferry across, 'cos I wouldn't want it bashed up on the plane!! WHa-? Did somebody just wake me up? Ah..it was all a dream...  |
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