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Here's some pictures and a sound clip of my latest "baby" - a Grand Concert sized guitar in cedar and maple (European). The model is called Samhain after the Celtic festival for Light to Dark (aka Halloween) that coincides with my birthday. I was intrigued by the combination of light/dark in looks and tone after Peter Cree raved on to me about a Goodall cedar/maple guitar that he had played and as these are totally new woods to me I was hooked.

Underneath the top I wrote “Samhain - Dorchadas agus Solas i fuigheall”   which translates as "Samhain - Darkness and Light in harmony" (pronounced "Sauwyn - Dorachas agus Solas i fuy-owl).

This is the first guitar I have made with an adjustable neck joint and I plan to evaluate how it performs over the next year or so. I need to take a few more pictures of this but I'll put up a seperate thread sometime next week on the neck joint.

Specs: Cedar/maple; Curly Koa binding; English Sycamore/Maple/Mahogany 5 ply neck; Kingwood rosette, bridge and headstock veneers; Gotoh SG301 tuners with ebony buttons; side sounport. FP finish and Tru-oil on neck.









Top bracing is "you know what" profiled and for the first time I used Lutz spruce as the bridgeplate:

Back bracing is my usual X/ladder hybrid:


And here's Samhain with the two guitars that "inspired" it - a Taylor 312 and a Lowden S25:


I play mostly in open tunings and in DADGAD a lot. I have made the guitar with a 25.75" scale length accordingly. I find that with most of my guitars there is a tune lurking in them and this is what has emerged. As I've finally sussed how to convert to mp3 files and upload them to my website I thought I'd share it here. The tune is called Samhain and has elements of dark and light. I like the sound - it's early days yet - the bass and mids are sumptious but the trebles don't quite have the complexity I'm used to from European Spruce. I'd be interested to hear what you think:

Samhain





Dave White38835.4680671296

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Beautiful guitar Dave. Your quite an accomplished player too. Great mp3 file.

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Preeety!

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Dave I like

It is beautiful looking, there is no place to hide with the dark and light together like that and you have executed a superbly clean build.

Now to the sound, first of all the playing is exquisite, It sounds to me as Cedar should Warm but lacking complexity.

The inotation sounds spot on.

A Class Act    

Dave,

Fantastic! A gorgeous instrument. More pictures would be great.

Jeff

Hey cool. That's my next personal guitar I have planed as well Dave. Cedar/maple.

Cool

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Great looking guitar Dave!
Interesting combo, ive never seen a Cedar Maple..

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Nice recording - thats a nice warm tone very similiar to a beautiful little all mohagany Morgan OM I played recently, I can see some beautiful renditions of Bert Jansch tunes coming from this bad boy. Thanks for posting a recording - I really appreciate hearing the beauty not just admiring the craftsmanship of a guitar. This is a nice creation fo sho!
Cheers
Charliewood
you reminded me how fun alt tunings are - I gotta go do some DADGAD now.....................

Dave-- what a pretty guitar.
I was admiring the stacked heel--you did an excellent job on that--hard to see the lines. The neck is a great match for the light colored body.

And she really sings!

Steve

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Hi Dave, Great looking guitar. As for sound, I was thinking the same thing you said but the base/mids are great. I was told never to put cedar on a maple guitar. Not sure why but I have one sitting on my bench right now waiting for purfling, I hate it when someone tells me not to do something. Anyway we shall see what happens. Your guitar may just need playing to bring that hi complexity out or maybe it's just the mics, anyway it does seem balanced, just slightly shy in overtones although it sounds pretty good when you intentionally play the harmonics. Great build and keep on your work is superb.

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Dave,
I'm just a sucker for maple guitars. I've never built one with a cedar top,
but you've convinced me it's a great combination. The workmanship is
impeccable, as we all so often see here on the forum. But we're not
treated to hearing them all that often. That was a real pleasure. It
certainly has rich and luscious bass to mid. Give it time -- complexity in
the trebles might just be hiding. If not, so what -- I could listen to it all
day, day after day, and not feel like there was anything lacking. It's just a
beautiful sounding guitar. Period.
Craig S.

Great job Dave, nice guitar.

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Oh yeah I forgot to say I like your playing as well - D'oh! I am a sucker for those aural daydream type pieces.
Cheers
Charliewood

Awesome guitar, exquisite sound, i want my guitars to sound as great as yours Dave! !

Thanks for sharing with us!



Serge

Nice clean work, wood combo and sounds oh so sweet! Well done!

Very well done. Interesting choice of woods but it really came out well. Nice sounding too.

How do you like the soundport? They seem to be gaining in popularity.

Dave, what a fantastic guitar I love both looks, execution and sound. But then I'd expect no different from you. The detail is just outstanding, you've got to love the bound edge to the heel cap and neck join, it's little details like that that make the difference between just an instrument and a piece of art. Absolutely gorgeous.

I have a set of London Plane that I ws wondering what to top with, Russell tells me that London Plane sounds close to maple, so that's it then, Maple/cedar, with a cherry neck for me.

Colin

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Ah, that beautiful maple! Looks so clean. I`m sure Jason will chime in on this.

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Exquisite, Dave.
The guitar and the playing!

Dadburnit, is everyone on this forum a guitar virtuoso? All who have posted sound files are really great, although, I know, some have had others play their instruments. Does anyone just strum and hum like me? (well, probably not like me). I flatpick a very few, and fingerpick only a couple. Mostly I'm a strummer. Of course, give me a Les Paul and I can play Louie, Louie, Memphis, and Wipe Out. That's about how long it's been since I've played anything new.



Ronold man38835.6028009259

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Excellent work. Thats a great looking and sounding guitar. Your quite the player too. I gotta learn to do that

Whats better than a maple guitar?? A maple guitar with a cedar top!!!

I see a trend coming You guys keep watching the "big guys" There is a new line of maple/cedar guitars in development that should hit the streets in the next few months. Your all gonna want maple and cedar in no time

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Dave,

Just curious, what setup did you use to record the guitar, it sounds super!

Greg

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Dave,

It looks and sounds great. Thanks for sharing what you've created with both
wood and your musicality.

Ross

Thanks guys it's nice to get "peer" feedback,

I'm pleased with how it's turned out and that it's fit to sit among the great guitars that OLF'ers make and show here. Way to go though to hit the artist league of people like Howard Klepper. But then there's always the next guitar

Charlie,

Funny thing, but as soon as the second part of the tune emerged I thought "Pentagle". Bert J and John R vibes are in there.

Steve,

Thanks. Doing a stacked heel on a 5 ply neck seems a bit odd I know but when I post on the adjustable neck joint you'll see why.

John,

I'm like you. When someone says "no you can't do that" my ears prick up! I'd love to see/hear how your's turns out. The overtones are all in there, it's just that I have to dig in a bit harder on the trebles than I'm used to on my guitars to get them out. Funnily enough, I've tried some Irish accompaniment in DADGAD with a pick on this guitar and it sounds great - balance projection, everything.

Roy,

I am a convert to side soundports, so much so that I offer them with no extra charge on my base models now. I hear little to no difference in the guitars sound out front but as a player it's like having your own personal "stereo monitor". To my ear I hear more bass and mids and a closer sound to that people listening hear. The small egg shaped port in the top bout works best for me with the main soundhole reduced slightly in size from nornal.

Colin,

I loved the sycamore figuring on the bottom of the heel and the way the centre core of the neck carries through. But it needed something else, so out came my adapted Fleishman-Williams binding jig and the koa binding ring was pretty easy. I like the way it flows. London Plane/cedar sounds good.

Ron,

It's never to late to learn. If Martin Simpson ever runs one of his workshops near you just sign up!

Jason,

Maybe we can cut a commission deal

Greg,

I have an old Fostex FD4 8 track. I recorded the guitars with 2 mikes - an AKG1000S condenser pointed at the soundhole and a Sure SM58 pointed at the 12th fret of the fingerboard. This was mixed down to CD panned slightly left and right with no EQ adjustment or effects as I wanted the "true" guitar sound as far as possible. Then converted to mp3 format.
Dave White38835.666400463

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Incredible, Dave. You're an ace fingerpicker. I, too, would be interested in how you recorded; e.g. setup, etc.

Superb guitar. I love the choice of koa binding and the binding around the neckjoint. Absolutely beautiful.