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In this day and age of digital everything, I tend to take for granted things like snapping a few (or several) pics of a guitar after it's been completed, before I send it out to a client. But sometimes when a deadline is looming, little (but important!) things like that get overlooked around here.

I've been under the gun these past couple of months to get two 10-string classicals completed in time for the 2nd International 10-String Guitar Festival, held this year at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.

The Festival was this past weekend: July 6-9th. The deadline existed because two of my clients expected to have their guitars in time for the festival. For me, it meant about a month of 12 to 16 hour days as the deadline approached, but fortunately I made it.

But when it came to things like setting the guitars up with nice pretty backgrounds and all, fuggetaboudit. I just ran out of time. But as it also so happened I attended the festival this year, and so I had a chance to take some pics while I was there.

I have posted pics of this first guitar here before, when I was asking for opinions about tinting the color. It has a Lutz spruce top from Shane (thanks, Shane!) and a set of Honduran mahogany b&s that I resawed from some lumber I found at a local hardwood retailer. This Honduran has a very nice grain, is perfectly qs, but is quite light in color -- hence my questions to the forum.

I elected to take the advice of most of the respondents and, rather than adding a dye to the shellac, I just used darker shellac -- garnet, as it were. Well, the garnet did not give as dark of a tint as I was expecting, but it did result in a very nice, rich amber hue that warmed up the quality of the finish. I've become a pretty big fan of garnet shellac, I must admit.

The binding is bloodwood. Back and side purfling is curly maple. The top purfling is bwbw from LMI. The neck wood is Spanish cedar that I sourced from the above mentioned hardwood retailer. The tuners are Hauser-style Schallers, that I cut to fit the 10-string headstock.








This next guitar is special. This is the first Janet Marlow Entry Model. Janet Marlow is, by all accounts I'm aware of, the leading 10-string guitarist in the world. She is a crossover player and composer -- with numerous compositions and recordings in classical and jazz. She concertizes internationally, promoting the innovative capabilities of the 10-string.

Janet and I entered into a contractual agreement last year where I agreed to build the Janet Marlow Entry Model (JME) for a special entry price of $1750. To control costs, I elected to standardize on woods: cedar top, EIR b/s, cedro neck, cut Schaller tuners, bloodwood binding with top purfling only. Oh, and by the way, believe it or don't, the back and side wood was an "opportunity grade" set I bought from Allied last time they offered it here. I love it, especially the slight flame quality of the back set. The guitar has a somewhat barebones look to it, but it is built with the same attention to detail and quality as are all my other guitars.





I presented the guitar to Janet at the festival. It was a gift from me to her as small way of saying thanks for the endorsement and for giving me the opportunity to build the JME.



Janet loves the guitar. For good reason, I think. I must admit that this is the nicest sounding guitar I've built yet. After spending a couple of days getting used to it, she suprised me and told me that she would be playing my guitar for the concert Saturday night. Here are a couple of pics of her in concert, playing the guitar I built for her, at the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts this past Saturday night:







A lot like a proud papa, I gotta say that I thought the guitar sounded fantastic.    Apparently, so did most other folks. I had a lot of questions about the guitar from other participants at the Festival, and most folks wanted to try it out for themselves. Hey, I didn't mind and neither did Janet. So, it got "sampled" by a variety of good players, all of whom seemed to like it.

Folks couldn't believe it when I told them I strung it up for the first time 3am Wednesday morning, the day before the Festival began. But it's the truth.

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38908.5931712963

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

Michael,
Great story! You should be very proud.
I live very close to Fairfield CT.,wish I knew that's where it was-I would love to go next year.

Brad,

Right now, it looks like the Festival might skip a year. But keep in touch; I'll be sure to let you know when the next one will happen. Or, go visit the above link to Janet's website, or to her other website, tenstringguitar.com, and sign up to be on her mailing list. That way you'll know when and where the next one will be held.

I gotta say, it's beautiful country up there. CT was fantastic. But apparently, I timed the trip just right -- that is, between a bunch of rain and a hot/humid spell. All I know is it felt like autumn. Dry, clear, cool. I had a wonderful time.

Hesh,

Thanks for the kind words. If you click on the above "Janet Marlow" link, then click on "Purchase CDs" this will take you to a page where she has a sampling of MP3s.

Stephen Bright, another hard-core 10-string player, for whom I built a guitar, runs a site called cathedralguitar.com. He also hosts a 10-string "internet radio" channel. I believe more info about the internet radio resource can be found out at his website. He also has some video clips there. Go here for the page at Stephen's site where he has a variety of 10-string video clips.

Please take note that one of the links is for the "McBroom Guitar Test," which is where Stephen and I compared two 10-strings I built with the Jose Ramirez 1a 10-string I used to own, but which I sold to Stephen.

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38907.9351157407

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

That's what's great about the OLF, people, great human beings, kind souls, heart in the right place, Man i want a group hug!

Michael, you are a very special person, gifted with talent to your ears and a warm heart! Your guitar is simply amazing and i would have been thrilled to be in the front rows with you and share this special moment!

Thanks to you for sharing this story with us!

Serge

Mike I enjoyed listening to your guitars.. Very beautiful and unusual instruments.

Al

You must be very proud Michael.A very beautiful guitar you built and to have one of the best 10 string players use it in concert so soon after stringing it up for the 1st time is just AWESOME ! Great story and great guitar!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Michael

Congratulation, hope much business makes it your way as a result. Your ten strings amaze me everytime I see a picture of one, First Class

Michael you are rapidly becoming THE 10 string luthier, you are in danger of cornering the entire market, and quite deservedly so. It's good to find a USP. I think it's a great idea to build a standardised student model so that guitarists can test the water without overcomitting and it allows you to build for stock so that waiting times can be reduced. Good business sense to match your fine guitar building skills.

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

What a great story!! Congratulations!

Wow! Those are fantastic looking guitars! What a great story as well... I sure would love to try on of those guitars.

If you don't mind a few newbie/un-initiated questions? What is the range on one of those guitars. I mean low string to high string. And what kind of pull (lbs.) do you get with the extra strings? I imagine you must have to make that bracing a touch stiffer.

Regards,

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Alain,

Thanks. If you ever find yourself down Houston way, be sure to drop by. I always have at least one 10-string here that is in a playable state.

The range of a 10-string depends somewhat on the way it is tuned. There are three popular tunings: the "modern" tuning, as originated by Narcisso Yepes, the Baroque tuning, and the Janet Marlow tuning.

The modern/yepes tuning is (from 10th to 1st):
Gb Ab Bb C' E A D g b e   

The lowest pitched string is the C or 7th string, tuned to an octave below the C found on the 3rd fret, 5th string. The upper three strings are tuned to an ascending whole-tone scale, beginning with the Gb that is pitched the same as the 2nd fret 6th string. The philosophy behind the Yepes tuning is it allows the upper strings to behave as sympathetic strings which will vibrate when accidentals (sharps and flats) are played. It gives the guitar a harp-like sound, and is somewhat similar in effect to the sostenuto (middle) pedal of the piano.

The Baroque (sometimes called Romantic) tuning is (from 10th to 1st):

A' B' C' D' E A D g b e

The 10th string is an octave below the open 5th string. The 10th through 6th strings form the first five notes in an A minor scale. This is probably the most popular 10-string tuning system. It allows for relatively easy transcription of much of the music written for lute, and also works well for certain keyboard transcriptions. It is quite common to alter the pitch of the bass strings by raising or lowering them a half-step depending upon the key the piece is in. For example, a piece in E major (four sharps) often see the C and D strings raised to C# and D#.

The Janet Marlow tuning is (from 10th to 1st):

G#' C#' F# B E A D g b e

Janet's philosophy is innovative, yet practical. Since the guitar is already tuned in fourths, except for the major third interval between the g and b strings, she figured, why not continue this trend? So working backwards in fourths, you wind up with a G# for the 10th string. This string is tuned to an octave below the G# on the 4th fret, 6th string. The pitch becomes "re-entrant" when moving from the 7th to the 6th string, that is the octave drops when moving from the 7th string, tuned to B (same pitch as the 2nd fret, 5th string) to the 6th string.

Re-entrant tuning is fairly common, and doesn't really overly distract the ear. The benefits to the Marlow tuning are that one can use fingerings and chord shapes that one is already familiar with, plus it is quite easy to adjust the tuning of the lower four strings depending on the key of the piece one is playing or the need for a pedal tone which can simply be plucked without having to be fretted as well.

On the upper end of the range, most 10-strings have at least a 20th fret (high C). I build mine with a 22nd fret. There is ample room to run the frets all the way out to the 24th for the high E, and I'm thinking about giving this a try on a future build.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Thanks for the information, Michael and for the invitation as well. If I'm ever around Houston, I will drop you a line for sure.

Now I really want to try one of those fantastic guitars. I might just be crazy enough to try and build one of my own! You might expect a boat load of newbie questions once I start on the project.

Again, thanks.

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Okay, a hand-built, solid wood classical guitar, with 10 strings, for well under $2K? Man, you definitely don't need to apologize for it being too "plain"! That looks like a mighty fine instrument to me! In fact, if word gets out to 6-string players, they're going to start asking if you can "make one for me at that price."

I hope you're jigged-up, my friend, 'cause I think you're gonna be very busy within a couple of years!

Congrats Michael!
Excellent guitar and a great story!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Michael,

Thanks for sharing the story and pictures. A great looking guitar, and I am sure it sounds fantastic. At that price you will certainly become very, very busy. Players will know that the price will have to go up sooner rather than later, and they will want in on such a good deal.

Way to go!

Jeff

Guys,

You're right about the price. I am contractually obligated to offer the JME at the price of $1750 until March of 2007. After that, the price definitely will go up.

Things are already plenty busy right now. I have three JMEs on order and two of my concert models. Getting there on the jigs, although I figure it still takes me about 100 man hours to build a 10-string, maybe 90 for the JME. Maybe a few less now with some of the jigs I've built recently. The biggest area of improvement I need right now is in finishing. It is still taking me too long to put a decent french polish finish on a guitar. It isn't the fp-ing itself. It's the gap-filling and dent-steaming, etc, and then having to go back over areas I've already fp'd once or more. It's way too much of a two-steps forward, one-step backward progression right now, although things are improving. Still, I really need to continue improving my technique to avoid these issues in the first place.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

WOW.......

Congrats!

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Beautiful, Michael!
And, it doesn't look so bare bones to me.

Are you considering any harp guitars? Seems like you're nearly there.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve,

I've kicked around the harp-guitar idea some, but there are none being planned.

Dennis Cinelli, one of the performers at the festival, is a scholar and performer of 19th century multi-string music. He played a replica of a circa 1856 Scherzer 10-string at the festival:



A very nice sounding instrument. Ladder braced top, btw, which was very common for gut-stringed guitars from the Renaissance all the way to the early 20th century.

Anyway, after the concert, Dennis asked me if I would consider building a guitar that would be a cross between the new and the old -- a modern classical, but with four free basses, much the way a harp guitar is built but without the body extension. That is, it would have a headstock extension only for the extra four basses. This was a very common design during the 19th C and early 20th C, especially in Europe. Often they were called "trammel guitars".

So I told Dennis, sure, I'd be willing to give it a try. Sounds to me like it would probably be a bit easier building a trammel-style guitar than a modern 10-string anyway. If he decides to commission one, I'll be sure to post pics.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

Great looking guitars Michael! I am happy things are going well for you, you seem to have a very sober sense of both the building process and the business side of things. I am sure you deserve your good fortune!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Michael, that thing looks to have more than a headstock extension. Looks like a fretless board alongside the main fretboard, joining the bass head to the body?
I've seen pics of these before. They're odd--in a cool sort of way.
Hope you get the commission, you're just the guy to pull it off.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Michael McBroom]

The range of a 10-string depends somewhat on the way it is tuned.
There are three popular tunings: the "modern" tuning, as originated by
Narcisso Yepes, the Baroque tuning, and the Janet Marlow tuning.


[/QUOTE]

Michael, your post brings back memories of my classical guitar teacher
back in the late 70's. He was a New Zealander but studied in Australia
under one of Yepe's students. I recall my teacher playing a Matsuoka 10
string and having alot of records on which Yepes played a similar
instrument.

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Michael, that thing looks to have more than a headstock extension. Looks like a fretless board alongside the main fretboard, joining the bass head to the body?[/QUOTE]

Exactly. This was a pretty common design during the 19th C. It was done so to provide support. You also see guitars from that era that have steel posts being used for support. The "headstock extension" bit I mentioned applies only to the guitar Dennis was asking if I'd be interested in building.

At the festival, I commented on how it looked like a fretless fingerboard, and jokingly asked if he ever played any fretless bass lines on it

Martin,

Interestingly enough, there was a Matsuoka at the festival. It was a pretty decent sounding guitar. The owner, David Starbuck, has done quite a bit of research on the guitar, trying to find out more about Matsuoka and his 10-strings. Apparently there is not much to be had on either subject. Matsuoka's business was acquired by Aria in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I suspect that his shop was the one that was building the Aria MH and MR series during the early 1980s. The MH and MR Arias are very nice classicals, and don't look a thing like the Aria factory classicals. I own an MH-100 that I bought new about 23 years ago. It's just a nice guitar. I've always thought that the MH stood for "Model Hauser" because it is a Hauser copy. Now I wonder if MH might stand for "Matsuoka Hauser."

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38909.5127430556

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

[QUOTE=Michael McBroom] [QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird]
Martin,

Interestingly enough, there was a Matsuoka at the festival. It was a pretty
decent sounding guitar. The owner, David Starbuck, has done quite a bit
of research on the guitar, trying to find out more about Matsuoka and his
10-strings. Apparently there is not much to be had on either subject.
Matsuoka's business was acquired by Aria in the late 1970s or early
1980s. I suspect that his shop was the one that was building the Aria MH
and MR series during the early 1980s. The MH and MR Arias are very nice
classicals, and don't look a thing like the Aria factory classicals. I own an
MH-100 that I bought new about 23 years ago. It's just a nice guitar. I've
always thought that the MH stood for "Model Hauser" because it is a
Hauser copy. Now I wonder if MH might stand for "Matsuoka Hauser."

Best,

Michael
[/QUOTE]

Interesting about the possible Matsuoka-Hauser connection. I know
Yepes played a Matsuoka at one stage and I believe he had some sort of
relationship with Matsuoka. It would be worth following up the Yepes
connection.

There's a sad ending to the story of my guitar teacher. I lost contact with
him in the late 70's and a few years later he passed away. His Matsuoka
10 string was offered to one of his other pupils but due to his
circumstances at the time he couldnt give it a home. If Id known about it I
would have gladly given the instrument a good home.