sunvalleylaw said:
Nice set of acoustics! You certainly favor the O shapes. Tell us more what you like about them if you have time. Which is your favorite? Which do you play the most? And welcome!
Thanks for the welcome. And here are a few words regarding the instruments.
Well, I didn't get all these at once. It's been a gradual thing. I've had the Ramirez classical, since the mid-eighties when I was playing a lot of classical stuff.
For a while I had a Martin 00028 but never really took to it. I think mainly because of the rather narrow nut width (1 11/16) which I found difficult to cope with.
I decided at some point to get a decent steel string acoustic and wound up getting the Collings 002H. This was not a new buy, the guitar was used. I liked it a lot though, which is why I still have it. Later I bought another Collings, a 0002H. I no longer have this, having recently sold it to a friend of mine who also happens to be the previous owner of my 002H. How weird is that ? I didn't know him when I bought the 002H from a shop in Brighton over here in the UK.
Next up came the Collings 0001A SB. The 'A' denotes an Adirondack top, the 'SB' a sunburst finish. The guitar has mahogany sides and back. Many think that Collings do one of the best sunbursts on the planet. The finish and appearance is magnificent. I bought this guitar off e-bay for an unbelievable buy it now price which I simply couldn't ignore. Thisn is my favorite of the two Collings I now have. It really is a great guitar and a fantastic example of the quintessential American flat top. I was really very lucky to get this guitar, especially at the price.
I am quite friendly with the great English guitar player, Martin Simpson. He sometimes stays here with us if gigging in the area. Martin loves this Colliings. Here's a picture of him playing it in our kitchen. It sounds even better when Martin plays it !
The two other guitars were made by the great English luthier Stefan Sobell. They are both completely hand built instruments made with the very finest tonewoods. Both my Sobells are made with best old growth (and legal) Brazilian Rosewood (sides and back), European Spruce for the sounding boards, 100 year old Cuban mahogany for the necks and best African ebony for the fingerboards and bridges. Unless you've had the pleasure of playing a Sobell, it's a little hard to describe them as they are really very different from your average flat top steel string. For a start they aren't really a flat top guitar. Stefan builds in some pronounced curvature to both the top and the back. The side shot of the MS model illustrates this somewhat. I have a Model 0 which I got used from someone I know. It was made back in 2003, is well played in and is a wonderful guitar. Although the smaller of the two it has a huge voice which normally takes people completely by surprise when they first hear it, the sound simply explodes from it. The other was built for me by Stefan and was finished in April this year. I'm still in the process of playing this one in but it already sounds really wonderful and improving all the time. For those of you who are not familiar with Stefan's work, I can assure you that it is right up there with the very best, Somogyi, Ryan, Traugott, Olson and the rest. He is a really great builder. He also makes Martin's guitars.
I play the Adirondack Collings and my two Sobells pretty much in equal measure. I am aware that I am extremely fortunate to have such an amazing choice when deciding which guitar to play next...
Ian
