Archives
Jan-Mar 2009
January 20, 2009
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As the sun rises on a crisp clean new day here in New Hartford, we're busy building as usual. The NAMM show is behind us now and as the din of the hype-fest recedes into memory we quietly get on with the business of making individual guitars by hand. This is how we step up in a world of mass-produced appliances marketed as the latest-thing-that-the-world-has-been-waiting-for. A duo of quilt-topped guitars (one Talladega and one Talladega Pro) had been commissioned by a loyal customer—a man of taste and a collector of fine things who knows the difference between good and great. We took some photos of the guitars while they were in progress, but to add a little value to his experience we decided to send them to the NAMM show. Here's a few of the construction photos. Così bella! |
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Far from the glittering lights and fanfare of the music biz convention, this is who we are and what we do.
Closeup of the mitered ivoroid binding. |
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February 06, 2009
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Jon Herington is a seasoned pro who has worked with an "A" list of performers. Even without his association with Steely Dan, Jon has carved out a fine musical career that includes his own solo recordings as well. In short, Jon is just the kind of player we love to work with. Jon has been using a couple of "stock" Hamer instruments over the last few years, but now he's thinking about customizing and personalizing a new one based upon the Talladega Pro. Because of our proximity to NYC, Jon took the opportunity to drive up for the day to nail the specs. Jon has a guitar with a neck dimension and fretwire that he finds most comfortable, so Dave immediately put the calipers, radius and contour gauges on it to archive for future use. |
Here's Jon playing the Tally in my office. |
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Because we have so many variables to work with the whole exercise is to focus on the end goal in order to keep on track. Jon's desire is to have a comfortable instrument that is capable of delivering a very wide range of tones. The breadth of material that Jon plays covers a lot of sonic ground, so he's interested in being able to switch gears quickly from a funky rhythm to a full round jazz tone easily. The Tally is not only up to that, it will offer the full-on humbucking rock for blazing solos too. We discussed a number of pickup and switching options before rolling over to Chatterly's cafe for a late lunch. Over excellent grilled salmon and caesar salad, Jon gave us some details of his early musical influences growing up in New Jersey and we traded some more shop talk about amplifiers. All too soon it was time for us to get back to work, and Jon headed back to Manhattan. We're really excited to get going on Jon's guitar, I'll be sure to take some photos along the way. Our crew enjoyed hanging with Jon—an excellent musician and a really nice guy as well. |
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February 11, 2009
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Here in the workshop we're big Buddy Miller fans, so when he took possession of a bright red Monaco III we were thrilled. We felt as though we were giving back to Buddy a small fraction of what he's given to us through his music. Yesterday, Mr. Miller was in town with "The Girls" (Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin). He'd only just flown in from performing with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the Grammys, but it turned out he had just enough time to drop by for some guitar-guy talk. Here's Dave explaining how each one of our necks are hand-fit for a perfect joint, as Tom and Buddy look on. At this level, it's all about the details. |
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After hanging out in the shop for a while I let Buddy check out an Earthen Talladega in my office. The spanking tones of the Double D pickups were of special interest to our guest, and I could see the wheels turning already. |
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We all had a good time talking about our heroes and the music that inspired us all to become musicians in the first place—recordings by Slim Harpo, Otis Rush, Merle Haggard and Bob Wills that had the magic sound that drew us to guitar. On the way to the sound check at the Warner Theater, Buddy asked me if we made a baritone guitar. Oh man... do we! This is gonna be fun. Monaco SubTone |
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February 14, 2009
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By now our guys are used to it—cameras poking at them and microphones shoved under their noses. It seems people can't get enough of what we do and say. And why not? We're a dying breed—an anachronism in the world of instant communication and impulse gratification. People love that. We take our time and do things to a level that is beyond just function. It makes great copy and it also makes great video. It's a little distracting, but we're proud of the instruments we make, our shop, and what we do for a living. So when Public Television showed up this week, Dave and the guys were ready for their closeups. Yes, Dave is actually hand-carving a guitar neck—but you already knew that, right? Have a nice weekend everyone! |
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March 10, 2009
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Paul Bigsby was a genius of early early guitar design. History shows that it was he who first materialized the electric solidbody as we know it, although others get the credit. As the story goes, the Bigsby-designed whammy bars that adorned his creations for Merle Travis and others stole the spotlight and turned Bigsby's time and attention towards machine building hardware and away from guitarbuilding. Consequently, the Bigsby name is synonymous with the "tremolo" that he invented. Here in the workshop we've always been fans of the smooth, fluid feel and brilliant musicality of the device, despite its somewhat undeserved reputation for pitchiness. With the advent of the locking tremolo that stood up to ridiculous abuse while remaining in tune, the Bigsby was unfairly cast aside as obsolete. |
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So, when we launched the semi-hollow Newport ten years ago, it seemed logical to employ the Bigsby, even though it was pretty much out of favor at the time. In a world dominated by solid-body, lock-trem axes, the throwback Newport (and Monaco) guitars seemed somehow perfect for a Bigsby renaissance. I guess our timing was pretty good, because that first Newport won a perfect score (five stars out of five) in every category when Guitar Player Magazine reviewed it. Reviewers and guitarists alike were amazed that our Bigsby-equipped guitar actually stayed in tune! Players rediscovered how Bigsby's wonderful gadget provides just the right amount of waver to chords or single notes and opens up your sound with a subtlety that modern trems skate right past. One of the tricks to the Bigsby is getting the alignment just right, and to that end we designed and manufacture a special little shim to provide the correct angle to the tailpiece. |
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Before the entire unit is attached to the guitar, we re-machine the cast aluminium frame to avoid any binding, and then realign the bearings so the movement of the arm is unimpeded. We then use stainless steel screws to fasten the trem to the guitar. Our mounting screw diameter is such that it allows the trem to move as the wood expands and contracts with temperature and humidity. This avoids flex in the aluminium frame, keeping the whole unit free to return to pitch. |
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Obviously, the reviewers and plenty of our customers like Keb Mo', Kenny Vaughan and David Grissom are satisfied with the results; however there are additional tweaks that can be done if micro-pitch perfection is needed. Such is the case in the world of soundtrack recording, which is where Emmy-winning songwriter/producer Jim Chapdelaine resides. For live performances with the Pousette-Dart Band, or his side project with Big Al Anderson, Jim found the Monaco/Bigsby combination perfect, but in the studio with the multi-layered instrumentation used for TV and film scoring he wanted even more precision. I asked Jim to send his Monaco to us for some modifications, but he chose to bring it to us in person. First, Dave removed the nut and fashioned a new one from ivory, a self-lubricating material that we've gone to on all of our premium guitars. Then, Todd installed a Schaller roller bridge for Jim to evaluate. The Scaller is a direct replacement for the TonePros tune-o-matic that we put on our guitars, so the conversion only takes a few minutes. |
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The trade-off is sound. There is a slight change to the resonance of the rollers as opposed to the locked-down TonePros. Not everyone can hear it, but for a guy like Jim it could be a deal breaker. After a little jamming in the office to make sure things were right on, Jim took his guitar home with high hopes. In the end, the improved pitch stability was worth it to Jim and the small change in tonality was acceptable in order to stabilize the tuning. As it turned out, Jim went directly into the studio that night and finished up on a television score that was on deadline. Job well done guys! |
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March 16, 2009
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Early Thursday morning, a Fedex truck roared up to the shop and deposited a road-worn white flight case at our door. The call had come in earlier to prepare us for the incoming emergency patient; Jack Blade's Newport bass aka "Night Falcon" which had sustained some damage during the previous week. The details were sketchy, but we were prepared for anything. As it turns out, one of Jack's signature stage dives must have slammed the bass down on the boards, because there was a three inch dent in the lower side of the body. |
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Additional shock was taken up by the output jack ferrule, and the resulting strain had split the body along the fastening screw holes. Dave and Tom wedged open the crack while I prepared the hypo of Titebond. I wanted to use a resin glue because its flexibility would stand up to future stage antics without shattering like a hide glue might. Also I can thin it down to make sure it gets all the way into the break. |
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Once the crack was filled with adhesive, we used a couple of "C" clamps with rubber pads to close the gap. The working time for this Titebond is one hour, with a cure time of twenty-four hours. |
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Next, Tom drilled out the screw holes, then fashioned small dowels from scrap mahogany to fill them. This would help reinforce the area where the crack originated and allow us to replace the jack screws into fresh holes. We let the whole thing sit until the next morning. After the glue dried overnight, Todd cleaned it all up and reset the action and checked the intonation before packing it all up for shipment back to Jack. As repairs go, it was a really easy job, but we got lucky this time. I guess it might be a good idea to build a backup, so stay tuned for that. |
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March 25, 2009
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Our workshop has become a destination for some of the greatest players making music, and recently Jon Herrington made his second trip to New Hartford to drink in the vibe. By now, our readers are familliar with the shop and the personalities here, but there's nothing like an in-person visit to really get the true flavor. When artists witness the passion that exudes from our crew, and see first hand the possibilities of what we can do they rarely leave without succumbing to our charm! Such was the case with Jon, but I think it was really just the guitars that made him swoon. In his case, it was the new Talladega Pro—and we couldn't wait to get started on his exciting project. | 
Here I am turning on the charm— threatening Jon with a guitar! |
After Jon and I nailed down the specifications for his new Talladega, we set out to select the materials and begin the process of building. Jon had specified the type of flame maple he wanted based upon appearance, so Dave, Tom and I combed through our "Fort Knox" reserves of amazing figured woods. |
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Jon likes the uniform, narrow flame that we call "corduroy" so I picked three different billets that seemed to fill the bill based upon our conversations and subsequent emails. I shot a quick photo of each and forwarded them to Jon who is currently on the road with singer/songwriter Madeleine Peyroux. |
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Jon's response was quick in coming—he was in Kansas City and organizing a lunch trip to Arthur Bryant's, arguably the most famous BBQ restaurant in the world. Still, he found time to email back. He liked number one, so Dave immediately split the billet and bookmatched it up. Meanwhile, the mahogany back had been chambered and was ready to recieve the top. We're on our way now—time to call Lindy Fralin to spec out some pickups. More on that next time. |
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