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December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | Cliff got me thinking about this. I love guitars and fancy ones at that although there is also something to be said for a simplistic minimulist design.
I love ebony fingerboards and inlays they are just awesome to me. I also love gold hardware I know that it wears etc but there is something real classy about a guitar with ebony nice inlays and gold hardware
Now the gretsch white falcon kinda takes that concept straight to the trailer park with the gold sparkle drum binding but I even liked them up until I got to play one. I never found a gretsch I needed to keep. not one ever.
so what do you like to see in a guitar?? |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | You got two kinds of fancy,
the classy, shall we say D-45 type of ornation
and the trashy.
Both are nice when they are totally overdone but it takes a higher appreciation level for the trashy to decern what is really cool and what is just gaudy.
(or is that godly?)
(or ungodly?)
(or ugly?) |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | My two favourite (non-Ovation) guitars are polar opposites. A mid-30's Gibson Advanced Jumbo, not quite austere, but getting there. Similar era torch headstock Martin 00042, pure elegance, flashy but classy. That 12-fret body shape is just perfect. I should add that I don't own either of them, unfortunately.
Paul
[ April 22, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 389
Location: RI. That small State out East | I's nice to get a "wow" from a player and non player when they open the case. My new toy the 2002 collectors get's a lot of comments. Yea I guess you would say fancy. The fun part is to let them play it and get the real "WOW".
Woz |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | My tastes also tend to be "bi-polar" on a topic like this.
On one side, things that get me are intricate carvings, inlays, rosettes, etc. I look at some of the custom lutherie in publications like Acoustic Guitar and such and my jaw just drops!
There seems to be such a proliferation of very talented, artistic craftsmen out there turning out some really exquisite instruments (especially, it seems in California). One of these years I gotta make it out to the Healdsburg Festival and see some of them in person.
On the other side, I like some of the simplistic,
industro-techno gear. A good friend of mine has a Parker Fly and (to me, anyway) that guitar just ROCKS! It's light as a feather, plays like a dream, and has an awesome range of "voices". I kinda like the "non-conventional" way the body and headstock are "sculpted".
Over the weekend, I went to this funky little bookstore in Montclair, NJ still searching for a replacement copy of the "Ovation" book (found one!). While I was foraging through that section of books, I found a copy of a small book called "Blue Guitars". If anybody's familiar with this, you know what I'm talking about. If not, I highly recommend this book. It's basically a compendium of all handcrafted guitars (predominantly archtops) built by some prestigious luthiers, all in various shades of blue. Some really amazing pieces in here!!
A couple of years ago this collection was on display, all on floor stands in the big, sweeping, curved gallery of the Guggenheim Museum here in NYC. Unfortunately, I didn't get to read the magazine article of it till the day AFTER it closed! (story of my life!!) |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | Cliff
those guitars were built for scott chinery of toms river nj in fact cwk2 and I sat at the same table at the party for them (we did not know each other then)
Scott died over a year ago from a heart attack at 39 yrs old. He was a very intersting guy and we became friends. There are many things that reamin a mystery about him that I will never know but he did appreciate arched top guitars and had some of the world's best builders make them. there were also a few zonks in the group too I played most of them. the Benedetto is my favorite.
I loved that guitar.
bob benedetto once explained to me the process he used to keep the guitar blue and not fade to green like some of them had. all in all scott had a wonderful collection of guitars. I really don;t know what will happen to them I imagine some will get sold some will go to the smithsonian and some will stay with the family.
he was one crazy guy but mysterious nd i miss him and think of him often |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I gotta get OUT more! |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Al,
That was you sitting at the table in top hat and tails??
As I recall we had Walter Carter there too. He had recently finished the book.
I've heard that the majority of the blue guitars have turned green. Is this true? |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | No top hat and tails more like black jeans and t shirt. Christian martin (?) was also at the table if my memory serves me right.
I have not seen the blue guitars for a number of years but many were turning green at that time.
Bob benedetto told me that it depends on how you seal the wood if you use a varnish or polyurethane with a yellow base well yellow and blue makes green so you have to be careful.
I also liked Linda Manzer's guitar another beautiful wonderful instrument.
I have no clue what is going on with those guitars now. I know that scott and Kathy were building a house in Spring lake which was going to have a 2 story display room for over 800 guitars but I really don;t know what is going on with that. I guess next time I see larry acunto from 20th century guitar mag I will ask him. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | have you noticed how something that is well made, and that does what it is supposed to without compromise and with acute attention to detail, regardless of how much adornment it has, becomes more beautiful the longer you are around it. you can take a bum off the street and dress him ala versache and you might fool a few until he opens his mouth and asks for a pull of mad dog 20 20. i have owned a number of mercedes diesel cars. simple, reliable, safe and functional. they always looked beautiful to me, even though they were the least "fancy" of the line. form follows function.
ovation got the important stuff figured out first and then started to dress 'em up for the stage. so no matter which of my ovations i pick up when i head for the club, it is going to look good and sound good.
for my own preference of what i have, a black ukII with no pickguard and all gold hardware, including the bridge, is elegant. after seeing some of the guitars on this board i realize you can fall in love with a centerfold beauty queen and get brains too. some of the carved adamaii are cool; old and new blended into a great instrument. also i particularly like the ones where the grain of the carbon fiber cloth becomes part of the design. making the technology look beautiful is a bold statement that works for me. and for something unique that really is "out of this world" the millenium inlays would even make spock smile. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Yes.
There is an inextricable BEAUTY to "functionality". |
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What makes a guitar fancy?
