*ALMOST* NGD

[OldStrummer]

The guitar I'm having made specifically to my specs is nearly finished. The builder, a great guy in Oregon named Steven Holst, sent me these photos after putting on a set of his recommended strings (Thomastik-Infeld) and telling me, "This is a fun little guitar!" Nothing like getting the customer wet with anticipation, eh?

Soon. Soon. We started this build in January. Of 2021. COVID had no bearing on the time. Spruce wood from Switzerland. Inlays, maple, pickups, ebony, binding, all the materials needed ordering, cutting, fitting, gluing, etc. I'm not in a hurry to get a guitar made just for me!

[Michael Smith]

Wow, that guitar is beautiful! Is the shape based on forms he already had in his shop, or is it a custom shape you specified?

[OldStrummer]

Wow, that guitar is beautiful! Is the shape based on forms he already had in his shop, or is it a custom shape you specified?

The dimensions are custom, but the shape is based on traditional archtops with a Venetian cutaway. Also, the Swiss Spruce on the top will darken with age and become more like the sides and back in appearance.

[Michael Smith]

What style of music do you play? Your guitar looks like it would be great for jazz.

[OldStrummer]

What style of music do you play? Your guitar looks like it would be great for jazz.

A lot of the music I play has jazz and blues influences. For a long time I considered myself more of a rhythm guitar player, but since I've taken to the stage I find I have to play music I can sing along to, so my playing has moved more to the chording-fingerstyle stuff.

My first "electric" guitar was a 1957 Gibson ES-225t that I still have. In many ways, it (and the newer Ibanez AG95QA) influenced my decision to have this guitar made (I used a lot of the specs from that Ibanez, btw). The hollow body lets me play gentle jazz or rollicking rock (think: Chuck Berry, Alvin Lee, early Clapton, etc.) and, thanks to a last-minute discussion and decision, the addition of a quarter-sized sound port will enable me to practice and play unplugged, which I do a lot.

[Michael Smith]

Hmmm, I've never seen a guitar with a sound port on the side. Does not enough sound escape from the F-holes to play it unplugged?

[OldStrummer]

Hmmm, I've never seen a guitar with a sound port on the side. Does not enough sound escape from the F-holes to play it unplugged?

The answer is a bit more complex than a simple yes or no. The sound port aids the player, providing, as my luthier put it, "They make the sound that you hear as a player more full and rich. Archtops project a lot so the sound out front is pretty different from the sound the player hears." After adding it, he tested it and said, "As expected the sound at the players end is definitely improved. You can test it at home by having someone cover the hole while you're playing and then uncover it. It's a pretty obvious difference."

Since I practice unplugged a lot, this will benefit me both by giving me a truer sound, and I don't have to plug in to get it.

[Cogs]

That looks like a work of art AND an amazing tool

[OldStrummer]

That looks like a work of art AND an amazing tool

That's my hope and my wish. The luthier is Stephen Holst, and he is world-famous (the last guitar before mine was shipped to Indonesia). You can see some of his work on DreamGuitars and his own web site. He is truly a fabulous guy to work with, and each guitar he builds is crafted to the finest detail.

When I started the process, he had three guitars on order. He told me as he was getting this one ready to ship that he now has 14. A good problem to have, but the backlog will be quite something!