When asked to evaluate a guitar my primary impulse is to just start playing and deciding whether I like it or not. For me, feelings expressed through musical inspiration do a much better job than words in formulating my opinions. Certain characteristics inherent in an instrument can subconsciously prompt me to render musical passages in ways that I may have never done before. There is no thought as to what it cannot do, rather it is more an odyssey of discovery, realizing the possibilities that exist.
Hence my new guitar built by my good friend Mick Lazar. Since acquiring this instrument I have found myself in the process of re-evaluating many of the pieces in my repertoire. Because I have discovered many technical issues have suddenly become easier to execute, and tonal clarity is a given, I find myself generally with more interpretive freedom than ever before. This is a guitar I do not want to put down.
To describe this guitar with mere words is difficult but I will try my best. My most immediate impression would be that of sustained power. I am not talking about brute force where I would say this was the loudest guitar I have ever heard, but its aptitude with the more gentle notes. Any note played can be immediately felt throughout the whole instrument even up through the neck. Put your ear near the sound hole and you can tell the whole soundboard is at work, without emitting all those distracting frequencies that can muddle the sound of other responsive instruments. Add a little vibrato and you can even feel a reenergizing of the note. And yes the guitar can be loud. I have yet to overload this guitar.
Because the guitar resonates as a whole I have to be careful not to mute the sound by bringing my body too tight against the back as I play. I discovered this while noticing that at times there was an explosion of sound that I could not explain. The difference was astounding and I had never experienced this before. Initially I thought it was some latent new level of responsiveness that was trying to get out, but I later deduced what was happening as I was drawing the guitar away from me. Further tests of this verified my finding. This is not a major problem as I can cure this by simply tilting my guitar back a very small amount. Actually this experience may have exposed a technical deficiency in my playing that I was previously unaware of and for that I am thankful. It is possible that this phenomenon always occurs except the change has been too small to notice in other guitars.
Every note on this guitar responds in an identical matter, including open strings. The sustain and volume for an E is the same as that for an E flat or B flat or any others. What is most important in this is that there are no notes that dominate, notes that jump right out at you rendering a musical imbalance. Some guitars seem to be at their most powerful only when playing in keys centered around open strings. With this guitar I can play in any key, in any position, confident in its ability to provide consistent sonority. There are no dead notes anywhere on this instrument.
Balance between bass and treble is excellent. I can discern no clear dominance of one frequency range over the other. If anything I would characterize the middle ranges as the strongest but certainly not at the expense of anything else. Note separation is also very clear. Play a six string chord, either strummed or plucked, and every note can be heard with equal clarity and as separate entities.
Tonal characteristics are much more difficult to evaluate because it is a subjective matter. Words are definitely inadequate for this purpose. As a player I like to employ a wide tonal palette and there are many different qualities of sound that I appreciate. This guitar amply provides me with the amount of tonal range that I have come to demand from any guitar. Of course it has its own general character which I enjoy immensely. The sound I would describe as being slightly on the bright side of a bright-dark spectrum, but is also very warm. It is also full, and because the guitar responds so quickly, I do not need to exert a lot of effort in producing a quality note. It also has a gentleness that keeps me well focused on the music. I would not describe the sound as being overly sweet, but as sophisticated and confident. Of course if I need to play a passage with a sharp attack and explosive sound it is there for me.
Lastly, this guitar is gorgeous. For me this is the last criteria to consider in a great instrument, but it is important. The detail and craftsmanship are practically as good as it gets and kudos to Mick for his exquisite French polish finish.
David Grainger Brown