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Topic: Baritone Weissenborn advice? |
Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Posted 26 May 2006 6:27 am |
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Dear all,
Eventually (when finances allow), I want to commission a baritone (30" scale) Weissenborn copy. The builders I am considering are Celtic Cross, Lazy River and Manzanita. They all seem to build first rate instruments, and all three builders (Neil, Rance and Manfred) have been very friendly and helpful with my queries.
As this will be quite an investment for me, I want to make sure I make the right decisions. When I recently tried two Weissenborn copies at the Frankfurt music trade fair (that cost €1,600 and €3,000) respectively, I found that I prefer the sound and feel of my $81 1930s Oahu roundneck (!).This made me think twice about commissioning a guitar without having tried an instrument by the builder in question.
Now, Neil Russell of Celtic Cross makes beautiful baritone Weissenborns, and I have heard nothing but good things about them. The same goes for Rance White at Lazy River. The problem is that I’m in the UK and they are in Canada and the USA respectively.
About Manzanita, I’m not sure if they have made any baritones, but David Lindley has said they make the best Weissenborns. Has anyone here played a Manzanita? The big plus for me with this luthier is that he is based in Germany (where I frequently spend my holidays as my wife is German), so I could visit the workshop (which Manfred has kindly offered me to do) and try some instruments and have a more “hands on” approach to commissioning an instrument.
Has anyone of you Weissenborn (baritone or normal) owners out there got any advice? Also, what are the important factors to consider with materials/specs/construction when it comes to a baritone Weiss? Any help would be much appreciated!
Many thanks!
Fred
------------------
www.frockmusic.com
www.myspace.com/ilikerecords |
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Kevin Brown
From:
England
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Posted 26 May 2006 6:47 am
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| Hi Fred, nice to see you the other night and thanks for your kind post. One small piece of advice re ordering hand made guitars. Make sure you discuss what happens if for some 'bizzarre' reason (and it happens !) you are not happy witrh the instrument, some luthiers will refund if all attempts to resolve an issue has failed, its not easy to bring up the matter when ordering but its in both the luthier and your interests to discuss this. |
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Bill Blacklock
From:
Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 26 May 2006 9:31 am
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Hello Fred,
I can't speak for Manzanita or Lazy River, Im sure they make wonderful instruments. I can comment on Celtic Cross baritones, I've owned two of these baritones.
Neil at "Celtic cross" build me his first baritone weissenborn, a black walnut instrument with a mohogany top. The workmanship was exellent and the instrument had a huge bottom end and a very mellow top end. Unfortunately the beautiful peice of culy black walnut on the back that had been seasoned for twenty years started to open up. Neil insisted that the instrument be replaced at not cost to me.
For my replacement baritone I went with Paduk back and sides and a mahogany top. I like mahogany tops. When I went to pickup the replacement baritone I spent time comparing the two. The Paduk instrument was not as bassy and had a lot more midrange and a brighter over all tone, but not harsh. The change in woods gave me the tones that were lacking in the first instrument. The strings on the black walnut instrument tended to get muddy sounding in a very short time while the the strings on the paduk instrument seem to go on forever. Both instruments sounded best in an "A" tuning. The Paduk instrument is good all the way down to "G" but the black walnut gets real muddy down that far. I think a spruce top would have brought out better tones in the black walnut instrument but would not be suited to a paduk body??
I beleive that your choice of woods makes a lot more difference in the tone then your choice of builders.
I will be taking delivery of my
third "Celtic Cross" weissenborn (Kona)in a couple of weeks, Neil builds a hell of an instrument at a price well below there true value.
If you like I can send you a picture and a sound clip of the paduk baritone. If possible maybe you could post them on the forum for me ( thats beyond my know how) as others that might be baritone shopping.
Fred, my Baggs M1 pickup showed up today I'll pop it in the Oahu and let you know how it goes.
Cheer's Bill |
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Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Posted 28 May 2006 7:24 am
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Hi Bill,
Many thanks for your input! Yes, please e-mail me pics and the soundclip. I know how to upload pictures, but I have no webspace to host mp3s at the moment.
Cheers,
Fred. |
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