Seeds To Trees » guitars

Goodall Rosewood Standard

lynn — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:44:09 +0000

When I first heard of Goodall guitars, I wasn’t too into the boutique guitar scene. The ultimate acoustic guitar for me was a 7-series Taylor as many worship leaders can attest to. Goodall guitars, like Collings, Bourgeois, Huss & Dalton, MacPherson, and Santa Cruz are all names that I had kind of just brushed aside. “These guys make great guitars but they are out of reach for people like me,” I thought to myself. “They’re nice, but no one really knows about them.” Yes, Taylor and Martin crank out more guitars in one day than most of these boutiques do in a year but that’s just how it is when man goes up against machine in the acoustic guitar building world.

Granted, Taylor and Martin have come a long way in the practice of mass manufacturing quality, high-end guitars but when it comes down to it, both builders will probably admit that a well-crafted, hand-built guitar by a talented luthier has some sort of magic built in. Minute details like ideal bracing patterns, wood selection, and wood thickness vary by guitar due to the unique character of them.

James Goodall is, and has been, building some amazing sounding guitars. He recently moved back to Northern California and closed his shop in Hawaii. Scaling from about 15 employees to 3 (him, his son, and his wife), James will continue to build in May but on a much smaller level. So now, more than ever, I feel very fortunate to even own a Goodall guitar. Not only is she a beauty, but she makes me smile a bit on the inside every time I pick her up to strum around.

Without further delay, here’s the specs and the pictures:

1995 Goodall Rosewood Standard

Rosewood back and sides
Sitka Spruce top
Ebony fingerboard with diamond inlays
Abalone rosette
Schaller tuners
Flamed Koa binding
Mahogany neck

Twin Jimi Strats

lynn — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:43:37 +0000

Yes, I have two Hendrix replicas. The one on the left is the lesser known of the two.

The Saville stratocaster was a guitar that Jimi painted and smashed on June 4, 1967 (so before the performance when he painted and smashed the guitar on the right, the Monterey Pop stratocaster). This particular guitar was sold to me by a guy named Jeff Levenson. He does replicas of famous guitars and this one was a prototype that I had acquired from him (1 of 2).

I love both these guitars dearly and they adorn my walls gracefully. The one on the right is my Monterey Pop strat (which you can read about here) and that is the one that is more gig-worthy.

Monterey Stratocaster – In Love Once Again

lynn — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:43:17 +0000

My love for guitars first started about six years ago when I was searching for an instrument to keep me busy during college. Naturally everyone played the guitar in the dorms so I thought it’d be a good instrument to learn so that when ever you see one laying around you can pick it up, bust out with some song and use that to start a conversation with the nearby people.

Since then, anyone of my close friends will tell you that my love has turned into an obsession. When I first got into electric guitar, my natural role model was Jimi Hendrix. I mean, what electric guitarist doesn’t follow Jimi Hendrix to some extent? After a while I started reading up on the history of Jimi’s playing: his pioneer usage of the fuzz pedal, the Marshall stack, and studio effects. The one thing that stood out the most was the guitars he used, primarily the strat that he painted and played (and burnt and smashed) at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival.

Here’s a snippet from Wikipedia concerning the significance of that performance:

From Wikipedia (Monterey Pop Festival):

The festival may have become legendary because of the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix (who was booked on the insistence of board member Paul McCartney) and the Who. Jimi Hendrix huddled backstage before the Monterey Pop Festival with Pete Townshend, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones. When Townshend insisted that Hendrix headline over the Who that day, Hendrix said, “I’m going to have to pull out all the stops.” Hendrix then blazed through a 45-minute set capped by setting his guitar afire, then smashing it and throwing the remnants into a delirious crowd who were watching Hendrix’s first-ever American show.

Popout

Of all the stratocasters I’ve always wanted (no, make that of all the GUITARS I’ve ever wanted PERIOD), the Monterey Pop strat was it. Today, my little dream of owning one was realized as three years of collecting parts and supplies came together, assembled by a magician of sorts (Chris at K-Line Guitars) arrived in a humble Fedex box this morning at work. I couldn’t believe it when I took it out and to tell you the truth, it came out BETTER than I had expected. The neck was finished beautifully and the fret work was impeccable. The body looked as good as it did when I sent it to Chris and even better with all the hardware put together on it.

I played it tonight and at first I was trying to not expect too much since I didn’t want to be let down if it didn’t sound right. However, a combination of the light 2pc Alder body and the solid, quartersawn maple/rosewood neck paired with the unbelieveable Jason Lollar Tweed pickups, I soon found that it was the best strat I’ve ever played. Not only did the neck play effortless but the tones coming out were bell-like and crystal clear.

Am I happy? You bet, this project couldn’t have gone any smoother and I want to thank Chris, the guys at Musikraft for such a killer neck, and Paul who did the extraordinary artwork. Thank you all for supplying the necessary parts to finally give me my dream guitar.

During those 3 years I had lost hope that I would ever own a Monterey Pop strat because I had never had the time to finish one for myself. Now, I’m in love with this guitar all over again.