The Art Deco OO-12 is done!

Thursday morning I'll be hopping on a plane and heading west for sunny California with my most recent guitar, an Art Deco themed OO-12.

A few pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And once again Mike O'Brien was kind enough to come by and record a couple of videos...

 



 

 

 

 

This guitar has definitely been one of the most (aesthetically) challenging guitars I've built to date and I'm extraordinarily pleased with how it turned out (sounds killer as well!).  Hopefully some of you out there will get a chance to see it at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival this weekend! 

Symphontree Music

After a nerve-wracking week of a (temporarily) lost package, one of my guitars has finally arrived at Symphontree Music in Vancouver!  Having a dealer on the west coast is fantastic; even better is the fact that Symphontree is located about 4 blocks from Sophie's Cosmic Cafe and their mind-numbingly delicious black bean and corn bread eggs benedict.  I think I may have to hand deliver any guitars I send out there...

Kevin at Symphontree just received the guitar yesterday, but he already has some pretty great things to say...


"This is the beginning of something incredible. This guitar is without a doubt one of the finest guitars I have ever played in my life. It is amazing and I have a funny feeling you will be reading more about this guitar while I’m cast under it’s seductive sonic spell."


Read the full account of his first impression here... First Night Alone with Indian Hill

Curly Mahogany OO-12

My latest guitar has just made its merry way across the pond and arrived safe and sound at the Acoustic Music Company in Brighton, UK!  This is my first guitar sent to Europe and I'm hoping it will lead to several "business" trips in the coming years.  Here's a video I recently shot playing it...

And here it is listed on the Acoustic Music Company's site...

Indian Hill OO-12

OO on the go..

Recently started on one of two guitars I'll be bringing with me to the Healdsburg Guitar Show this coming summer. Being a show guitar, I thought I'd do something a little bit different. I spent a few weeks in Arizona over the holidays and was lucky enough to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's workshop/school/home Taliesin West. I really enjoyed seeing his various screens and windows and thought it would be interesting to try and incorporate that type of design into a guitar. I've also been thinking about Art Deco style recently and with those two thoughts in mind I decided to just go for it....

Jonathan Kreisberg

I'm incredibly excited to announce Jonathan Kreisberg as a new member of the Indian Hill Guitar Company family!  Jonathan is an absolutely stellar guitar player from New York City that plays worldwide with his quartet and as a member of Dr. Lonnie Smith's band.  Jonathan contacted me last summer after trying one of my OO's at Rudy's Music in Manhattan and told me he had to have that guitar.  Within a few months he recorded a brand new solo guitar album, "One", and used my guitar on two of the tracks!

Here's a video of Jonathan talking about the new album (note the guitar he's holding!)...

Find out more about Jonathan at jonathankreisberg.com!

My latest...

Here's my attempt at Leo Kottke's arrangement of Wonderland by Night on my most recent guitar.  This one is an East Indian Rosewood back/sides and Sitka spruce top Grand Concert.  Sound port, 12-fret body joint and elevated neck -- a bit of a prototype but I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Sound Ports 101

I have a theory.  Sound ports are awesome.  I have another theory.  Sound ports allow guitar tops to vibrate more freely and with less energy loss.  The first theory may be a bit hard to disprove seeing as sound ports are awesome.  As for the second theory, well, let me explain...

The primary function of sound ports is to make it easier for the player to hear without any noticeable difference out front.  The secondary benefit, and potentially more important, is the increased freedom it gives the top to vibrate.  How does it do this?  Imagine pouring water out of a bottle.... the water glug-glug-glugs as it fights the vacuum created inside the bottle.  What happens when you poke a hole in the side of the bottle?  Air flows in and the water pours smoothly out.  Now think about a guitar top vibrating after you pluck a string.  As the top pumps up and down there will be some resistance as air is pulled or pushed through the soundhole.  Poke a hole in the side and voila!  Smoother airflow and less energy wasted!

There is a school of thought amongst guitar makers concerning how the air inside the guitar interacts with the top and back.  Through bracing and careful tuning many builders attempt to couple the top and back together as one system to maximize efficiency.  In theory I think this would work, but in practice people like to play standing up, leaning back on a couch, on stumps around a fire, and basically all sorts of positions that introduce a giant damper (ie. your belly) on that precision tuned back.  For this reason I like to make my backs stiff and focus on the tops.  And what can I do to eke out as much energy from the tops as possible?  Sound ports!