Lowden Guitars

Yeah, I mention Lowdens just about every time I talk about guitars.  I'm a true fan.  They're not for everyone and there are lots of other wonderful guitars out there but they work for me and fit both my hands and my ears.

I came across this interesting little video where George talks about his design and what makes it different from the typical "American" style guitar.  For anyone interested in acoustic guitars, it is an interesting watch.

Ragamuffin

It's been a while since I've posted a music video...

This is Jason Kessler playing a song written by Michael Hedges  called Ragamuffin which appeared on Hedges' 1984  ground breaking CD, Aerial Boundaries.  Kessler is playing a  Lowden F size 12 string guitar built of Honduran Rosewood and Adirondack spruce and is accompanied by percussionist Josh Dekaney and dancer Pallavi Gupta.  just beautiful...

annual pilgrimage

This week was my annual pilgrimage to the NAMM convention in Anaheim, CA.  NAMM is a huge conference for dealers of musical instruments (and everything you can imagine might be tied to them) and manufacturers.  It is a big deal in that business and many of the manufacturers essentially do their entire years sales in the Anaheim convention center so they all trot out their newest and slickest.

I first attended about 5 years ago and was struck first by the booth babes... you've seen photos of them at auto shows.  They were exactly the same.  6 foot tall women wearing very little clothing and more often than not, surgically enhanced in multiple ways.  As the economy went down over the last few years, the booth babes were the first expenditure to be cut and very, very few displays had them this year.  Business seems to be on the way back up and attendance seemed higher than the last few years although there were some obvious manufacturers who were absent.

It is a convention only for people who are in the business so if you don't have a tie with a manufacturer, a retailer who will send you to the event, or are a big enough star to be able to get in for publicity's sake, you can't attend.  I get in on a visitor's pass with Lowden Guitars and really enjoy getting to spend some time with George and his family, seeing their primary demonstrator at the booth, Thomas Leeb, and getting to see the newest and slickest that George and company have produced this year.

For those of you who don't know,  Lowden is a small Irish family run company that builds what I consider to be the finest guitars in the world.  They build about 500 guitars a year and are played by some of the finest guitar players in the world including Pierre Bensusan, Alex DeGrassi, Richard Thompson, and Thomas Leeb.  Many other famous players have played Lowdens at one time or another in their careers and there are scores of wonderful players around the world who love these amazing guitars.  I've been playing them since about '86 or '87 and currently own two.  My primary guitar is an O25C Custom built in 2000 after my first Lowden, an L25C built in early '86, was stolen in Philadelphia in August of 1999.  My second is a recently acquired S10P built in '87.  It is old, beaten, abused, and scarred.  The two guitars have slightly different voices but they clearly come from the same gene pool and both really sing.  They are not inexpensive guitars, but at this quality one would never expect them to be.  That said, I have not played any guitars at any price that I would choose over a Lowden and I have played some very expensive guitars.

African Blackwood F50

Lowden had a bunch of gorgeous guitars in their booth but was really getting buzz about three of them.  One was a medium size guitar with a redwood top, very elegant appointments including a bevel on the lower bout that makes the guitar more comfortable to pay, and back and sides of a very rare and expensive wood (at least in sizes needed for guitars) called African Blackwood.  The wood has all of te characteristics needed for an excellent guitar and this one is.  It was also the most expensive guitar at the booth.

The real buzz came from two prototype fan fret guitars.  Let me explain the concept behind these guitars.  Longer strings work better for lower pitches and shorter strings work better for higher pitches.  This is called scale length and tells you the distance between the nut (the piece of bone near the top of the guitars neck) and the saddle (the piece of bone in the bridge).  The vast majority of guitars have a single scale length for all six strings which like many issues in guitar design, represents a compromise.  Once you've chosen your scale length, there are formulas that tell you where to put the frets so the guitar can play in a well tempered scale (another compromise to tuning).  What would happen if you had multiple scale lengths so the lowest strings were longer and the highest strings shorter?  Theoretically the low pitches would be richer and deeper and the high ones clearer and more bell like.  This is especially noticeable for folk who do lots of altered tunings.  Of course, it requires some voodoo with the frets, nut, bridge, and braces to make it all work.  Most visible is the arrangement of the frets... like a fan.  A few individual builders have been producing guitars with these multiple scale lengths but they are often incredibly expensive and beyond the experience of almost all guitarists.  George produced two prototypes of fan fret guitars and every player who visited the booth wanted to try them.  The high point of my time there was when Colin Hay, known to many from his days in the 80's band Men at Work, and a friend of his played a gorgeous duet on the two fan frets in the quiet room at the Lowden display.  Just sublime.  The sound of the guitars was really beautiful and they fit together, hand in glove.

fan fret guitars

I forget what the actual string lengths were, but, if I remember correctly, the lowest string is more than 1.5 inches longer than the highest one. Notice in the photo that the frets are arranged in a fan.  The slanted bridge on the right hand guitar is the logical way to get a slanted saddle but the interior bracing of the guitar must be changed to accommodate the different placement of the bridge.  The guitar on the left uses George's normal bridge with what struck me as a Salvador Dali'esque extension for the slanted saddle.  This allows George to retain his signature bracing pattern.  Some who looked at the guitar asked whether that additional wood would deaden the sound or lessen sustain.  I certainly couldn't hear any deficits. 

The orientation of the frets did cause many of the players to scratch their heads.  Some reported that once they ignored what their eyes were telling them, they didn't feel any difference in playing.  Others said that it would require some small adjustments to technique.  I was in the second group.  Given the depth and balance of George's "regular" guitars, I'm not sure I see the need need for the fan frets and so I can't see a situation where I'd feel the need to adjust.  Others, especially some fingerstyle players who often play with the lower strings dropped a step or more, may see the design as a wonderful thing.

I didn't see much of the rest of the show... I walked through the entire center once and I did look at cases and gig bags since I need a new one for my S10P, but other than that, I stayed pretty close to the Lowden booth.

more Andy McKee

this time playing a Lowden F model...



so which guitar do you like better? This one or the Greenfield in the post just before this one?

slap that thang

Sometimes guitar players do technique just for technique sake. I don't enjoy listening to that kind of playing. While I can appreciate the ability of a player like that I honestly feel as if I'm watching someone masturbate... not something I particularly enjoy doing.

But when a player has amazing technique and puts it in service of a song, that is something sublime.

Take a look at Andy McKee here. BTW, he is playing a Lowden guitar. George's company builds what I think are the best guitars in the world.

some more wonderful guitar playing

I was looking on youtube for some more African music and some examples of different nylon string guitars and came across this

It isn't really African (he's from Canada), it isn't a nylon string guitar (but isn't the tone amazing?) but I found myself listening to it again and again. Boy, I love Lowden Guitars

The artist is Andy Sheppard

gear

The other day, I blogged about v-picks and what a great product they are. Well, I was thinking about guitar gear and thought I'd post a few products and vendors that I really appreciate.

First... the big one - Lowden Guitars. George, Flo, and company build the most amazing acoustic guitars and they are wonderful people. If you are in the market for a small shop acoustic guitar, make sure you check out a Lowden.

Every musician who carries an instrument around needs a good case. There are lots of options at a variety of price points with different purposes in mind. For everyday use, I really like a good gig bag. They are light in weight. You can sling them over your shoulder, freeing up your hands. And the good ones are almost as protective as old fashioned hard cases. My favorite is the Incase slim bag. They aren't cheap but they are great bags and really protect your electric guitar or bass. Unfortunately, they don't make an acoustic bag any longer. Mono makes an acoustic bag that looks pretty good. One of these days, I'll probably try one out.

Most fingerboards are not finished and so the wood is subject to drying out. A good fingerboard oil is a must but what to use is a bigger question. There are lots of products available - some of which are marketed for guitars and others that are either aimed at other purposes ("lemon oil" furniture polish) or just bizarre (nose oil!). I really like Fret Doctor. It is a mix of natural oils and stabilizers that works great. It is also available in smaller bottles for use as bore oil for woodwinds.

Strings... without strings, a guitar doesn't do much. In the last decade or so, a number of companies have released strings that are coated with teflon like substances to increase string life - strings lose their brightness as dirt and corrosion build up. I tried a number of those different strings on my acoustic guitars and just didn't care for any of them. They lasted a long time, but they didn't sound very good to me. I found a little company called Wyres Strings in Canada that makes coated strings that sound as good to me as the uncoated ones. They last forever and sound great. I use the TP1256 which have light gauge trebles and medium gauge bass strings. This works great for dropped tunings and gives me a little bigger bottom.

On electric guitar, I don't hear the change as strings age quite as drastically as I do on acoustic so I go for inexpensive here. I purchase my electric strings from Webstrings and used to get my acoustic strings there as well. There are only a few companies that actually manufactuer guitar strings. Most come from those couple of factories and are re-branded by a company that markets them... so there is a strong possibility that strings from webstrings are the same ones you get at the local music store... except the webstrings cost half as much.

Back to the partscaster. There are 3 or 4 companies that make wonderful guitar bodies and necks - Warmoth, and USA Custom Guitars stand out. Between those two companies you can get great bodies or necks made in the USA of top qualty woods with an amazing number of options... and there are other companies such as allparts or mightymite that offer fewer options at lower prices from overseas manufacturers. (I put together a beautiful guitar using parts from Warmoth and USACG.) For me though, Carvin guitars works. It is true that there is only one body shape and one neck profile available but the options for different woods are there, the price is right, and the fit of the parts is second to none. If you go with one of their kits, you get everything you need at a much lower price point than you would pay if you purchased everything separately. In the next few days, I hope to finish my latest partscaster and I'll post some more photos.

Last, my favorite acoustic guitar shop in the world is Cathedral Music in Troy, New York. Klem says he doesn't sell any junk and that is absolutely true. Klem's inventory is not the biggest but every guitar he sells at any price point is a gem. His customer service is also second to none. Don't buy a high end acoustic guitar without talking to Klem first... and tell him that I sent you.

NAMM 3

In my first post about NAMM, I showed some photos of the Lowden booth and a photo of my friend Thomas Leeb, who is both an amazing player and an endorser of Lowden Guitars (and a great guy too). Now NAMM is not a place for subtlety. It is all about flash, about catching your attention and grabbing you as you walk by. Add to that the fact that the volume police are always around to be sure that nothing rises above the general din of the place. Demonstrators have a fraction of a second to catch someone's attention above all the flashing lights, skin, noise, crazy hair, tattoos, and more skin. Thomas can play with as much beauty, grace, and subtlety as anyone out there but if he did at NAMM, nobody would stop to listen. Thomas can also do the flash thing better than just about anyone on an acoustic guitar. The video below is of a performance at Tone Merchants with Thomas playing a piece that was very popular at NAMM and always gathered a huge crowd which blocked the walkway. Talk about flashy playing.



For anyone who cares, he is playing a Lowden F35 with maple sides and back and spruce top. And yes, there is an added piece of wood there at the cutaway to help stop him from wearing through the top of the guitar.

NAMM

Every January, the world's largest music merchandiser's conference takes place in Anaheim called NAMM. It is a big deal in that world and every year includes all of the new products from major manufacturers and many small ones. The halls of the Anaheim Convention Center are filled with an odd mix of Asian business people representing huge manufacturers, American companies large and small, representatives of music stores, old rockstars living off past glory, a few current rockstars checking out the new gear or signing autographs at booths where they endorse gear, lots of lookers with tenuous ties with various of the above, and "product placement specialists" i.e. attractive women with very little clothing at the vendors who aim at young male wannabe rockstars. And all of those people are moving to the cacophony of sound coming from thousands of drums, guitars, keyboards, wind, and string instruments being demonstrated or examined.

The last few years, I got to attend as a guest of Lowden Guitars. Again this year, George outdid himself with some amazing instruments.

This O50 made me drool... look at the gorgeous koa... and the sound and playability was just as wonderful as the craftsmanship.





and one more... a Brazilian rosewood S38...



All the while, Thomas Leeb was dazzling the crowds with his amazing playing on his Lowden F35C.


The baritone that appears on the new Lowden website was also there and was just stunning. Another player friend who was present referred to it as "the best baritone he has ever played or heard." Thomas just said, "it is MINE."

I also got to see and hear lots of other guitars and amps and I think I even saw Bono walking by but the best part was getting to spend a few minutes with George and Florence Lowden (such incredibly gracious people), seeing Thomas again, meeting Aaron Lowden (the youngest Lowden working for the company), and connecting with a few of the other folk who work with Lowden.