Just realized...have you always been blind or did it develop at some point? If the former, I suppose color descriptions we used don't matter much? I remember a movie once where they used ice in the person's hands to describe blue and puffy cotton to describe white (no doubt evoking billowing cumulus clouds).
I could see a bit of color when I was very young, but that went away pretty quickly and I don't really remember any of it. I always tell people to keep one thing in mind though. Even though I'm blind, I grew up consuming the same culture as you. That's why many blind women still care about makeup and I care about how flamed a piece of maple is on a guitar. These things are cultural and in your mind, not only visual. In my personal opinion, a reasonably well read and well educated blind person already has a pretty good idea of colors, whether its accurate its another topic, but they do have an idea. If you'd like to describe them, use normal visual descriptors. I really understand that its always from good intent, but sometimes I find descriptors that try too hard to choose things that are only tactile to be a tad childish. Great question though. Turns out I'm not immune to paying more for a piece of wood that I can't see.
Interestingly, when I showed this to my non guitar playing friend, one of the first things she noted was that the color showed the wood grain really well and it doesn't look plasticky. Do French Polish look that good? I've never knew it makes that much of a difference? I don't think any Asian made GJ guitars have this kind of finish?
Speaking of fretboard markers, I just found this quite recent picture of Jimmy Rosenberg playing a guitar with a plain fretboard. A little bit of google-ing confirms this guitar to be made by Adam Berten.
Nice guitar, Vic. Risto, as far as I know, prefers thinner picks. That probably has a lot to do with the sound of the guitar on the video. You might've gotten it by now so you can hear for yourself. He usually ships two day air but sometimes the guitar gets held up with customs. For a comparison, here's where he played my guitar when I sent it in to him for some work.
Thank you. Somehow, this guitar records really nicely. At least if I get a compliment for its sound, it's for something recorded. Could be because my picking is probably lighter when I'm recording, who knows... In this video I used Killy Nonis pick. Yes, mine is a Selmer copy. I installed the pickup myself, it's a Manouche mic (from Jokko) internally mounted. Lately I've been using it with the IR pedal. This video here is a guitar straight into the phone, although I was using USB-C external condenser mic.
Something I didn't mention in my initial post, because I didn't want to clutter the post right away, was that my guitar has original finish in the video where Risto plays but it's been refinished in the video where I play it.
Initially it had a lacquer on it. Could be nitro, I'm not familiar with the guitar lacquers. When I first received it the top lacquer was all checkered. Most likely because the day it was delivered , it was -20F in Chicago. While Risto assured me that's just cosmetics, it always bothered me. So at some point I refinished it myself with TruOil. That seemed to open up its sound further.
This is a tricky choice for luthiers. It's a balancing act of making the guitar sound good but also making the top relatively stable. With thinner, oil based finishes the guitar presumably sounds better but the top might react more to seasonal changes. Which might make for an unhappy customer if a person needs to adjust the action often. Lacquer will make the wood a little more stable. So...
However I've noticed that Risto himself has been using light, matte looking finishes on his recent builds. Something oil based I suppose. And my guitar has been just as stable since I refinished it. And it looks way, way nicer.
Comments
Just realized...have you always been blind or did it develop at some point? If the former, I suppose color descriptions we used don't matter much? I remember a movie once where they used ice in the person's hands to describe blue and puffy cotton to describe white (no doubt evoking billowing cumulus clouds).
I could see a bit of color when I was very young, but that went away pretty quickly and I don't really remember any of it. I always tell people to keep one thing in mind though. Even though I'm blind, I grew up consuming the same culture as you. That's why many blind women still care about makeup and I care about how flamed a piece of maple is on a guitar. These things are cultural and in your mind, not only visual. In my personal opinion, a reasonably well read and well educated blind person already has a pretty good idea of colors, whether its accurate its another topic, but they do have an idea. If you'd like to describe them, use normal visual descriptors. I really understand that its always from good intent, but sometimes I find descriptors that try too hard to choose things that are only tactile to be a tad childish. Great question though. Turns out I'm not immune to paying more for a piece of wood that I can't see.
It sounds really good in the video.
To me, the overall appearance is understated but very attractive.
The amber colour of the top gives a vintage vibe as said above.
Interestingly, when I showed this to my non guitar playing friend, one of the first things she noted was that the color showed the wood grain really well and it doesn't look plasticky. Do French Polish look that good? I've never knew it makes that much of a difference? I don't think any Asian made GJ guitars have this kind of finish?
Speaking of fretboard markers, I just found this quite recent picture of Jimmy Rosenberg playing a guitar with a plain fretboard. A little bit of google-ing confirms this guitar to be made by Adam Berten.
Nice guitar, Vic. Risto, as far as I know, prefers thinner picks. That probably has a lot to do with the sound of the guitar on the video. You might've gotten it by now so you can hear for yourself. He usually ships two day air but sometimes the guitar gets held up with customs. For a comparison, here's where he played my guitar when I sent it in to him for some work.
And here's one of the videos where I play it with a 4mm pick.
Congrats!
It actually hasn't gotten to me yet. I hope it will soon.
Interesting, I love the tone you got in that video. What pick do you use? Also is your Ivanovsky basically a Selmer copy dimensions wise?
Also, did you have him put a pickup in that guitar? What pickup did he use?
Thank you. Somehow, this guitar records really nicely. At least if I get a compliment for its sound, it's for something recorded. Could be because my picking is probably lighter when I'm recording, who knows... In this video I used Killy Nonis pick. Yes, mine is a Selmer copy. I installed the pickup myself, it's a Manouche mic (from Jokko) internally mounted. Lately I've been using it with the IR pedal. This video here is a guitar straight into the phone, although I was using USB-C external condenser mic.
Something I didn't mention in my initial post, because I didn't want to clutter the post right away, was that my guitar has original finish in the video where Risto plays but it's been refinished in the video where I play it.
Initially it had a lacquer on it. Could be nitro, I'm not familiar with the guitar lacquers. When I first received it the top lacquer was all checkered. Most likely because the day it was delivered , it was -20F in Chicago. While Risto assured me that's just cosmetics, it always bothered me. So at some point I refinished it myself with TruOil. That seemed to open up its sound further.
This is a tricky choice for luthiers. It's a balancing act of making the guitar sound good but also making the top relatively stable. With thinner, oil based finishes the guitar presumably sounds better but the top might react more to seasonal changes. Which might make for an unhappy customer if a person needs to adjust the action often. Lacquer will make the wood a little more stable. So...
However I've noticed that Risto himself has been using light, matte looking finishes on his recent builds. Something oil based I suppose. And my guitar has been just as stable since I refinished it. And it looks way, way nicer.