Dream Acoustic Guitar Build#2: Bashkin Placencia OM

racman

Although the build is scheduled to start in August this year, I thought I would get the thread started so long. As a result of all the hours of research, discussions, listening to sound clips, e-mails and considerations I had when I was considering the first custom build (The Cornerstone Zion build thread in my signature), I decided to secure a few build slots and have more than the originally intended singular build commissioned.

One of the Luthier's who impressed me immensely and whose name was consistently mentioned during the process was Michael Bashkin and more particularly his Placencia OM model. Although all his models are highly regarded, some consider that his OM is especially good.

My brief to all the forthcoming luthiers has been that I wanted each build to be complimentary to the others that have already been completed. So in order to assist in this regard I forwarded my initial requirements, preferences and historic overview to Michael (and the others) as well as my initial and subsequent impressions of the Cornerstone Zion build. My recent "discovery" of the beautiful tonal appeal that a Classical guitar provides has also been communicated. Likewise I will continue to provide the same flow of information to the Luthier’s responsible for the remaining builds in the future.

The Back & Sides wood has been selected as well as some of the specs that I am considering. I will hopefully post more on this during the course of the weekend.

Michael Bashkin website details: http://www.bashkinguitars.com/

racman

A few videos:

Michael Bashkin guitar demo at Healdsburg 1:

Bashkin African Blackwood Guitar:

Bashkin OM Cutaway Plancia 4706 @ Dream Guitars:

Michael Watts - "The Virtuous Circle":

Michael Watts - "Albermarle":

Squonk

Good Stuff Roy

Will be following this thread with lots of envy ?

AlanRatcliffe

racman wrote: My recent "discovery" of the beautiful tonal appeal that a Classical guitar provides has also been communicated

Glad to have been of service. ? Steel and nylon are two completely different animals, so I'd be interested in which characteristics of the classical you are aiming for.

Bashkin is a truly great builder by all accounts, certainly if you go by looks alone, he is one of the top builders around ATM. Oooo - are you going for a blackwood back and sides?

racman

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
racman wrote: My recent "discovery" of the beautiful tonal appeal that a Classical guitar provides has also been communicated
Glad to have been of service. ? Steel and nylon are two completely different animals, so I'd be interested in which characteristics of the classical you are aiming for.

Bashkin is a truly great builder by all accounts, certainly if you go by looks alone, he is one of the top builders around ATM. Oooo - are you going for a blackwood back and sides?

My comments to Michael were almost directly from one of our discussions Alan, where you rather succinctly described in a few words what I used an entire paragraph to try and convey! ?

I want the guitar to have a more even tonal balance than what steel strings are traditionally known for and what I have found sp appealing in Nylon Strings and in particular the Yamaha GD-20 (Can I ever thank you enough for that wonderful instrument? ?).

My feeling is that one can always obtain a slightly more "crisp" tone by varying the right hand position (within reason of course) but if the tops are not balanced, sweet and well-rounded then one just has to live with it. Just my opinion of course ...

Unfortunately my budget does not stretch to African Blackwood ......

guitarboy2828

Roy, am super keen to follow this thread! So excited for you! My dream is to get a custom OM built for me ?

rikus

YEEEEEAAAAAH! :applause:

I'll be following this one even more closely than the last!

Enjoy the journey!

racman

We have selected Cocobolo as the back & sides paired with Mastergrade Adirondack Spruce soundboard.

Cocobolo: (Michael Bashkin will trim the center sapwood a little to form a natural center strip.)

In sunlight with Naphta applied to show finish potential:

In addition we are probably going to have Michael's Transparent Multi Scale (Fan Fret) fretboard which is perhaps not as radical as some would like but suits me just fine:

See an example of the MultiScale here:

I will probably not have a soundport on the Bashkin as quite a few reports (and personal conversations with owners) indicate that his OM seems to have a very 3D like projection and most have noticed little or no change with a Soundport.

Bob-Dubery

racman wrote: We have selected Cocobolo as the back & sides paired with Mastergrade Adirondack Spruce soundboard.

Nice choice. Firstly because it is very lekker looking wood with a gorgeous red colour to it, but also because it'll make a nice contrast to the mahogany Cornerstone. Some say that ~~he talks to owls and that his knees are shaped like Kilimanjaro, all we know is that he's called "the Stig"~~ that Cocobolo is the closest match to Brazilian Rosewood.

singemonkey

Racman, you're going to be an amazing advertisement for custom made guitars.

Not entirely an indulgence either. I wouldn't be surprised if one of your four guitars ends up being worth more than everything you paid for all four... ?

rikus

What was your reasoning behind the Adirondack top? Will you be using the Bashkin for finger-style or strumming mostly?

I'm very tempted to go for Adirondack in my build, but the problem is that LMI states that getting quality Adirondack is a problem and they usually only stock AA... so I'm still going back and forth between AAA Bearclaw Sitka or AA Adirondack.

The Adirondack look brilliant (imo) paired with the EI Rosewood back and sides, like so http://www.kitguitarsforum.com/archives/threads.php?id=1899_0_9_0_C

Squonk

The Multi Scale Fretboard looks quite interesting, A new find for me, I have been googling Fanned fretboards since I came across it in another thread on GFSA.

The pregnancy starts again ? Cant wait for the finished product

Bob-Dubery

rikus wrote: I'm very tempted to go for Adirondack in my build, but the problem is that LMI states that getting quality Adirondack is a problem and they usually only stock AA... so I'm still going back and forth between AAA Bearclaw Sitka or AA Adirondack.

Adirondack (AKA "red" spruce) is hard to come by these days. It used to be all that Martin used, but these days they use Sitka on many models. AFAIK AA woods just don't look as nice as 3 or 4 A woods, they can still sound good.

Nick Benjamin has some useful notes about woods which may help you understand the pros and cons of the different spruces.

racman

As has been stated above, good quality Adi is increasingly more difficult find. I thought it may be of interest to paste Michael Bashkin's comments regarding Adi vs Italian spruce from one of our earlier communications:

"For tops, if you play exclusive fingertstyle then I like Italian spruce for its fast and sweet response. For that 3-D sound and clarity I like ADK or german. Slight pref for ADK, it just seems to strike to balance between clarity and sweetness in my guitars. It partially depends on which model you want with the smaller models lending themselves better to the softer spruces."

rikus

Bob, that's some interesting reading, thanks! It confirms what I've read so far regarding Adirondack. I've read that AA vs AAA is more an aesthetics issue than a sound issue, but I'm still hesitant to order it because quality might not be as controlled with Sitka (I don't know whether that's really true though) and it'll be a big pain to exchange a top... I am however still leaning towards taking the chance with Adirondack.

Rac, thanks for the response. Appreciate the insights from the experts. I'm done hijacking your thread. ?

racman

No problem at all "rikus", that's what the threads are for - to promote discussion as well as share the build.

Norman86

Hey Racman...

Hows the progress on this beauty?

racman

Thx for asking Norman, we will be starting in August sometime but in all probability after the Healdsburg Guitar Festival which is held every two years and is on this year from 12-14 August. Most Luthiers at this time are very busy trying to complete their show guitars. (http://guitarfestival.lmii.com/)

As soon as I get the first pics and have finalized the specs (normally final clarification and confirmation at build start) I will post them.

I have spent a lot of time in the last month researching CITES appendices and updates as well as the US Fish & Wildlife Agency(who administer CITES in USA) as well as interacting with others on the Lacey Act. This has been as a result of a few update Memos from CITES that were rather ambiguous and may well have ensured that the Cocobolo (Cites Appendix III) back and sides spec would have been a huge gamble. Without going into detail - all three agencies and acts come into play in the USA.

However, although there are still some vagaries, we are certain (and have received some level of clarification from US F&W) that the export and import restriction of Cocobolo (only from Guatemala but proof is required) is confined to raw products and not finished articles. So, I would not be able to import the wood but the finished guitar is still fine.

Of concern however is that this could change during the build and would then mean I would not be able to import the guitar or get it out of the USA if I could not prove that it did not come from Guatemala.

If anyone is interested I started a thread on the Acoustic Guitar Forum (although it had been discussed on a few others as well) which was quite informative. I had quite a few "pm's" from lawyers etc. giving me advice on how to rephrase certain questions publically in order to allow them to participate, and some private comments on how to interpret legal public statements in the USA that may initially appear vague but were phrased in such a way to avoid legal complications etc. A very informative process but quite frustrating at times. (Link to thread on AGF: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220042&highlight=cites)

Norman86

Goodness... Sounds like a terrible headache!
But i hope it works out for you as this looks like a very nice guitar!
interesting features to boot too!
Good luck ?

slyd

Am drooling already at the prospect of "things to come", with what is already brewing :?