Keira WitherKay wrote
i'm overjoyed that a south african luthier is making these guitars cos this could be the "next" big thing in acoustics.... lol like steinberger did for guitars and bass's.... a radical design with it's own voice ...
if marketed correctly this design could be destined for the history books.... as this is the 1st alternate design acoustic that delivers the goods..... and with the body shape will stick out ....and be recognised.... this is not a subtle adjustment to traditional acoustic design, but a total redisign to get the same result a beautiful sounding highly playable instrument ..............
Yes. There are other acoustic makers who are pushing the envelope, but I can't think of many who have pushed it as far as Mervyn has. The Smoothtalker is a wild looking instrument, but it is not wildness for the sake of it. I believe that Mervyn has given the design a lot of thought. Also that design has evolved over the years. Mervyn didn't just wake up one day and decide to make an eyecatching instrument.
One point of interest is that it's a relatively "green" guitar. Because the back and sides have little to do with the tone of the Smoothtalker, and because the top is small he uses substantially less of the common and, in many cases, controlled woods for his guitars. Indeed he can use absolutely non-guitar species and has even made some using poplar - which is an invasive species in SA.
Finally the construction gives him a lot of freedom as regards the neck dimensions, so it's very easy for him to make it a little skinnier, a little wider at the nut, longer in scale etc etc.
