Window shopping

Tannin

Having nothing better to do today while I waited for Mrs Tannin to complete an appointment, I wandered into Hobart's Classic Guitars and Amps to see if they had anything interesting. In no particular order, I tried the following.

Maton Flatpicker. This is a classic dreadnought in Sitka Spruce and Indian Rosewood from the Custom Shop (i.e., hand made by Andy Allen) designed to do exactly what it says on the label. Of course, I am a fingerpicker and haven't used a flatpick in years - but no matter.

I've played one of these before - quite possibly the same one as I shouldn't imagine there are more than one or two in Tasmania. That was in 2020 when I was shopping for (believe it or not!) my second guitar. (I have about eight now. And a lot less money in the bank. Funny about that.) Anyway, I played a brand new Maton Flatpicker and thought it was bloody wonderful. Not a long way off mind-blowing - it would have been the best guitar I'd ever played in my life at that time. At around $6000 new (£3000) it was well out of my price range - I was planning on $2000-$2500 and ended up spending double that - still well short of Custom Shop guitar territory. 

Fast forward to today and it was a lovely guitar, no doubt about it, but not tempting. I have two spruce and rosewood instruments (a Maton and a Furch) and that is plenty. And that big, lightly built dreadnought body was borderline-boomy to my ear. The chap in the shop lovingly described it as "sounding like a Martin" and that's about right, it has a lot of that trademark Martin bass boom to it. Like a Martin dred, it is just barely this side of muddy at the bottom end - a little better defined than most Martins, but very similar. I didn't trouble to ask the price and assumed something just under $6000, though a glance at their website shows that they are asking $6500. I'd have liked to change the strings (probably D'Addaios) to something with more character, such as SIT Royal Bronze or Martins, but in the end it wasn't right for me. I think the name is pretty right - it would suit a flatpicker better. 

Next a Martin D-28 Marquis. These were a higher-spec D-28 variant, using a Red Spruce top and forward-shifted, scalloped bracing (like an HD-28). I didn't ask the price, maybe $6000 at a guess. Nice guitar, very playable, but outshone in pretty much every way by the Flatpicker. (Or for that matter, by a good HD-28. Martins do seem to vary a lot.)

On the wall was a Gibson Hummingbird. I meant to ask to try it but forgot. Woops!

After that, another Maton - this one almost as old as I am. It was a 1962 Maton CW-100 dreadnought, a fancier version of the legendary CW-80. Maton made CW-80s and their variants for many decades. Although much buggered about, it was in remarkably good order from a player's point of view. The chap who owned it for more than 50 years removed the cherry finish on the back and sides and refinished those in natural. He also objected to the original art-deco headstock veneer and redid it in something completely plain. (What a stupid thing to do!) So far from original and a player's instrument worth the $2500 asking price, not a collector's one - in the original finish I reckon you could double that price no worries. The back is Queensland Maple by the look of it, as is the neck - rather rounder and fatter than today's guitars tend to be but very comfortable. We puzzled over the top for some time. Is it aged and yellowed spruce? Or cedar? (Maton made them both ways, and also used Bunya, which this is not.) In the end we thought cedar. Playing it confirms that: it has that lovely treble clarity that cedar delivers, and also the overall warmth and softness. (Queensland Maple is a perfect match for it in my book.) It is a very, very playable instrument and I liked it a lot. Shame about the mods and refinishing. Alas I already have a cedar and Queensland Maple Maton dreadnought - albeit more than 50 years younger - and although the 1962 instrument has a flavour entirely its own, I couldn't justify it. 

Now a 1932 Martin parlour. (Exact model number forgotten.)  Beautiful little guitar. Was I interested? At $12,000 no - as I  explained, if I'm going to spend $12,000 (about £6250) I'll buy a Lowden, a Collings, a Stoll, a Huss and Dalton, or have something built. Would I like to play it anyway? Sure. Spruce and mahogany, I think - though a bit hard to tell because of the muddy finish. A pleasant sound, very playable,  very small in the lap but surprisingly wide in the neck - it felt like 45mm or more, which seems unlikely for a guitar of that vintage, but anyway you slice it a lovely neck. Worth $12,000? Not even close to worth it, though I imagine that is around about the going rate. Anyway, even if it was 1/10th the price, I doubt I'd play it much when I have half-a-dozen others which are better. (Not worth more, just better, more playable guitars.) Just the same, a worthwhile experience to try it.

Next up a 1970s Takamine, made in Japan as they all were back then. A dreadnought with an oval sound hole. Why oval? I don't know. I played it for a few minutes, can't remember anything much about it. I didn't ask the price. A couple of thousand, I guess, maybe a bit less. It made no particular impression on me for good or for ill. If you had to play a gig tonight and this was the only guitar available, would it do?  Sure. It would do just fine. But - as so often with Takamines - I put it down and promptly forget all about it. I still want to try one of their very cute looking New Yorkers one day, if I can ever find a made-in-Japan one in nice woods and a proper 45mm nut instead of the stupid little 42.5mm things they mostly put on small-body instruments, but this one was a "thanks but no thanks".

Finally, I noticed a Cole Clark Angel 3 on the wall. This one had a Redwood top and I asked to play it. I'll say this straight away 'coz @bertie is going to go spare - it was by far the best guitar in the shop. Angel 3 is their top model grand auditorium (or used to be - they now have a "Master Grade" lineup which is essentially the same thing only even more expensive). Spectacular Redwood top, Indian Rosewood back and sides, Silky Maple neck, ebony fretboard, as beautifully made and finished as the 3-series Cole Clarks always are. The neck is extraordinary: it's Silky Maple (a very close relative of the better-known and more common Queensland Maple) with a beautiful flame figure in it - rather like the flame you quite often see in (completely unrelated) Sugar Maple from the Northern Hemisphere. 

Cole Clark have long since committed to using only sustainable timbers, however every so often they make a handful of instruments from their dwindling stockpile of non-sustainable timbers such as ebony and rosewood. The Redwood, of course, is Australian-grown; the Silky Maple is native to Queensland. Oh, and a nice little bit of Blackwood on the headstock to match up with the flamed SiIlky Maple. All in all, a lovely looking guitar. 

As for playing it - oh yes. Very responsive, almost to a fault. That Redwood top is lusciously soft and beautifully clear at the high end (this is the rosewood back doing its bit for the overall sound), warm and rich through the middle and lower registers. Just a great sound. At $3400 (£1750) it is a very fair price - you'd pay over $5000 for a new one, I reckon. It's not a guitar which responds well to being thrashed - soft-top instruments never do - but is richly rewarding for the fingerpicker. 

I have two choices. I could buy it. Or I could stay married. Which do your recommend, oh wise Fretboard Brains Trust?

drofluf

Buy the guitar and beg for forgiveness; if Mrs T has the kindness of an angel she’ll forgive you. Worse case they’ll only be one angel in Château Tannin rather than two.