steve V. johnson
Dec-31-2005, 1:45pm
Hello, all and Happy New Year!
Here's a story about a luthier, offered in good humor and respect, but with no personal nor financial interest in the builder nor the products.
The other day I noticed a Freshwater mandolin in the Cafe Classifieds, and it piqued my interest. I had some nice conversations with the seller and learned about his custom features. I went to the Freshwater website to see what the standard features were, and I filled out an online form to ask about some other features, a theoretical version that I might like.
This morning (only a bit too early after a late night having too much fun playing) the phone rang, and it was David Freshwater calling from Scotland to speak with me about the online form I had submitted. My wonderful wife answered the phone in a complete fog and, thinking that Davy was a Brit friend of ours calling with holiday cheers, she asked him to call back.
She was mistaken about that, but Davy did call back and I just finished a wonderful conversation with him, in which he gave me all sorts of details of luthierie and went thru the (virtual) creation and pricing of an instrument to my specs. I didn't wander far from his basics, but he was cheerfully willing to tailor an instrument to any sort of weirdness I could come up with.
He said that, since his company has concentrated on direct sales rather than keeping their main distribution thru retailers, he's made a point of speaking directly with folks who express interest in his instruments. Nice! Pretty amazing, a mid-day trans-Atlantic call, friendly, relaxed and personal.
There are two features that I am curious about and I have particular ideas about what I'd like. I have spoken with luthiers about nut/fretboard width and body depths. Many luthiers either have one a few standard dimensions of the nut and fretboard widths. Freshwater's necks and fretboards can be made to any dimensions, to fit the player's hands! Davy says that many of his customers are builders who have "big sausage fingers" from their trade, so they need different neck sizes to allow them to play comfortably. On his website Freshwater offers a 'bigger' body depth for all his instruments, and in conversation he told me that, for a mandolin, it amounts to around 60 - 68mm (the latter figure includes the top and back plates' arches, I think).
I've asked and written about deeper bodies for mandolins in other sections here, and luthiers have different views about the math, the aesthetics and the effects of variations in mandolins' body depths. I think a little more depth can be real interesting, but I haven't the $$ to commission all the experiments I'd like to do... <GG> The Freshwater body depth is pretty interesting.
Freshwater had some interesting things to say about tonewoods, and is currently a fan of American Black Walnut for the back and sides of his instruments, for tonal qualities and because it is being sustainably grown and harvested in tonewood grades.
Finally, the price, with my few customizations, a nice case and shipping was a total that I found very competitive and attractive.
I've played a dozen or so Freshwater instruments, here and in Ireland, and I was really only impressed with the top-quality custom ones, and not the more standard ones. This new look at what's possible from Freshwater, and at what price (even given the difference between the Pound Sterling and the USDollar) has me reconsidering ordering an instrument from him.
I'll apologize for what amounts to an advert, but the guy was so pleasant and the information so good (and the price), that I felt I wanted to pass the word on. I think that Freshwater's effort and involvement deserves a kudo or two.
Thanks, and all the best,
stv
Here's a story about a luthier, offered in good humor and respect, but with no personal nor financial interest in the builder nor the products.
The other day I noticed a Freshwater mandolin in the Cafe Classifieds, and it piqued my interest. I had some nice conversations with the seller and learned about his custom features. I went to the Freshwater website to see what the standard features were, and I filled out an online form to ask about some other features, a theoretical version that I might like.
This morning (only a bit too early after a late night having too much fun playing) the phone rang, and it was David Freshwater calling from Scotland to speak with me about the online form I had submitted. My wonderful wife answered the phone in a complete fog and, thinking that Davy was a Brit friend of ours calling with holiday cheers, she asked him to call back.
She was mistaken about that, but Davy did call back and I just finished a wonderful conversation with him, in which he gave me all sorts of details of luthierie and went thru the (virtual) creation and pricing of an instrument to my specs. I didn't wander far from his basics, but he was cheerfully willing to tailor an instrument to any sort of weirdness I could come up with.
He said that, since his company has concentrated on direct sales rather than keeping their main distribution thru retailers, he's made a point of speaking directly with folks who express interest in his instruments. Nice! Pretty amazing, a mid-day trans-Atlantic call, friendly, relaxed and personal.
There are two features that I am curious about and I have particular ideas about what I'd like. I have spoken with luthiers about nut/fretboard width and body depths. Many luthiers either have one a few standard dimensions of the nut and fretboard widths. Freshwater's necks and fretboards can be made to any dimensions, to fit the player's hands! Davy says that many of his customers are builders who have "big sausage fingers" from their trade, so they need different neck sizes to allow them to play comfortably. On his website Freshwater offers a 'bigger' body depth for all his instruments, and in conversation he told me that, for a mandolin, it amounts to around 60 - 68mm (the latter figure includes the top and back plates' arches, I think).
I've asked and written about deeper bodies for mandolins in other sections here, and luthiers have different views about the math, the aesthetics and the effects of variations in mandolins' body depths. I think a little more depth can be real interesting, but I haven't the $$ to commission all the experiments I'd like to do... <GG> The Freshwater body depth is pretty interesting.
Freshwater had some interesting things to say about tonewoods, and is currently a fan of American Black Walnut for the back and sides of his instruments, for tonal qualities and because it is being sustainably grown and harvested in tonewood grades.
Finally, the price, with my few customizations, a nice case and shipping was a total that I found very competitive and attractive.
I've played a dozen or so Freshwater instruments, here and in Ireland, and I was really only impressed with the top-quality custom ones, and not the more standard ones. This new look at what's possible from Freshwater, and at what price (even given the difference between the Pound Sterling and the USDollar) has me reconsidering ordering an instrument from him.
I'll apologize for what amounts to an advert, but the guy was so pleasant and the information so good (and the price), that I felt I wanted to pass the word on. I think that Freshwater's effort and involvement deserves a kudo or two.
Thanks, and all the best,
stv