Check out my new petersen om

[Newtdude]

A few months ago I emailed Bill Petersen and asked him if he could make a OM for me with a cedar top and rosewood back and sides. #He said he could, and in fact had just started one!

Today he sent me a photo of the finished product -#I think it looks outstanding!! #The peghead, rosette, and tailpiece are all burled redwood, and the binding is curly maple. #I chose diamonds for the fret markers, instead of the standard dot, and the inlay on the tailpiece is a salamander I sketched. #(I'm a biologist, and study salamanders.) #I should say about the inlay: I was very indecisive and difficult to work with, but Bill was GREAT with me, very understanding and patient.

I'd expect with a cedar top and rosewood back that the OM should really rumble on the bass end, and be less bright on the high end than you'd get with a spruce top. #But we'll see (or, hear) when I get it. #I'm currently living in Sweden, but I should be able to get it when I fly home to the US for Christmas.

Overall, working the Bill Petersen to design this OM was a great experience, and really fun.

[Danny Packer]

Nice. I really like the burled look. Congrats. Play it in good health.

danny

[mandolooter]

That oughta help ya tame the wild salamanders! Very nice!

[steve V. johnson]

Wonderful! Congratulations!

Yes, the burls and the bindings are really lovely!

My Crump zouk is cedar/rosewood, new in '03, and when it was new it was very bassy, but over time that has calmed down. For a good time the mids were very prominent and in the last year the trebles have come up, become really lovely, shimmery. I think that it could be said that this one doesn't have the 'snap' attack transient of a fine spruce top, but I'm fine with that, to the extent that it's true.

So I think that cedar tops (and whole instruments) really do change over time, and, in my case, with a lot of playing time.
I really like the cedar/rosewood combination.

Congratulations again on a wonderful looking instrument, kudos to Mr Petersen on a job well done, and to echo Danny P,
may you play it long, well, joyfully, and in good health!

stv

[otterly2k]

Yeah... what they said.

Beautiful!

[Celtic Saguaro]

It's a beauty! I'm sure you can't wait till it arrives.

[stevebenn]

We should start a thread on herpetologists that play OMs ... of course it might just be the two of us!

Nice instrument and I lovbe the salamander inlay.

steve

[scgc.om]

Sorry . . . I'm lost . . . ! Where on the instrument is the salamander???

[Bill Snyder]

Tail piece cover.

[steve V. johnson]

When I first came to Bloomington I met a couple who had two aquariums, one with two axolotls, one pink with feathered gills, the other black with tiny white spots spread far apart. The other tank had a mottled brown/earthtones salamander of some sort. I didn't care about that one, tho, I was really taken with the other two.

I've never seen any axolotls kept privately since, and very few others.

Wonderful critters. Amazing.

Emm... sorry... back to instruments!

stv

[JeffD]

Enjoy!

[groveland]

William Gaines' Mad Magazine in the 1960's made frequent references to axolotls, potrezebies, and framistans. What's more, another cartoonist from the 60's, R. Crumb, played banjo, but was not known to play bouzouki. #However, Phil Crump actually makes bouzoukis. But if that wasn't weird enough, I am actually in Chicago at this moment, which is not far from Bloomington.



<span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>edit: Added appropriate emoticon for clarification.</span>

[Newtdude]

Hey guys... yes, I think herpetologists that play an OM is a pretty small niche! #I tried to draw the inlay to look like a newt (which is a kind of salamander). #Here's a geeky detail: #you can tell the inlay is a salamander and not a lizard because it only has four toes in the front. # I must say I really like axolotls, too.

Thank you Steve for tell us about your cedar/rosewood OM!! #Now I'm even more excited to start playing mine, and breaking it in. #Oh boy oh boy oh boy..... !

[steve V. johnson]

Yer've made my day, Groveland!

potrezebie! I remember so well.

Shaw, the four-toe device is splendid! Well done! Code...

Play, play, play. Enjoy,

stv