My New Beard OM

[luthierseye]

I've had it a week now and I really love it! I had Richard Beard build me a 19" OM of Bubinga, Spruce, mahogany neck and maple binding. His instruments are a bit larger than some, maybe most. The body width is 15", body length is 16-1/2",the depth is 3-3/4 at its deepest. So this leads me to believe that body size and wood choice affects fullness and volume more than scale length. His craftsmanship is absolutely awesome and he is very easy to work with. This body size gives a very full sound with great volume. He invited me up 8 or 10 weeks ago to "test drive" one he had ready for someone else-I was hooked. Thanks to all who mentioned Beard instruments on this forum the past year-that's how I learned of him. This OM, more than any other I've played, fits my playing style & music genre; I am very pleased.

[Marty Jacobson]

That is a beautiful instrument made from beautiful wood. Bubinga is one of my favorites to work with and to look at. Nice bee's wing figuring going on there.

What kind of strings do you have on it? 19" scale is a really fun scale length, reach-wise, but there isn't a standard set for it that I know of.

[luthierseye]

Thanks, I like the Bubinga too; and it sounds great. And the hand cut bridge is really neat as well.The strings it came with were PB 12-22-34-47(not a std set). I'm considering bumping the 47 up to 50-the string tension calculator has the 50 @ 18.46 lbs so it's still not excessive. And I might play with the 22. Any suggestions on string guage? Oh, and it came with a beautiful HSC from Cedar Creek.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I was hapy to spread the word about Richard and continue to do so. I have had three of Richard's fine instruments: a 24" Scale Irish Bouzouki - Koa, a 25" Scale Cittern - Koa, and a 21" Scale OM - also Koa - the three could have been sisters...

[Bob Clark]

Hi Luthierseye,

Beautiful! I hope you get a lot of pleasure from it.

I use Thomastic 174W light strings on my 18.5" OM. They play and sound great. I'm happy with those. Please keep us posted if you try other gauges. I'm always curious to learn about others' string choices.