David Martin wrote: So what do you think?
Many thanks for posting these files, David, and for giving us the opportunity to hear this guitar for the first time. So you ask what I think ?
I have always held reservations about using sound files posted on these forums to compare one sound against another; there are too many variables and everybody inevitably hears things differently. In fact, even posting a sound file to try to exhibit the tonal characteristics of an instrument are fraught with issues simply because so much depends upon what additional amplification equipment we might all use, what environment we might use it in and, once again, how well we hear the sample in the first place.
As you have used 'Hank extracted' backing tracks to produce these samples, I am making the assumption that it was your intention to ask us to compare the sound of this guitar on these files against the original Shadows' recordings. If that is the benchmark you are setting, then my honest opnion is that what I am hearing is no nearer to the original sound than that exhibited by many of the other excellent alternatives posted on these boards over the years. There are too many differences to single out here, so I'll just say that if I were to use these samples as the basis of the critical judgement upon which to go out and buy this guitar in order to obtain 'That Sound' then I would not be making the purchase. But as you so eloquently wrote in your 'Which Sound' thread " it's your ideal which is most important. When you are happy with your sound the job is done... you will never get everyone to agree that you have "that sound" because there is no, one, single sound which is "right"".
If the intention of these files is to simply exhibit the quality of the instrument's tone, then the results are pleasing, but not spectacular. But then again, what kind of sound I would achieve using this guitar with my equipment, in my environment, would be totally different. So the whole exercise is very subjective. I would, of course, have been able to make a better assessment of the sound of this guitar on its own merits had I heard it with a backing track that I could replicate - which is why I would have preferred the use of something like UBHank.
But there is much, much more to this package than sound alone. I hope my track record is proof that I have been, and remain, supportive of the project to produce this guitar. So like Alan I am not writing this with any feelings of jealousy nor criticism of the package as a whole. Indeed, from what I have heard from the lucky owners of these guitars, they are truly wonderful instruments and iconic mementos of the Shadows' era. I hope that they give those who have one, and those who are yet to buy one, a lot of pleasure from their ownership over the years.
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:39 am
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