Friday, September 26, 2014

The All Souls Guitar Looks Amazing

Posted By on Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 10:00 AM

all_souls_guitar_2014.jpg

This is the second year that some smart and creative folks have designed and built a guitar to support the All Souls Procession - remember that the Procession happens entirely from donations, no sponsors or government support - and considering the work (by DJ Odious, Doc Hudson Guitars and Moises Orozco) that went into this stunning thing, the $5 it costs to get into the raffle seems like a bargain.

Tech stuff for people who have some idea what this stuff means, from the raffle's website:

Solid Mahogany body — hand-rolled fretboard — Flamed Maple 24 3/4″ scale Neck — Medium jumbo frets — Grover style tuning machines — GFS Power Rail humbucking Pickups (15.8K bridge and 10K neck) — Top-loading Hardtail Bridge — CTS Pots — Sprauge Orange-Drop tone Capacitor — Switchcraft Jack.

More info from the guitar's builder, Simon Davenport, via Facebook:

I spent the afternoon test-driving the thing through a two-channel tube amp and a 2X12 speaker cab. As gorgeous as it LOOKS - it sounds and plays even better. There were times while building it that I wished I'd gone with basswood for the body instead of mahogany. Its lighter and MUCH easier to work (its a softer wood, closed cell structure, with similar tonal characteristics) but having played it I'm glad I didn't! I played, blues, rock, pop, jazz, even (forgive me!) "Smoke on the Water". It handled all of them with ease. I didn't try country or death metal - not genres I've spent any time with. The overwound pick-ups LOVE an overdriven amp - sustains forever. Stick it in the clean channel and its clear, warm, and articulate (also with great sustain) with a nice balance between the bridge and neck pickups. Even rolling the tone all the way down it refused to get muddy. The maple bolt-on neck even lets you pull a nice Fender-like quack that makes me think it'd work fine for country - It'd be interesting to see that! But I built it, so I'm not exactly an unbiased opinion - I'm looking forward to other guitarists playing it and getting their views.

Tickets go on sale this weekend, with the winner announced at the Dance of the Dead event at the Rialto on November 9. You can pick up tickets at PopCycle, Borderlands Brewing, Tucson Thrift Shop, 5 Points Market and at various events around town. Follow the raffle on Facebook for more info.

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