Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of Brian Moss's Guitar: The Raven
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@damian sometimes I tell my employees, “I can’t tell you what greatness is, but when you’re doing it...I’ll let you know”
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@damian In guitar making, you are dealing will once living beings. Wood is organic and no two pieces of wood are perfectly alike, even if cut from the same tree. Some woods are less dense, some are stronger, and that can make certain species of woods ideal for guitar making. All woods, however, will follow the laws of physics. All objects, including plates of wood, will resonate at certain or multiple frequencies based on the many unique properties of those woods and wood in general. And you can make that piece of wood slightly thinner and it will complete change its resonant frequencies.
I could really go on forever about this, but basically I think that if you pay attention to these properties and measure them very carefully throughout each step of the process, you can begin to control the end result more and more. I’ll never know if it is truly going to “work”, or what perfectly working really means, but I can guarantee that with each build that I am heading in the right direction of maximizing a woods potential to move and create sound.
This takes a lot of planning, time, and research (and a lot of math!). When you have to make a guitar that costs $90, you have to make hundreds in a week, and so this sort of thinking is the last thing on your agenda. Even $1000+ guitars, you just cant afford the cost doing all these extra steps to maximize each guitars potential.
Now I will say that sometimes all the stars align and a factory will produce a guitar that sounds AMAZING! All the woods were cut and manipulated just right and they all ended up on the same guitar. Of course, this sort of thing is incredibly rare and more often that, many guitars are produced that don’t work very well , or even close to their maximum potential. In my opinion, that is just a lot of wasted wood.
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Oh you know exactly which parts…
I’m a sucker for that guitar played clean…songs like Hollywood, Sweet, Legend, and recently Radio.
Brian coming out solo and playing The Man was pretty special for me.
The Postman peak at the end is always amazing - Brian will bend what I think is the highest note of the song, and then shortly after he will go higher… and then higher.
I always enjoy the intro to Ain’t that Wrong.
Alternate ending…al of it
Beautiful day - when Brian comes in heavy on the solo. I guess that applies to many songs...When the crowd feeds off the band and vice versa, it really shows in Brian’s playing. It's also great to see Brian really put his whole body into playing that guitar. We all know Brian’s dance moves and when he’s really having a blast up on stage.
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Ok I have to go! I have to go teach a class now. This has been really great for me and I hope for you all as well. I'm so sorry if I didn't get to your question, but I absolutely will pick up where I left of either tonight or later this week. Thank you all! Bye for now...
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@andrewthomas thank you for an excellent reply. Very very cool.
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@RadiantDarkness what show was that? I'd like to add it to the show notes for that show. Seems an important part of 'spaffistory.'
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@damian said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
@RadiantDarkness what show was that? I'd like to add it to the show notes for that show. Seems an important part of 'spaffistory.'
I remember listening to that show on Archive ... I want to say it was a holiday show, a Halloween or New Years...?
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@andrewthomas thanks for chatting with us, man!
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@damian 2/20/15 was the first show that Brian played this guitar. I believe Jordan also debuted a new bass that night.
Here he is showing it off before the show:
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@Frito-Pie said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
@damian 2/20/15 was the first show that Brian played this guitar. I believe Jordan also debuted a new bass that night.
Here he is showing it off before the show:
My god @andrewthomas that thing is an absolute work of art.
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THIS WAS AWESOME!
