In Newsletter #3 I featured The Loon Guitar, an instrument I built over 40 years ago. It had a hard life and came back to me in need of serious help. I replaced the back, and retrofitted the top with a goatskin resonator, bringing it back to life in a unique fashion. Here's the "before and after" images:
The original instrument is on the left, in pristine, new condition (circa 1979 or 80). On the right is the instrument in its current state, with added goatskin resonator, floating bridge and adjustable tailpiece. This new incarnation also has a beautiful, new flamed maple back, and the sides have been stained black.
Currently I have it in a modified banjo tuning, with the guitar low E (6th-string) swapped out for a banjo 5th-string, to use as the high drone/thumb string required in traditional 5-string banjo playing styles. The remaining 5 strings are from a standard classical guitar set (Aquila Ambra, in this case, and that high thumb-string is from an Aquila Classic Banjo set). So it really is a unique sound: a guitar body with a banjo-type resonator and gut-like nylon strings, in a banjo tuning with an added low bass string. It can also be set up like a standard 6-string guitar, though that requires a different bridge for correct intonation.
Materials include: western red cedar top (with newly added goatskin!); birdseye maple sides (original); flamed Big Leaf maple back (new); mahogany neck; rosewood fingerboard; acacia tailpiece; Schaller tuning pegs.
The Loon Goatar
Goatskin resonator guitar/banjo hybrid
built @ 1979/1980 Rebuilt/restored 2021
In Newsletter #3 I featured The Loon Guitar, an instrument I built over 40 years ago. It had a hard life and came back to me in need of serious help. I replaced the back, and retrofitted the top with a goatskin resonator, bringing it back to life in a unique fashion. Here's the "before and after" images:
Currently I have it in a modified banjo tuning, with the guitar low E (6th-string) swapped out for a banjo 5th-string, to use as the high drone/thumb string required in traditional 5-string banjo playing styles. The remaining 5 strings are from a standard classical guitar set (Aquila Ambra, in this case, and that high thumb-string is from an Aquila Classic Banjo set). So it really is a unique sound: a guitar body with a banjo-type resonator and gut-like nylon strings, in a banjo tuning with an added low bass string. It can also be set up like a standard 6-string guitar, though that requires a different bridge for correct intonation.
Materials include: western red cedar top (with newly added goatskin!); birdseye maple sides (original); flamed Big Leaf maple back (new); mahogany neck; rosewood fingerboard; acacia tailpiece; Schaller tuning pegs.
Check out how it sounds in this video: