Guitar Store LAUNCHED!

This is likely to be my shortest posting ...

The background to Guitar Store is all about guitar lovers and collectors. Through years of acquaintances I have come to meet guitar lovers of all shapes, sizes and colors. I am really fortunate to meet them and also their guitars. Even more so, some of them have entrusted me with their beloved guitars in repairs, restore and sales as well. For all these, I thank the Lord for His blessings ...

Singapore being a small country but the brand presence of exquisite guitars is certainly not small by any measure. Numerous pre-own guitars can be found on the local forums or classified advertisement medias. The pre-owned guitar market prices are much more competitive than the brand new ones. This has given opportunities to many guitar lovers to get their hands on their "dream guitars" that would have been otherwise unreachable.

A Kent Chasson Built, Cocobolo Back/Sides

Taken from: http://www.chassonguitars.com/images/adam/74_back2.jpg

Over the years, I have witnessed many fine guitars being placed on sales ad. They come and go pretty fast. It might be logical to think that good branded guitars will move fast but ... there are a myriad of factors that can enhance or diminish the sale opportunity. Here are a few I have personally learned through experiences that can lower the chances of a successful sales.

1. Inadequate or inaccurate written information
2. Unrealistic price point
3. Poor visual quality
4. This is a subjective one ... attitude of sellers and buyers

The Guitar Store is set up to sell guitars of course. However I think that taking good pictures of these lovely guitars is just as importance to other success selling factors. More than often, well taken guitar pictures can give hours of viewing pleasure to guitar lovers. It is not unusual for guitar lovers to kinda ogle at beautiful guitar pictures found in the internet.

Sell or not is one thing but I believe good pictures can accentuate the true beauty of each well-built guitar. It is only fair to the Luthiers who have built these guitars to put in adequate effort in capturing the beauty in still frames. While I have done my level best to capture the best sides of the guitars showcased in this store, I am no professional in photography. If you find my shots are not comparable to your personal liking, I apologize herein in advance. You're welcome to drop comments in my blog so that the pictures can become better over time.

I hope my blog's Guitar Store can become one of your frequent visited websites to view beautiful guitar pictures. If things get sold, it is a big bonus to me ... certainly to the willing buyers too.

Visit the Guitar Store by clicking: http://cadam7777777.blogspot.com/p/guitar-store.html

Featured Guitar - the "BLACKIE" by Jeffrey Yong

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. – Scott Adams.

With the creation of every masterpiece, it carries the lessons and mistakes made during the evolution process, likewise in guitar making.

In April 2010, Shun Ng attended Jeffrey Yong's guitar-making course in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and everything changes henceforth.

Shun Ng started playing guitar at the age of 16. Other than with a certain girl who worked in Ben & Jerry store, Shun has never fell so deeply in love; guitar playing. His abilities in translating tunes in his mind onto guitars are unusually advanced. He has progressed with great leaps that astounded most guitar players. I believe you would be too … if you watch this YouTube clip … it was recorded a few years back when he was considered as “not yet mature” in his playing. Imagine now …

The duo has been collaborating well. One loves to build, the other loves to play. The duo often bounced off ideas between themselves and new things will emerge from the bouncing of these ideas. The Blackie, an Artist Model certain fits the bill. Here is a picture of the Blackie.

the "BLACKIE"

I was fortunate to be in touch with this master and I found out something about the Blackie. Here is the story …

Since April 2010, the duo has been in constant contact. Shun loves Jeff Yong guitars and he has been using one for his performances as his main guitar. An immensely talented performer who is young, energetic and passionate. Shun is constantly altering his playing style, reinventing himself, finding new angles, etc. The more he plays it, more ideas got generated. Shun would ask Jeff if this feature that feature was possible and ... on and on ... eventually Jeff decided to build a model for Shun's unique style of playing.

For a stylish, forward-looking and modern emerging artists like Shun, Jeff could not think of a better color than Black to describe his presence. Black became the theme of this new creation. Rewinding the evolution of Blackie ... Shun has desired for a guitar with longer bass string because of his percussive cum bass attack style. Longer bass string means deeper bass tone which is likened to a baritone guitar. Jeff’s responded by proposing a fanned-fretted guitar. It can satisfy Shun’s desire for longer bass string.

Due the frequent use of thumb, Shun has DYI on one of his guitars. He has attempted to scallop the top edge of the guitar neck to create a scalloped cavity for his thumb rest on whilst fretting the bass strings. The outcome wasn’t ideal … Jeff translated this feature onto to the Blackie as well. The thumb scallops have became a standard feature on Jeff's Blackie. Unlike any other guitars, the combination of fanned-frets and thumb scallops were certain like a breath of fresh air in guitar-making.

Enjoy the pictures ... if you want to test drive the Blackie, just visit the Singapore Guitar Show from 3 to 4 Dec 2011, 10am to 6pm daily, at Suntec City Gallery West.

Thanks for viewing!

Jeffrey Yong Guitars Rendezvous @ Tomas Music

Jeff and his freshly made classical

As brief as Jeff’s email, he has arrived in Singapore on the 13 Jan 2011. A few days prior to his arrival Jeff sent me a short email stated his intend to drop by Singapore to take care of some businesses. He suggested to organize a guitar night at some premises. He would like to invite guitar lovers to have the actual "hands-on" experiences with his guitars. Thankfully, Tomas, also the owner of Tomas Music allowed Jeff to have the gathering at his shop. So the rendezvous was set on the 14 Jan 2011.

I met him for breakfast on the 14 Jan 2011 and we chatted about his plans for 2011. It was indeed very interesting because the eventual plan was conceived of a string of unexpected and unwanted external factors. Suffice to say that he has no control over those factors that resulted in the decisions. But what comes after the early disappointment turned out to be a huge blessing instead. Jeff is a man of God. Throughout our conversation he has never stopped praising God for the unexpected and pleasant arrangements that fell into place without much toil and effort required.

For the past few years, Jeff has been participated in the Healdsburg Guitar Festival (http://www.lmii.com/guitarfestival/) held in States. However his application for year 2011 wasn’t successful. As an experienced guitar maker, he was well aware of the opportunities of attending the festival. He made a request to be re-considered but the organizers were very firmed about their stance. He moved on … Things can never be better timed and arranged; in Dec 2010, Jeff completed his last guitar making class of the year for three overseas students. Each one has guitar making ability at  professional levels and one of them a Canadian. (see picture below, middle)

Jeff's last guitar making class in year 2010. They are all guitar makers.

With hopes for Healdsburg gone, Jeff decided to join the Montreal Guitar Show (http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx) in Canada instead. In a breeze, his application to participate as a luthier in the festival was approved, and the usual uncertainties of obtaining visa to enter Canada and States have never been easier. He attributed all these to God’s intervention. The Canadian student has offered to host Jeff during the show. Incidentally, tri-annual Guild of American Luthiers’ Convention (http://www.luth.org/convention/2011/index.htm) is happening in July 2011. These string of events has given Jeff an idea, i.e. to drive from Montreal to Seattle so as to catch both guitar events. The drive is expected to take days so he came out with another idea; to visit any luthiers along the way … that must be a dream for most guitar lovers I reckoned. The eventuality was unexpected and way more interesting than his usual routines at Healdsburg for the past few years. He said; “That can only be God.”

Among all things discussed, Jeff also shared his attitude and thoughts towards guitar making. I vividly recalled the three elements Jeff steadfastly held as the guiding principles as a luthier thus far. They were profound and yet practical,

1. Art

2. Science

3. Craftsmanship

Art

Have anyone got tired of looking at Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, etc? It should be easy for us to agree with at least one of the sports car brands mentioned to qualify as a timeless speed machine. To many people, the iconic Porsche 911 has survived since its inception in 1963. There are many revised models but the basic shapes and forms remain unchanged. It might survive another few decades more. What makes 911 what it is today?

The Iconic 911, launched in 1963

Taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Porsche_911E_ca_1969.jpg

Jeff stresses that to make a guitar aesthetically pleasing, guitar makers should pay close attention in matching the shapes and forms. While there are certain shapes that go well together, there are those that repel. He said that guitar is a three-dimensional article and it possesses area and depth as well. It would be a pity to ignore this art form and simply glue all the wood parts together and hope for the best. Imagine a Martin headstock without rounded corners on a Gibson SJ200 ... During the infancy stages of Jeff's guitar-making career he has studied the shapes and forms of those guitars considered as timeless by most guitar players and lovers. While these intrinsic values are never written in black and white, he is able to discern the importance of this aspect. Following his intuition, it led him to create the OM and JJ models which have been proven successful among guitar players and lovers. Jeff said that people don’t just like any shapes that are made into a guitar. You need to make something people would be able to appreciate.

Do you like all the three guitars below? (See pictures below)

Exhibit A

Taken from: http://www.edroman.com/featured/images/damien2.jpg

Exhibit B

Taken from: http://www.zemaitis.net/images/acoustic-guitar-Z-SJHW12.jpg

Exhibit C

Taken from: http://www.mveducation.com/assets/products/42110_l.jpg

Science

Science is about discovery and evidence. Both aspects must logically support each other. However, love for music and playing is led by intuition which has absolutely zero logical properties in it. Nevertheless, I shall attempt to summarize the abundance knowledge shared by Jeff.

Passion can drive anyone to do things but it does't automatically deliver results. A guitar maker can lose hope when his work is plagued by numerous rejections. Even thousand of hours are spent to build a guitar, it doesn't guarantee quality. Ignoring information and knowledge regarding guitars is setting up an impending failure. Guitar makers are as much a scientist as an artist.

A guitar plan

Taken from: http://ultimate-guitar-building.com/wp-content/uploads/jumbo12plan.jpg

Tone is sound to any laymen; guitar makers ought to understand the basic principles of sound generation. Guitars are mostly made of wood; guitar makers should be conversant in the acoustic properties and behavior of various woods. Finishing a guitar requires careful mixing of lacquer and other compound; a guitar maker needs to understand the outcome of certain mixes proportion. Removing materials of braces is to manipulate the stiffness of the top and back plates, a guitar maker is required to internalize to intricacies of this process. While the players feel the guitars’ playability, guitar makers are supposed to produce consistencies in this aspect by controlling the related yet minute dimensions on the guitar. Tools and machines are needed to trim and sand while making a guitar, the maker cannot afford to be ignorant to the limitations of these tools and machines. In a nutshell, guitar makers are expected to blend all these knowledge and apply with discernment during the making process.

Craftsmanship

It would be hard pressed to expect a good guitar from someone who is unable to glue parts together in alignment, or a person who doesn’t know the use of a file, a planer, trimmer, etc. Jeff emphasizes on craftsmanship as the glue that blends both aspects of art and science, transforming the desired intrinsic values into executable work.

Typical wood work

Taken from: http://www.clima.net.cn/Files/dengcong/StretchFilm/Woodworking.jpg

More care is expected

Taken from: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4919635631_d5d73636ef.jpg

Is a guitar maker also a wood-worker or vice versa? Jeff often uses wood-workers as comparison because of the apparent closeness between the two in many ways. While the two has many parallels, the critical difference lies in attention to detail. A wood-worker can glue two pieces of wood together but a guitar maker will book match the wood grains. When making a dovetail join, a wood worker relies on shims to marry the joints but a guitar maker goes for precision. A wood-worker will sand all corners to similar roundness but a guitar maker knows where should stay sharp where to round off. To trim away excess wood, a wood-worker uses just about any tools that will deliver the fastest results but a guitar maker will use specific tools to achieve completion. When smoothening a wood surface, a wood-worker will use any available sand paper to complete the job but a guitar maker will use a succession of grits grades to obtain a fine finish. When finishing with lacquer, wood-workers would apply coats of lacquer without the knowledge of the composition of the lacquer to volatile fluid but a guitar maker is well aware the composition and the purposes. This should sum up Jeff’s sentiments on craftsmanship.

In summary, the conversation I had with Jeff was extremely rewarding as I have learn abundantly from this man of God the essence of guitar making. In fact, the three elements are very much relevant to anyone who strives for excellence in life. If you manage get to this point, a big thanks for reading.

Pictures taken at Jeff Guitars Rendezvous. Here goes,

Arrived at Roxy Square. It has indeed changed a lot since my last visit ... 

Entrance of Roxy Square

The load ...

Finally, at Tomas Music

Jeremy wasted no time. Digging in ...

Jeff has an apprentice now ...

Jeff's apprentice far left, his parents chatting with Jeff

Shun and his friends ... jamming ...

More ...

More ...

Learning from each other ...

They will play guitar at any place they can find ...

These youth are good at it and they love it too!

At about 2300hrs, we concluded this guitar rendezvous. It was pleasant gathering that was filled with numerous exchange of ideas and knowledge, all driven by the passion for guitars and music. On behalf of the guitar community here, a great thanks to Jeff for sharing his passion for guitars with us. Also not forgetting Tomas Music's generosity in allowing this gathering. Many thanks to the owner of Tomas Music, Tomas and his staff who assisted in many ways that night. God Blesses!

Guitars of Jeff Yong

Dear Guitar Lovers,

I believe the Singapore Guitar Show has allowed some unique guitars to be showcased to this guitar community. Instead of the BIG brands we are usually exposed to, the show has created immense amount of opportunities for Luthiers to demonstrate their skills and appreciation of arts extroverted by the guitars made by them. Those who stepped into the show should have seen Jeff Yong's guitars. If one spends some time to understand his guitars, one will realize the uniqueness of Jeff's wood selection. Generally, we can recognize spruce, cedar, rosewood, mahogany, koa, etc as choice wood for guitar making. These woods are generally native in North America and Europe but we are well aware that in tropical regions, there are abundance of woods too but why tropical woods are not being considered as choice woods for guitar making like their mentioned counterparts? I am quite sure the opinions are going to be divided. Suffice to say that wood selection has something to do with accessibility and convenience and Jeff's choice of tone wood is anything but usual.

Being a friend (also a past student) to Jeff, I have many opportunities to learn from this master regarding wood and construction of guitars. They are intricately intertwined and cannot be separated when comes to evaluation of guitars' worth in various aspects. As inseparable as they are, the myth surrounding tonewood, i.e. being the sole influence of the resulting guitar tone is inevitably put to the test but not debunked as yet. So the mystery of tonewood is still lingering on ... I think it will be around for some time.

Skillfully, Jeff is able to put together a guitar which allows the wood grains to shine and the tonal properties of the wood to sing. It is hard to attribute that the smokey, sweet, balanced, chimmie tone of his guitars to just the choice of wood or purely the constructs. The blending of these two awareness and knowledge is the key to his guitar characteristics. No forgetting to emphasize his ability to identify from wood stumps those mesmerizing wood grains and patterns that will eventually become head tuners when they are transformed into guitars. I have to say that it is a gift not possess by any regular tom, dick or harry.

He has entrusted to me two very beautiful guitars. As like any exhibitions, the compounded noise within the hall didn't do justice to all the guitars. In his intention to let interested guitar players to truly appreciate his guitars, he has offered to anyone who wishes to try them and eventually to find a suitable buyer for the two guitars. A JJ model, spruce/angsana BS and a OM model, bearclawed spruce/monkey pod BS. More wonderful guitars are featured in his website: http://www.gimmusic.com/luthier.htm

Each is priced at MY $15,000 ringgit. I will let the pictures talk.

The JJ, Spruce Top / Narra (A.k.a. Angsana) BS model

The OM, Bearclawed Spruce / Monkey Pod (Pithecebium saman, Rain Tree) BS model

 Contact me if you're keen!