home / music & video / future / schedule / gallery / contact / links
Miniature
Jazz Archtop Guitar
"The Little Mammoth"
Played
by Krispen Hartung
Built by luthier, Bobby Warren
Photos by Thee
Art Of
|
Background The question most everyone asks when they hear about this guitar is, "Now, what made you decide to starting playing miniature guitars?" It is a reasonable question to ask, given the fact that most miniature guitars on the market are either for children or designed as "travel guitars". In either case, these brand name miniatures are typically thought of as instruments that aren't quite up to par of the quality of a professional and full sized guitar. Put simply, there aren't many professional guitarists, if any, who use a miniature guitar as their main axe. Four factors inspired me to convert to miniature electric guitars and ultimately lead me to have a custom archtop built to my specifications by a professional luthier. First, since I was a child, I have always been fascinated and enthralled by miniature things - from the movie The Incredible Shrinking Man and "Twilight Zone" episodes The Little People, The Invaders, and Miniature, to miniature houses, action figures, and microscopic organisms. Miniature instruments were no exception to this personal idiosyncrasies. I also have a miniature sitar, miniature tablas, miniature dumbek, and a miniature nylon string acoustic. The challenge is keeping them away from my 2 1/2 year old twins. Second, though I initially started playing a miniature electric guitar (the Epi "Roadie") because I was attracted to its size, I soon discovered that I was more adept and agile on the guitar because of the smaller scale neck. After all, do you really need all that space between frets on a standard size guitar, when you can put your finger anywhere in between the frets to create a note? Mandolin players are very quick and nimble on their tiny instrument fretboards, so it seemed to me that guitars should not be excluded from this observation and practice. Hence, conservation of necessary fret space let to conservation of movement and energy, which allowed more dexterity on the fretboard (ability to navigate notes on the neck quicker, finger more complex chords that span more frets, etc). Third, contrary to what many guitarists might initially assume, I discovered that the size of my miniature electric guitar did not have a negative impact on tone. In the case of the Epi "Roadie", I replaced the cheap humbucker with a humbucker that was originally in my Gibson ES-335 (the 57' reissue humbucker), and after a fair amount of experimentation with various VST amp simulators and EQ settings, I was able accurately capture the tone that I had produced on my prior standard sized guitars (e.g., PRS Archtop I, PRS McCarty "10 Top", Gibson ES-335, etc). In fact, on my recent CDs where I play the miniature electric, I highly doubt whether anyone would suspect that I was playing a miniature instrument, which would force a preconception of inferior tone. So, if I could get a decent jazz tone on a solid body miniature electric guitar, imagine what I could get with a miniature archtop with better electronics, pickup, and body design. Fourth, as you can guess, it is very easy to travel with a miniature guitar that is only 29 inches long. This instrument will fit into any passenger overhead compartment, even on the small commuter jets where you can't fit most small pieces of luggage into their compartments. In short, the above factors made for a really compelling case for selling all of my standard size electric guitars and converting 100% to miniature electrics. The only exception here is the acoustic guitar. I still own Taylor steel string and nylon string acoustics. I have not found it possible to replace these guitars with miniature acoustic guitars, mainly because the tone of these guitars is primarily driven by the size and hollowness of the guitar, rather than the electronics and subtleties of body design and wood choice. The next question I get regarding the miniature jazz archtop is, "Who did you have build the guitar?" It actually took me only a few seconds to decide who I wanted to build this guitar, but I did go through the motions and sent a few emails out to some well known luthiers to see if they were interested in the project and how much they might charge me to built it. In the end, I wasn't convinced that a well known or famous luthier would be the right choice as the builder of a special guitar like this. I wanted to establish a relationship with the builder in a way that allowed him to fully understand my needs, playing style, and concept for the instrument, yet allowed him creativity of design as an artist. I also wanted someone who didn't build a large number of guitars a year with the help of apprentices, who wasn't going to put me on a wait list, or who built guitars primarily for rich collectors or well known professionals. So, I picked Bobby Warren. Bobby lives on the San Juan Island, North of Seattle, Washington. The reason I picked him, aside from the reasons I state above, is that he built a jazz guitar for John Stowell, one of my favorite jazz guitarists in the world, and when I saw John play in person and had the opportunity to take a few lessons from him, I was impressed with the craftsmanship and tone of the instrument. I knew after talking to John (who is one of the most kind and genuine human beings I have ever met) that Bobby was the guy, and anyone who was friends with John must have that special X-factor I'm looking for in a luthier. So, on Saturday, November 17, I hopped on a plane to Seattle, drove to the ferry terminal at Anacordes, cruised to the San Juan Island, and met Bobby Warren for the first time. We hit it off immediately, and he made plans immediately for us to have fresh grilled oysters (some of the best in the world exported from the island) and salmon at his home, with some great wine and company of his family. The rest is guitar building history! |
|
Guitar Specs
Krispen
Hartung, Brian McFadin, & Jared Hallock Krispen
Hartung & Robert Sterling |
|
Pictures of the Guitar Building Journey
|
