Another sample

[Tim Benware]

I think you're right about that Ken. As I think about what I'm listening for (at least at this point in my building career) when I tap my tops and backs are different notes/tones in different spots and length of sustain. If I have a good variation across the board and decent sustain the guitar usually sounds really good to me when finished.

Edit: Also, I think, generally, I do build lighter than the big 3 factory guitars and believe that makes for a better sounding guitar. Maybe?

[Herman]

Tim, To me this guitar sounds great to my ears. So well done again.

I second Ken's comment. I made about 20, and they all are the holy grail! HA!
But serious. I started with the obsession we all know. How to build lighter then others. Consequence of that is that most of my guitars sound great, but over the years they distort in a way that the saddles come to a lowest point. I did not have to reset one, but I'm not confident about that. The last 2 years I am leaving the goal of making of tops as thin as I dare. So I make them now about 0.01" thicker than before. Time will tell.
And to all of those who want a guitar of mine I tell in the first place, they will get a good guitar, but no holy grail. saves alot of disappointment and stress.
2ct Herman

[Jim Ebert]

I had a conversation with James Condino a while back and he told me that his favorite guitar that he has ever play was a lightly built 1937 Martin dread. He went on to say that in his opinion that he would rather have a very lightly built guitar that was amazing but didn't last as long than one that is overly built and not as rewarding to play. I guess it depends on what you are trying to achieve. On my three dreads I am planning on building one on the very light side, one somewhat in the middle and one more on the tight side just to give me a more real world experience and feel for what direction I want to go. So far when I hear a guitar I like and I ask the question, the response has been generally it was built lighter rather than tighter. The one main exception to that was an all mango guitar that was built by Jeffrey Yong that I played. It had great balance and tone but not much volume. While he does everything he can to lighten up the guitar, mango is just a dense heavy wood.