GardMan
Enlightened Member
Well, I just finished writing my final exam, delivered it to the office for copying. I’ve got 3 hrs before I do a 2 hr Q&A review for my students... don’t have the motivation to do any useful work around the lab, so I thought I would post some pics and commentary re: my “new” old D-46... as I promised I would back in October.
As I had mentioned in another thread, I had been watching this particular ‘81 D-46 at Nothing New Music on Gbase since at least last January... contacted them a couple times by e-mail about it’s condition and trying to negotiate a price, w/o success... So I ended up buying my ‘92 D-55, instead. But, I never gave up hope on getting the D-46, and checked a couple times a month to make sure it hadn’t sold. Sometime in late summer, NNM dropped the price ~$200... putting it within my price range (less $$$ than what I had offered them the first time around!)... but I was in a self imposed embargo (letting my wife cool off a bit from my D-55 purchase). My plan was to wait until after the holidays, then go for it... But sometime in September it sold. Oh well...
Imagine my surprise/delight/concern when it popped up on eBay less than a month later... I immediately recognized the grain pattern in the ash back. The seller assured me all was well structurally and sonically... he just was lusting after something else. He also revealed that it had suffered some denting from a loose bridge pin during shipping from NNM, which he had had repaired, and confirmed some minor-to-moderate checking of the NC finish.
After sweating it ‘til the last day of the auction... I finally broached the subject with Anne. She didn’t threaten divorce, so I bid, and got it for $20 over my opening bid... towards the high end of D-46 sales on eBay, but >$400 less than what it had originally been listed for by NNM. I spent the next week sweating out its arrival.
When I opened the case... she was just as described. The ash grain of the back/sides/neck is striking, to say the least... and really sets off the rosewood centerpiece. The finish checking is less than on my D-55 (some of you may remember THAT story), the dents were repaired nicely (covered and buffed... noticeable only on close inspection). There is one obvious ding on the front... but all my dreads have at least one of those “beauty marks.” I re-strung her with JP 80/20 lights... and had to relieve the truss a bit to eliminate some back bow of the neck (don’t know what gauge the original strings were). Action's great, with plenty of saddle left. She sounded fine from the start, but the nut was a bit high... and had been shimmed (?), the saddle material was unknown, and the intonation was off a bit. So the next weekend I dropped her off at the local shop for a new bone nut and compensated bone saddle ($85 total), and I ordered a set of black horn w gold pearl bridge pins from Gordon Orth ($45). Here's what she looks like...
She's been my main player for the last month... as I experimented with string gauges (PBs or 80/20s), and learned how she played and sounded. Her neck has a nice profile... feels a little wider than on my D-35, G-37, and D-55, but not as thick as my D-25s (tho’ the nut measures the same on all, the string spacing on the D-46 is a smidge greater than the others). Her neck has a nice slick feel... so she's an easy player, after the new nut. The compensated bridge substantially improved intonation. So... how does she sound, compared to my other four dreads?
With JP 80/20s on it (my string of choice for most my dreads), she's definitely a bright one... nicely balanced across its range, with sparkling highs and good solid lows, and perhaps biased a little towards the mid-range. After a couple weeks, I upped the 5th (A) and 6th (low E) strings to mediums (sort of a bastardized bluegrass gauge), which equalized them a bit more with the 4th (D; which I left “light”). She's surprisingly mellow when fingerpicked (I pick with bare nails) and nicely jangly when strummed (great for many of my cowboy tunes). Compared to the others...
She's brighter and has more sparkle... a more “edgy” sound... than my “majestic” sounding D-55, and isn’t as smooth as my maple G-37.
While she doesn’t have the bass of the D-55's rosewood, hers bass is nice and punchy, and holds whether finger picked or strummed (my G-37 has a nice bass when fingerpicked, but tends to break down when strummed).
She's got a fuller, richer sound than my D-35. If anything, she's closest in tone to my arched-back D-25, but is more balanced across the range, with brighter highs than the D-25.
She's got nice sustain (not as long as my D-25, longer than the D-35 and G-37?), and has similar “presence,” in terms of volume and projection, as my D-25 and D-55.
Is she the “perfect” guitar (as stated by a review on Harmony Central)? No... not really (if she was, I’d have no excuse to look for another!). On the other hand, she's definitely a keeper... covering a nice range of styles, from the mellower ballads/folksy tunes to edgier cowboy/bluesy tunes, whether picked or strummed, without sounding out of place. I wouldn’t be surprised she holds on to her place as my main player, even after the “newness” factor wears off...
Here she is (2nd from right) with all her sisters:
Note to Hans: if you happen to read this, note the distinct difference in color of the spruce top of my '74 G-37Bld (2nd from left), compared to the other spruce NTs from the '70s-'90s. It's much more "amber"... is this typical of the "Bld" finish? ...natural variation? or could it have also gotten amber finish on the top? Thx, Dave
As I had mentioned in another thread, I had been watching this particular ‘81 D-46 at Nothing New Music on Gbase since at least last January... contacted them a couple times by e-mail about it’s condition and trying to negotiate a price, w/o success... So I ended up buying my ‘92 D-55, instead. But, I never gave up hope on getting the D-46, and checked a couple times a month to make sure it hadn’t sold. Sometime in late summer, NNM dropped the price ~$200... putting it within my price range (less $$$ than what I had offered them the first time around!)... but I was in a self imposed embargo (letting my wife cool off a bit from my D-55 purchase). My plan was to wait until after the holidays, then go for it... But sometime in September it sold. Oh well...
Imagine my surprise/delight/concern when it popped up on eBay less than a month later... I immediately recognized the grain pattern in the ash back. The seller assured me all was well structurally and sonically... he just was lusting after something else. He also revealed that it had suffered some denting from a loose bridge pin during shipping from NNM, which he had had repaired, and confirmed some minor-to-moderate checking of the NC finish.
After sweating it ‘til the last day of the auction... I finally broached the subject with Anne. She didn’t threaten divorce, so I bid, and got it for $20 over my opening bid... towards the high end of D-46 sales on eBay, but >$400 less than what it had originally been listed for by NNM. I spent the next week sweating out its arrival.
When I opened the case... she was just as described. The ash grain of the back/sides/neck is striking, to say the least... and really sets off the rosewood centerpiece. The finish checking is less than on my D-55 (some of you may remember THAT story), the dents were repaired nicely (covered and buffed... noticeable only on close inspection). There is one obvious ding on the front... but all my dreads have at least one of those “beauty marks.” I re-strung her with JP 80/20 lights... and had to relieve the truss a bit to eliminate some back bow of the neck (don’t know what gauge the original strings were). Action's great, with plenty of saddle left. She sounded fine from the start, but the nut was a bit high... and had been shimmed (?), the saddle material was unknown, and the intonation was off a bit. So the next weekend I dropped her off at the local shop for a new bone nut and compensated bone saddle ($85 total), and I ordered a set of black horn w gold pearl bridge pins from Gordon Orth ($45). Here's what she looks like...
She's been my main player for the last month... as I experimented with string gauges (PBs or 80/20s), and learned how she played and sounded. Her neck has a nice profile... feels a little wider than on my D-35, G-37, and D-55, but not as thick as my D-25s (tho’ the nut measures the same on all, the string spacing on the D-46 is a smidge greater than the others). Her neck has a nice slick feel... so she's an easy player, after the new nut. The compensated bridge substantially improved intonation. So... how does she sound, compared to my other four dreads?
With JP 80/20s on it (my string of choice for most my dreads), she's definitely a bright one... nicely balanced across its range, with sparkling highs and good solid lows, and perhaps biased a little towards the mid-range. After a couple weeks, I upped the 5th (A) and 6th (low E) strings to mediums (sort of a bastardized bluegrass gauge), which equalized them a bit more with the 4th (D; which I left “light”). She's surprisingly mellow when fingerpicked (I pick with bare nails) and nicely jangly when strummed (great for many of my cowboy tunes). Compared to the others...
She's brighter and has more sparkle... a more “edgy” sound... than my “majestic” sounding D-55, and isn’t as smooth as my maple G-37.
While she doesn’t have the bass of the D-55's rosewood, hers bass is nice and punchy, and holds whether finger picked or strummed (my G-37 has a nice bass when fingerpicked, but tends to break down when strummed).
She's got a fuller, richer sound than my D-35. If anything, she's closest in tone to my arched-back D-25, but is more balanced across the range, with brighter highs than the D-25.
She's got nice sustain (not as long as my D-25, longer than the D-35 and G-37?), and has similar “presence,” in terms of volume and projection, as my D-25 and D-55.
Is she the “perfect” guitar (as stated by a review on Harmony Central)? No... not really (if she was, I’d have no excuse to look for another!). On the other hand, she's definitely a keeper... covering a nice range of styles, from the mellower ballads/folksy tunes to edgier cowboy/bluesy tunes, whether picked or strummed, without sounding out of place. I wouldn’t be surprised she holds on to her place as my main player, even after the “newness” factor wears off...
Here she is (2nd from right) with all her sisters:
Note to Hans: if you happen to read this, note the distinct difference in color of the spruce top of my '74 G-37Bld (2nd from left), compared to the other spruce NTs from the '70s-'90s. It's much more "amber"... is this typical of the "Bld" finish? ...natural variation? or could it have also gotten amber finish on the top? Thx, Dave
