This review could also carry the headline: ”Tanglewood brings vintage to the masses”. Tanglewood’s Sundance Historic guitars have been designed to give you plenty of that ”pre-war” charm at very player-friendly prices. Take the two models on review, for example, which have price tags well below 700 Euros, despite even coming with on-board Fishman pickups and preamps!
The TW40O-AN-E and the TW40D-AN-E are both quite reminiscent of certain legendary Martin-models from the 1930s and 40s.
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The Tanglewood TW40O–AN-E (current price in Finland 673 €) is the Sundance Historic series’ version of a Martin OM-18 model – the first Martin steel-string acoustic to feature a neck joint at the 14th fret when it was introduced in the Thirties.
Tanglewood’s TW40D-AN-E (673 €) is a tip of the hat to Martin’s D-18, which is the most copied, most referenced steel-string of all time. Even Gibson went out and bought a Martin in 1960, so they could use it to reverse engineer their own Hummingbird and Dove models.
Both of these models can also be had without the pickup system for 598 Euros each.
The necks of the TW40O and the TW40D have been built in the traditional fashion employed on classical guitars:
The neck is a one-piece mahogany affair – headstock and all – save for a separate, glued-on neck heel.
The bodies are crafted using solid spruce tops and laminated mahogany rims and backs.
The ”AN” in the model designation hints at the beautiful Antique Natural finish of these Historic Series instruments.
The nut is genuine bovine bone.
The machine heads are very decent copies of 1930s open-geared Grovers. They do a great job of keeping the tuning stable, but their action is a little bit stiffer than what you’re used to with modern die-cast tuners.
The slender and small frets fit the vintage brief of the TW40O and TW40D to a tee.
Here’s a good example of how different two pieces of rosewood can look:
The reviewed TW40O-AN-E’s bridge is a nicely-grained light example…
…while the dreadnought carries a much darker counterpart.
The compensated bridge saddle is genuine bone on both instruments.
Both Sundance Historics have been equipped with a Fishman Sonitone pickup and preamp.
The piezo transducer sits beneath the bridge saddle and feeds its signal to the preamp – featuring master volume and master tone controls – that has been glued to the underside of the soundhole’s bass side edge. The Sonitone is powered by a 9 V battery, which is stowed away in its own pouch that is velcro’d to the neck block. The downside is that changing the battery is a much more involved affair than with a quick change battery compartment, but the advantage of this Fishman system is that it doesn’t spoil the guitar’s looks.
Both Tanglewoods sport an end pin output jack.
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The care that has quite obviously gone into building these two Tanglewood Sundance Historic guitars really puts a smile on your face. The workmanship is clean and precise, and both instruments look more expensive than they really are.
Even though both guitars are from the 500-800 Euro price bracket, Tanglewood have gone the extra mile to match the wood grain on the sides of both guitars. The tops of the shoulders look bookmatched.
The vintage brief extends to more than simple cosmetics on the TW40O-AN-E:
Vintage OM-guitars (OM stands for Orchestra Model) are known for their slightly wider necks with soft V-profiles. You will also often find a slightly wider string spacing at the bridge, which makes fingerstyle playing much easier.
Tanglewood has used these vintage specifications for their Sundance Historic OM:
The neck has a very nice, soft V-profile, with a width at the top nut of 46 mm. The low E to top e spacing at the bridge is a very comfy 58 mm, which is good news for fingerpickers, working equally well with a plectrum.
The TW40O plays like a dream with a nice set-up on our review sample (string height at the 12th fret: bass-E – 2.1 mm/treble-e – 1.9 mm).
There a lot of debate about the pros and cons of solid backs in acoustic guitars. Some claim that a solid back is almost as important as a solid top in a steel-string acoustic, while others point to the use of laminated backs in the legendary Selmer-Maccaferri guitars (and newer exponents of the Gypsy Jazz genre) or to the great sound of arched-back vintage Guilds.
My own position in this debate is that most (but not all) guitars with laminated backs a bit quieter and drier-sounding than their all-solid brethren. Nevertheless, I feel that a solid top and an overall well-crafted instrument are much more important to the sound as a whole.
An OM-sized steel-string will have a ”sweeter”, less bass-heavy tone than a Dreadnought of similar build, which is due in large part to its smaller and differently-shaped body.
Tanglewood’s TW40O has the trademark OM-sound – the guitar’s voice is open and well-balanced, with a projection akin to that of a Dreadnought, and it is very easy to record and place in a mix.
These two clips have been recorded with a pair of Shure SM57 microphones:
Fishman’s Sonitone system is a decent and easy-to-use choice to amplify your guitar on stage with the least amount of hassle:
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The original aims in designing the Dreadnought were the need for more volume and a fatter bass register. At first Martin’s D-models were aimed squarely at the ”singing cowboys”, which were so popular in the US in the 1930s and 40s. These musicians, such as Gene Autry or Hank Williams, needed loud guitars that would build a strong foundation for their vocals. This is what started the phenomenal success of the D-model, making it fairly ubiquitous in most genres of music.
Tanglewood’s TW40D-AN-E is a well-made homage to a 1930s-style D-18, both in terms of looks and sound.
The TW40D’s neck is virtually identical to the one on the TW40O – a nice soft-V affair, which is slightly wider and bigger than the neck on many contemporary steel-strings.
The craftsmanship displayed on this D is of the same high standard as on the reviewed OM, really leaving nothing to be desired in terms of the TW40D’s playability and set-up (bass-E: 2.2 mm/top-e: 1.7 mm).
We all know how a Dreadnought should sound: a big bottom end, coupled with a warm mid-range and chiming treble.
The Tanglewood TW40D doesn’t disappoint:
Fishman’s Sonitone system also works very well in the context of the TW40D-AN-E-model:
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In my opinion Tanglewood’s TW40O-AN-E and TW40D-AN-E really do offer something special in their price range:
Here we have a pair of steel-string acoustics at player-friendly prices, which take the terms ”vintage” and ”historic” above and beyond mere cosmetics. Thanks to the ”vintage correct” neck dimensions and neck profiles of these two instruments, and the wider string spacing, genuinely vintage-feeling guitars become available without custom shop price tags.
These are well-made, great-sounding guitars. Too bad I have to give them back…
Tämän jutun otsikko voisi myös olla: ”Tanglewood tuo vintagea kaikkien soittajien ulottuville”. Sundance Historic -kitaroissa on nimittäin paljon vanhan ajan hohtoa, vaikka niiden hinnat pysyvät – jopa mikitettyinä – selvästi alle 700 euroa!
Kitarablogi sai testiin kaksi soitinta – TW40O-AN-E ja TW40D-AN-E – jotka muistuttavat erehdyttävästi kahta legendaarista Martin-mallia.
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Tanglewood TW40O–AN-E (673 €) on Sundance Historic -sarjan kunnianosoitus Martin OM-18 -kitaralle, joka oli 1930-luvulla ensimmäinen teräskielinen, jolla oli kaulaliitos 14. nauhan kohdalla.
Tanglewood TW40D-AN-E (673 €) on saman sarjan versio Martin D-18 -mallista, joka on kopioiduin teräskielinen akustinen kautta aikojen – jopa Gibsonin Hummingbird- ja Dove-mallit kopioitiin suoraan musiikkiliikkeestä ostetulta Martin-kitaralta!
Molemmat Tanglewoodit saa myös ilman mikitystä 598 eurolla.
TW40O:ssa ja TW40D:ssä on espanjalaisessa tyylissä rakennettu kaula, mikä tarkoittaa että kaula ja viritinlapa ovat yhdestä mahonkipalasta veistettyjä, vaan kaulakorko on lisätty jälkikäteen.
Kaikukoppa taas on tehty kokopuisesta kuusikannesta ja mahonkivanerisista sivuista ja pohjasta.
Virittimet ovat 1930-luvun Grover-koneistojen kopioita, jotka pitävät vireen todella hyvin, mutta ovat käytössä hieman nykyaikaisia virittimiä jäykempiä.
Myös TW40O:n ja TW40D:n sirot nauhat sopivat näiden soittimien vintage-tunnelmaan täydellisesti.
Hyvä esimerkki ruusupuun ulkonäön vaihtelevuudesta:
Tässä testissä käyneen TW40O-AN-E:n vaaleampi talla…
…ja tässä D-mallin tummempi vastine.
Molemmissa kompensoitu tallaluu on aitoa luuta.
Testatuissa Sundance Historic -soittimissa on helppokäyttöinen Fishman Sonitone -mikitys.
Pietsomikki on sijoitettu tallaluun alle, kun taas etuvahvistin säätimineen (volume ja tone) on liimattu ääniaukon yläreunan alle. Yhdeksän voltin paristo istuu omassa kotelossa, joka on kiinnitetty kaulablokkiin. Pariston vaihtaminen ääniaukon kautta on hieman hankalampi kuin kopan reunan läpi kiinnitetyissä paristolokeroissa, mutta isona etuna tässä on koko systeemin näkymättömyys.
Lähtöjakki on molemmissa malleissa yhdistetty hihnatappiin.
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On todella ilahduttavaa nähdä kuinka huolellisesti nämä kaksi Tanglewood Sundance Historic -kitaraa on tehty. Työnjälki on erittäin siisti ja viimeistely laadukas ja kaunis.
Vaikka näissä kahdessa soittimessa on kyse 500-800 euron hintaluokan teräskielisistä Tanglewoodeista, on molemmissa testikitaroissa sivujen syykuviot sovitettu yhteen, että sivujen ”hartiat” näyttävät bookmatch-peilikuvilta!
Vintage-motto ulottuu TW40O-AN-E:ssä huomattavasti pidemmälle kuin pelkästään kosmetiikkaan:
Vanhat OM-kitarat (Orchestra Model) tunnetaan siitä, että niissä on aavistuksen leveämpi, pehmeästi V-muotoinen kaulaprofiili. Myös kielten keskeinen etäisyys tallan kohdalla on usein pikkuisen isompi kuin monissa nykyaikaisissa soittimissa, mikä tekee sormisoitosta mukavamman.
Tanglewood on käyttänyt tähän Sundance Historic -malliin juuri näitä ”oikeita” vanhoja mittoja. Kaulaprofiili on pehmeä V, ja kaulan leveys on satulan kohdalla 46 mm. E-kielten etäisyys tallassa taas on ilmavat 58 milliä – kitara siis tarjoaa mukavasti tilaa sormisoitolle, mutta myös plektran käyttö onnistuu ongelmitta.
TW40O:n soitettavuus on ensiluokkaista, ja kitara saapui testiin loistavassa trimmissä (kielten korkeus 12. nauhan kohdalla: basso-E – 2,1 mm/diskantti-e – 1,9 mm).
Kitarapiireissä keskustelu täyspuisen pohjan tärkeydestä teräskielisen kitaran sointiin käy edelleen kuumana. Joidenkin mielestä kokopuinen pohja on lähes yhtä tärkeä kuin täyspuinen kansi, toiset taas viittaavat erittäin laadukkaisiin Selmer-Maccaferri-kitaroihin (Gypsy Jazz -kitarat) tai vanhoihin Guild-soittimiin, joissa on vaneripohja.
Oma näkemykseni tähän kiistakysymykseen on, että vanerista tehty pohja on usein (mutta ei aina) aavistuksen verran hiljaisempi ja soundiltaan hivenen verran kuivempi kuin kokopuinen vastine. Pidän kuitenkin teräskielisen kitaran yleissoundin kannalta huomattavasti tärkeämpänä, että kansi on täyspuinen ja että soittimen koko rakenne on laadukas ja terve.
OM-kokoisen teräskielisen pääerot dreadnoughtiin nähden ovat sen pienempi koppa ja OM-kitaran siistimpi bassorekisteri, joka tekee soittimesta erittäin helpon äänittää.
Tanglewood TW40O:lla on malliesimerkki OM-soundista – kitaran ääni on avoin, sen projektio lähes D-mallin luokkaa, ja se istuu äänitettynä erittäin nätisti miksauksissa.
Nämä kaksi esimerkkiä on äänitetty Shure SM57 -mikrofoneilla:
Fishman Sonitone -pietsojärjestelmä on hyvä ja helppokäyttöinen valinta, josta lähtee hyvin terve pietsosoundi livekäyttöä varten:
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Alkuperäisen dreadnought-kitaran lähtökohdat olivat volyymi ja reilunkokoinen bassorekisteri. Alkuperäinen kohderyhmä olivat 1930- ja 40-luvulla Yhdysvalloissa hyvin suositut ”laulavat lehmipojat”, kuten Gene Autry tai Hank Williams, jotka tarvitsivat live-esiintymisiään varten kitaroita, joissa oli potkua plektrasoitossa. Tästä alkoi D-mallien voittokulku joka kasvoi yhä vain voimakkaammaksi, kun Folk-laulajatkin löysivät tiehensä tähän isompaan vaihtoehtoon.
Tanglewoodin TW40D-AN-E on laadukas kunniaosoitus 1930-luvun D-18:lle, sekä ulkonäön että soitettavuuden kannalta.
TW40D:n kaula on käytännössä täysin identtinen TW40O:n kaulaan – kaulaprofiili on erittäin mukava pehmeä V, ja koko kaula on hieman leveämpi kuin monissa nykykitaroissa.
Testikitaran työnjälki on samalla korkealla tasolla kuin Historic-sarjan OM-mallissakin, eikä TW40D:n soitettavuudessa todellakaan löydy mitään moitittavaa (matala-E: 2,2 mm/diskantti-e: 1,7 mm).
Dreadnought-kitaran soundi on varmaan kaikille tuttu: iso basso, lämmin keskirekisteri ja helisevä diskantti – ja kaikki hyvällä potkulla höystettynä.
TW40D on todella hyvä esimerkki tästä soundista:
Fishmanin Sonitone -mikkisysteemi toimii sulavassa yhteistyössä myös TW40D-AN-E-mallissa:
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TW40O-AN-E:n ja TW40D-AN-E:n myötä Tanglewood tarjoaa tässä hintasegmentissä todella harvinaista herkkua:
Tässä ovat kaksi teräskielistä akustista kitaraa soittajaystävällisillä hinnoilla, joissa käsitteet ”vintage” ja ”historic” ulottuvat todellakin pintaa syvemmälle. Erittäin mukavan kaulaprofiilin ja leveämmän kieltenvälisen etäisyyden ansiosta, myös meillä rivisoittajilla on nyt varaa kokea aidon vintagen-soittotuntuma.
Tärkein on kuitenkin näiden soittimien soundi, joka vakuutti ainakin minut täysin.
Jimi Hendrix’ simply doesn’t seem to wane, even though the genial guitar hero himself died in London in 1970 at 27 years of age. There’s still so much interest in Hendrix’ music that he continues to rank among the top ten of best-earning dead celebrities in Forbes magazine.
The Fender Stratocaster was the master’s favourite instrument, so it’s not really surprising that the man has been honoured with a signature model by Fender last year. This guitar is now also available in Finland.
In 1980 a small, semiofficial run of Hendrix Strats was made, sporting a white body and a left-handed neck with a large headstock. Fender’s Custom Shop came out with 100 Monterey Stratocasters, which where close copies of the guitar instrument played and burned at the 1967 festival. It was a right-handed Stratocaster with a small headstock and a hand-painted body, set up for left-handed playing. Along with the guitar the Monterey Set also included a flight case and a leather gig bag. In the same year (1997) Fender USA started to produce the Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Strat. The Voodoo Strat was in fact a a left-handed (!) copy of Hendrix’ (right-handed) Woodstock Stratocaster, with the headstock decals turned into mirror images, so that you would look (a bit) like Hendrix, whenever you stepped in front of a mirror. 😀
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The brand-new Fender Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster (approx. 950 € in Finland) also has some features resembling the guitar Hendrix used at the Woodstock festival:
The right-handed alder body is finished either in black or in white, while the neck is a large headstock-carrying, left-handed, all-maple affair.
The headstock carries the so-called transition logo from the mid-Sixties, which was much larger than the Fifties’ spaghetti logo, but still gold coloured. By the end of the Sixties the logo was changed to black and the model name was written in large, bold lettering – that would be called the the CBS logo.
Modern improvements on the Hendrix Strat include truss rod access from the headstock side, as well as a flatter, more bend-friendly fretboard radius of 9.5 inches.
The headstock’s flip side displays Hendrix’ signature, and a very decent set of Kluson copies.
The neck joint has been kept very traditional, but for the Authentic Hendrix-logo on the neck plate.
The most important differences between the Hendrix model and a bog standard Strat can be found in the pickup department:
The Mexican signature guitar comes equipped with a pukka set of American Vintage ’65 Gray-Bottom Fender-pickups, which have been installed into this guitar, as if this were a left-handed model turned over. Both the neck and middle pickup have been flipped over by 180 degrees, while the bridge pickup has been flipped over first, before being installed at a reverse angle. Usually the bridge pickup is placed so that its bass side is closer to the neck with the treble side being closer to the bridge. On the Hendrix Strat the bridge pickup’s bass side is closer to the bridge and the treble side closer to the neck.
This reverse installation means that the magnet stagger is ”wrong”, changing slightly the balance between the strings in terms of output. Furthermore, the bridge pickup will give you a slightly changed range of overtones, due to its reverse angle.
We’ll find out in the listening test, whether these changes really make any discernible difference.
The controls follow the vintage recipe – master volume, neck tone, middle tone – while the pickup selector on the Hendrix model is a modern five-way unit.
The American Vintage ’65 pickup set is true to the original specs and does not feature a reverse-wound/reverse-polarity middle pickup for hum-cancelling in positions two and four, like many updated Strats!
Fender’s vintage vibrato bridge (the ”Sychronized Tremolo”) sports bent steel saddles.
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Fender Strats are well-known for their excellent ergonomic properties and the Hendrix signature model stays true to this heritage.
Our review instrument was of comfortable moderate weight. The neck’s mid-Sixties C-profile feels great, thanks to not being overly chunky.
The guitar arrived strung with a set of 010s and tuned to E-flat, but the setup wasn’t quite spot-on. The vibrato bridge was tipped a little too steeply, and the intonation was a bit off on the bass strings. But it only took me a couple of minutes (and the correct pair of screwdrivers) to get this Strat shipshape. The result was a great-playing and great-sounding guitar (string height at 12th fret: bottom-E: 2.2 mm/high-e: 1.7 mm).
The flatter-than-vintage fretboard radius really helps to make the Hendrix Strat a very bend-friendly guitar, while also minimising the possibility of fret choke during large-interval bends.
I must admit that I’m not quite sure, whether I really hear much of a difference in the amplified sound of the reversed pickups, though.
Jimi’s guitar tech and effects guru, Roger Mayer, has often stated that Hendrix was satisfied with the sound of his (right-handed) Strats right off the peg. According to Mayer, the only ”customisation” the pair ever did on newly bought guitars, was to take off the neck and remove all possible finish residue inside the neck pockets to improve the stability of the neck joints. Hendrix’ effects, on the other hand, were a regular target for fine-adjustment and electronic customisation.
Anyway, the new Fender Jimi Hendrix signature guitar sounds just like a great Strat should. Here’s a clean clip first:
Here’s an example of the Hendrix Strat’s distorted tone:
I was eager to start recording with the Fender Hendrix model. The first demo track puts the signature Strat into a slightly more contemporary context. The signal chain for this track was: Fender Hendrix Stratocaster –> Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi –> Morley M2 Wah/Volume –> Blackstar HT-1R:
Next I recorded a demo track with a more Hendrix-like arrangement. The signal path was: Hendrix Stratocaster –> Morley M2 Wah/Volume –> Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff Pi –> Blackstar HT-1R. The Uni-Vibe style sound at the end of the track was achieved with a phaser plug-in during mixdown:
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Hendrix’ Live Sound
Even though Jimi Hendrix was known for his avant-garde use of effects in the studio – buoyed by the creativity of his sound engineer Eddie Kramer – his signal chain on stage was surprisingly straightforward. Here’s a short and basic rundown of Hendrix’ live rig.
1. Marshall Model 1959 ”Plexi” stack Jimi Hendrix used what we now call a vintage-type, non-master volume amplifier stack, which wasn’t especially high-gain by today’s standards. Usually Hendrix had two 100 Watt Marshall-stacks running in parallel, which meant things got very loud. His Strats would cause his amp to break up, but the type of distortion was closer to what we’d now call a 60s Blues sound than to 70s Metal, and far removed from the high-gain saturation of our time.
I simulated this type of amp response by turning my Blackstar HT-1R’s gain control up to get the clean channel to overdrive.
2. Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face
In my view, the fuzz pedal is the most important ingredient in Jimi’s sound, because it adds a lot of oomph, creamy compression, and aggression to proceedings.
A British importer of musical equipment, a man called Ivor Arbiter, came up with the Fuzz Face in 1966, because he wanted to have a fuzz pedal in his product range. He came up with a chunky package by having the Fuzz Face circuit built into the base of a 60s microphone stand. The round enclosure, coupled with the unit’s two controls and single footswitch, looked like a smiley face, which is where the pedal got its name from.
Fuzz Faces are built by the Jim Dunlop company these days. There are also cheap alternatives available, from companies such as Mooer or Rowin. I’m using an Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff Pi for the demo tracks:
3. Vox Wah-Wah
Hendrix generally used his Vox Wah in front of his Fuzz Face, but keeping it behind the fuzz will also result in some cool tones. Great wah-pedals can also be head from Boss, Mission Engineering or Jim Dunlop.
Roger Mayer’s Octavia-pedal was sometimes used as an additional ingredient in Jimi’s live sound. This strange-sounding effect combines distortion with an artificial upper octave and some slight ring-modulation. Hendrix also used a Uni-Vibe effect, which was one of the first pedals that tried to create a Leslie-like sound in a compact format.
A genuine Octavia-pedal is only made by Roger Mayer, but Joyo’s inexpensive JF-12 Voodoo Octave stomp box sets you off in a very similar direction.
Korg has introduced the NuVibe, which is a pukka re-imagination of the original Uni-Vibe-pedal. Voodoo Lab’s Micro Vibe is a high-quality proposition at a fair price.
You can also simulate Uni-Vibe-style tones by using a suitable phaser. The Boss PH-3 is a modern and versatile phaser. If you want something even more affordable, you could check out Mooer’s range of effects.
This clip uses a combination of two phaser plug-ins in my audio sequencer:
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If you want to go all the way to ”become Hendrix”, you will need to buy a left-handed Stratocaster and turn it into a right-handed instrument. The result will be authentic, but also much less comfortable than a regular Strat, because the controls are all in the wrong place.
Fender’s new Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster will give you the (very slight) difference a reversed headstock brings to the playing feel, as well as the (very slight) tonal differences of the reversed pickups, while keeping all of the Stratocaster’s great ergonomics intact.
Fender’s Hendrix model is a fine Strat, which you can use for all types of music. Still, it’s the ”Hendrix-thing” this guitar does the best!
If I could only have the maestro’s long fingers and musical imagination…