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© 2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved
A recent eight-day concert tour in the Carolinas and mid-Georgia in May 2015 offered me an excuse to visit Randy Wood Guitars — Instruments and Repairs in Bloomingdale GA.
In the past 45 years the 72-year-old luthier has hand-built 1,000 or more guitars, mandolins, banjos, resonator guitars and violins. Clients have included some marquee musicians (think: Big Mon, The King, Slowhand, and the Man in Black, among others) and run-of-the-mill porch pickers alike.
© 2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved
A recent eight-day concert tour in the Carolinas and mid-Georgia in May 2015 offered me an excuse to visit Randy Wood Guitars — Instruments and Repairs in Bloomingdale GA.
In the past 45 years the 72-year-old luthier has hand-built 1,000 or more guitars, mandolins, banjos, resonator guitars and violins. Clients have included some marquee musicians (think: Big Mon, The King, Slowhand, and the Man in Black, among others) and run-of-the-mill porch pickers alike.
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| PIX: KL Georgia luthier Randy Wood with the restored and refinished body of an early 1920s Gibson L-4 guitar (fingerboard and headstock on left) he's converting to mandocello. |
Wood has also restored a lot of instruments in his day, and he often has interesting repair jobs on hand. The only Foden guitar I've ever seen was in Randy Wood's shop. Genial, gregarious and generous with his time, he is as eager to show off his work as he is to see what you're playing.
Over the years I've traveled in the Southeast on concert tours I've bought and sold a few guitars at his shop. I also hired Wood to restore a 1951 Epiphone Triumph Regent, an archtop guitar given to me by the widow of its original owner, John Gordon "Gordy" Burgess (1915 - 2005) of Chicago.
This time, I hoped to play a few guitars in the store, see some current repair projects and join a long-running Saturday bluegrass jam. But my main mission was to show Wood a fine vintage guitar of mine and pellet him with questions on its design.
Over the years I've traveled in the Southeast on concert tours I've bought and sold a few guitars at his shop. I also hired Wood to restore a 1951 Epiphone Triumph Regent, an archtop guitar given to me by the widow of its original owner, John Gordon "Gordy" Burgess (1915 - 2005) of Chicago.
This time, I hoped to play a few guitars in the store, see some current repair projects and join a long-running Saturday bluegrass jam. But my main mission was to show Wood a fine vintage guitar of mine and pellet him with questions on its design.
In all, it was worth the trip, despite a three-hour, high-speed voyage on the rollers and breakers of Route 16 in the Peachtree State.
Wood's store offers acoustic treasures
Every time I visit the Randy Wood Guitar store and workshop I find treasures in every corner. This occasion was no exception.
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| PIX: G&G Randy Wood 12-fret slope-shouldered dreadnought |
In addition to 40 new, used and vintage acoustics and several electric guitars, there were three Randy Wood guitars on the walls of the 900-square-foot store. Two were brand new, one was four years old.
Not one to ignore trends in acoustic music circles, Wood's newest guitars are 12-fret slope-shouldered dreadnoughts which, like all Wood guitars, don't carry model names. Priced at $3,500 and finished with sunburst spruce tops, one had a mahogany body, one had a maple body.
Both had an unusual-shaped pickguard that resembles a bandanna on a cowboy's neck. Each had a full-figured, deep-throated sound. In my view, of the two dreadnoughts, the maple-bodied guitar stood out for its unstinting presence and aural aroma.
Not one to ignore trends in acoustic music circles, Wood's newest guitars are 12-fret slope-shouldered dreadnoughts which, like all Wood guitars, don't carry model names. Priced at $3,500 and finished with sunburst spruce tops, one had a mahogany body, one had a maple body.
Both had an unusual-shaped pickguard that resembles a bandanna on a cowboy's neck. Each had a full-figured, deep-throated sound. In my view, of the two dreadnoughts, the maple-bodied guitar stood out for its unstinting presence and aural aroma.
The third guitar was a 12-fret slope-shouldered dreadnought built in 2011. It has koa wood back and sides and a cutaway spruce top. Consigned at $2,995, this guitar has a sound that's smooth and bright. It's as fine an example of a Randy Wood instrument as any.
Wood inspects his first Weymann guitar
Before long, Randy Wood came into the store to inspect the c. 1930 Weymann No. 840 grand
concert guitar I'd brought with me to show him.
Its has 12 frets to the body, mahogany back and sides, rosewood bridge, rosewood binding and rosewood fingerboard. It also has a spruce soundboard, inlaid purfling around the soundhole, rosewood veneer on a slotted headstock, and inlaid Waverly tuners.
The guitar body's lower bout is 14½–in. wide and 4-in. deep. It was called “Auditorium Size” in catalogs issued by H.A. Weymann and Son of Philadelphia, which built and sold it for $45 (retail) in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Its has 12 frets to the body, mahogany back and sides, rosewood bridge, rosewood binding and rosewood fingerboard. It also has a spruce soundboard, inlaid purfling around the soundhole, rosewood veneer on a slotted headstock, and inlaid Waverly tuners.
The guitar body's lower bout is 14½–in. wide and 4-in. deep. It was called “Auditorium Size” in catalogs issued by H.A. Weymann and Son of Philadelphia, which built and sold it for $45 (retail) in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
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| PIX: KL c.1930 Weymann No.840 |
What makes this guitar unusual and worth a trip to an experienced and highly regarded luthier like Randy Wood is its interior design. Under the hood it has six back
braces — not five like other guitars. More importantly, it has a single tone bar on
the bass side of the X brace — not one or two tone bars on the treble side of the X brace like other guitars.
The Weymann's tone is robust, sweet and clear. A lightweight guitar, it has a crisp treble, loud midrange and heart-throbbing bass.
When Wood held and played the Weymann No. 840, his eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s nice,” he drawled. “I've never seen one of these, only their [Weymann] banjos."
When I told him about the tone bar coming off the bass side of the X brace, he paused for a long minute.
“You know, I’ve been doing that on my guitars for years,” said Wood, who opined the design could be not be patented.
“Folks don’t realize how it emphasizes the bass on a small [sic] guitar like this," he added. "You don’t need the [tone bar] support on the treble side like everybody says.”
I asked Wood if he thought this guitar was perhaps built for a left-handed player. “Doubtful,” he said. Unlike every other guitar maker of the day, “These people wanted it [built] this way.”
Wood has mandocellos on his mind
Next thing I know Wood said, "You'll want to see this," and pulled me into his workshop to see a 1920s Gibson L-4 guitar he was converting to a mandocello.
The instrument was in the finishing booth, one of several rooms and garage-like chambers that comprise the workshop. Hanging from the ceiling was the restored and refinished body of the guitar.
Nearby, on the original neck, was a newly fretted fingerboard and reworked headstock. Wood had already expanded the headstock to accommodate eight tuning machine holes and installed a Gibson logo replica.
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| PIX: RWG Randy Wood's mini jazz guitar |
The guitar has a sunburst, 13½-in. wide maple body and carved spruce top with f holes. The top has a sunburst finish, soft cutaway and ebony pickguard in the contemporary jazz-box style.
As I played the mini jazz guitar it reminded me of the sound and feel of a late 1920s Epiphone Recording D archtop guitar. I enjoyed the playing ease and sound, and only stopped playing when I realized I didn't know the notes on many musical tunes above the 14th fret.
Wood said he was inspired to build the mini jazz guitar by the appearance and dimensions of a vintage mandocello. Unlike a solid-body Les Paul guitar, Wood's mini jazz guitar offers an acoustic sound that is incisive, smooth and loud out of proportion for its size. Yet, because of its size and light weight, it is extraordinarily easy to hold and play.
Nearly finished, he says he plans to mount a pick-up along the end of the fingerboard and add a truss rod cover. He has not yet announced a price for this instrument.
Bluegrass jam on a Saturday afternoon
I played the mini jazz guitar until I realized it was time to resume my trip. I'd run out of time for the bluegrass jam, which was just beginning in the store.
Three players — guitar, banjo and fiddle — showed up. They'd moved some of the accessory displays for playing space and begun warming up. They played and talked, then played some more, as they waited for a tardy bass player.
Once the bass player appeared, it was time for me to leave, so I thanked my host and continued my travels.
I played the mini jazz guitar until I realized it was time to resume my trip. I'd run out of time for the bluegrass jam, which was just beginning in the store.
Three players — guitar, banjo and fiddle — showed up. They'd moved some of the accessory displays for playing space and begun warming up. They played and talked, then played some more, as they waited for a tardy bass player.
Once the bass player appeared, it was time for me to leave, so I thanked my host and continued my travels.
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| PIX: KL Randy Wood Guitars 1304 E. Hwy. 80, Bloomingdale GA 31302 912-748-1930 randywoodmusic.com |
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© 2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved
© 2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved
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