NAMM ...I won a Lito Benito Grand Auditorium

[Robman2]

Reps cajoled me to toss my little piece of paper into a fish bowl, it was all the way across the hall.

 

At 3:00, they came back and told me I'd won, BS I inferred, twice...they took me off the T 5 David Hostler had loaned us for eye candy...at the Zaolla display...and escorted me over to their booth...out of a few hunderd names, my name came out as the winner.

 

I asserted they rigged it and they assured me, the fishbowl had been stirred up and held above the persons head doing the drawing.

 

This luthier Lito Benito used to be factory manager for Taylor some time ago and is based in Chile. He was not in their booth his visa has expired because of the many trade shows he attends but they are renewing that.

 

One wood he uses called, Alerce, a step up sonorusly to Sitka and Engleman because it's a slow growing and endangered species, specs at www.lbenitousa.com.

 

The trees are almost as old as Bristlecones, and essentially are more like Koa or old growth redwood in appearance then the tight grain we are used to for conifer tops. When a timber is so large, the grain distors from the weight and causes swirls and in this case, contains resins and minerals which are more rot resistant then other fir species, causing dark patterns very much similar to Koa in looks but warm not brittle. The trees are wild obviolsly versus second growth Sitka etc. http://www.lbenitousa.com/aboutAlerce.pdf

 

He cornered the last available stocks and the trees went under government protection back in the 70's so the wood is aged beyond the norm.

 

Holy fucking shit, I was for about 1/2 an hour, literally dumfounded and blissed out.

 

The guys at the booth a few of whom know me, have heard me wax about old growth timber while we drove the territories and for me to have garnered the brass ring, well, it will be a moment we shared and shall remember for it's grace and simple dignity.

 

They were so utterly pleased that a singer, songwriter and player won it instead of an unknown booth trade show person who might have simply put it on e-bay. It's family to them.

 

One experience I'll treasure...

 

Niel..OMG...I literally was overcome and at one point had covered my mouth inadvertantly in disbelief. I'm still moved as writing this hours later...

 

Next time I play the BlueBird, I will be using this piece.

 

Sides, mahogany, neck cedar, fretboard rosewood.

 

Plays...well one can assume and it does, like a dream. B band onboard and retails for $2400.

 

The top, is 3500 years old...

 

There is a tear sheet in the matt-linen case which goes into great detail as to the species but I've a background in wholesale millwork and even have tried to bid on burl redwood paneling in a closed office building, simply to try and save it and sell it or broker to Taylor or someone for detail wood.

 

The instrument plays absolutley as well as any Martin ot Taylor, and with the exception of not being a single cutaway and ebony fretboard, I have a new soul filled guitar...Th label say Grand Auditorium, but I believe those are single cutaways and that this is a dreadnaught...I'll ask Jeff the manager there.

 

I had to share and thanks to all who might not return tomorrow, I'll be in both regardless.

 

Oh and BTW, I NEVER WIN ANYTHING!!!

 

Rob Manning

Zaolla & Hosa

[The Geoff]

Congratulations!!! What a nice thing to happen to you. Joy and health to play it and......

 

 

PHOTOGRAPHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Please.

 

Geoff

[Caevan O’Shite]

That's incredibly great, Rob! Utterly wonderful!

 

Nothing quite like a particularly fine acoustic, is there? Especially one so remarkably special as this one.

 

Yes, we want pics! And clips! Yuhp, we wanna see and hear this little wooden cathedral-boat of yours!

[Robman2]

They will be forthcoming...thanks,

 

R

[Danzilla]

What a blessing! Use it in good health.

[fantasticsound]

Cool, Rob! That means I'll get to play this baby when you hit town again, right?? Pretty please?? MOMMY!!

 

That's fantastic!

[NMcGuitar]

Very cool!

[Gifthorse]

Kickass, I'm jealous!!

[Robman2]

Thanks for the good thoughts...

 

I took it into Gand (Chicago) and bought a humidifier... the guys there had a show issue of the NAMM daily with the whole Benito crew on the cover so he knew what it was as I walked through the door...we plugged it in after we did business stuff...one of the guys played it through a blonde amp then I played it...oh my, what fun.

 

Yes Niel, you will play it sooner or later...

 

I've got to get it back home and don't think it will fit on the plane but I should call and ask.

 

If not, I'll have Sweetwater box it up real nice and pay them to ship it home when I get therer this week.

 

The guy at Gand said, no way should I exchange it for a single cutaway which I checked about with Jeffery the NSM for Benito...He said the bass response would suffer and gave me as example, his purchase of a Taylor standard and then the same wood etc, single cutaway, not even close said he...

 

I took his pic playing it and as soon as I get back I'll image up for the folks here.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

[Caevan O’Shite]

Trade it? Oh, Hell, no! A good guitar is a good guitar!

 

Plus, it's the one you won. It's special. For a lot of reasons.

 

Now, is it better suited to flatpicking, or fingerstyle? Or is it one of those wonderful guitars that will respond beautifully well no matter what paces you put it though?

[fantasticsound]

You were at Gand?!? Wish I'd known! I'd have asked you to say hello to Gary. Nice store, great guy.

 

Didn't I tell you I went to NAMM as Gary about 7 years ago?? He'd worked several gigs in Nashville in the weeks preceding NAMM that year. I caught up with him on the gigs. He wasn't interested in making the trip back again and I asked if he had an extra pass I could use to get into the show. So I went as Gary in exchange for giving them a hand after the show. His staff had bought 5 Anderson guitars at the show. They had flown in from Chicago, so I packed them up and shipped 'em back north for Gary. After drooling near them, of course! Beautiful guitars, they were, one and all!

 

Gary was also kind enough to put in a good word for me when I interviewed at Shure, Inc. I wasn't offered the job, but they flew me in to Chicago for the interview, in large part based on his recommendation.

 

But I haven't seen Gary in several years. As with this coming weekend, we rarely have time to get down there. It's about 20 minutes drive from my brother's house and another 45 or so from my inlaws'.

 

Oh, yeah... I forgot to mention a few.. little.. things.

 

Gary sold my brother's Peavey T-60 and Pacer amp to my parents in 1978! His store was a tiny thing a few miles from the current location, in a tiny strip mall with a dry cleaner and a Radio Shack. (None of which are still there.) Yep. Loyal customers for 27 years.

 

My brother bought all his (my) pedals at Gand, including an MXR Distortion+ and a Boss analog delay pedal and an MXR Omni analog rack. (Anyone remember that monster?!?) He also bought a Tascam Porta 2 there when it was first released.

 

I saw a clinic they ran for the Porta 1 that blew my mind. Their guitar teacher, Roger, recorded some Linndrum 9000 tracks (I'd just been to that clinic!), added bass and a rhythm guitar track, bounced it down and added some keys, then the vocal, all, right before our eyes. The song was amazing and I'd never heard it before. I was too shy to ask about it. I assumed it was Roger's song. It was 2 more weeks before I heard Don Henley perform Boys of Summer on the radio,. for the first time!

 

I also bought my Kahler and Chandler neck for the Neil Bergman, Custom Limited Edition Signature model (a Kramer Voyager body with electronics I'd bought for $26 at another dealer (when Kramer went under), and had them ship it to Flynn Guitars in Evanston for assembly. It's on the wall next to me.

 

My brother saw Adrian Belew there in the early 1980's... Me? I saw Vinnie Moore there in the late '80's. Man, did watching him do some arpeggios at slow (Medium for me... you get the picture, right?), medium and warp speed just amaze the crowd. You could hear a collective sigh from the crowd after the warp speed runs.

 

Gand was a big part of my musical life growing up. I'm glad they've thrived in the big box world that's grown around them. That comes from having great staff!

 

Sorry to hijack your thread, Rob.

[fantasticsound]

Oh, morning K!

[Guitarzan]

wow, congrats. we do want to see and hear that for sure.

[Robman2]

I actually picked it for an hour after I got done with W & BW in South Bend.

 

Now, I'm pretending to forget the upscale techniques I use on the GB 10 and am trying to retrain my fingers by actaully altering fingers and practicing scales as if I do not own a single cutaway...

 

It was gift and I need to be less clinical.

 

Caevn, it plays well fingerstye and picked, the action is set with 12's but, I might ask Carruthers to set it a bit lower to facilitate above the neck joint fingerings.

 

I'm going to take it to the Fret House in Covina and and True Tone in Santa Monica and tell them the tale O wood, It's the least I can do.

 

Gary was gone by the time I got there but the store survives amazingly.

 

He's got some of his collection up now, drool mats in place...none for sale but out to see and talk over.

 

Gary has a very low number first year Strat, which is not out...

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

[Caevan O’Shite]

"13s" would let you get away with a lower action (narrower string-excursion as they vibrate, resulting in less fret-buzz), if you can hang with 'em. For me, 13s would be as light as I would care to go on an acoustic flat-top. 12s are too light. "YMMV"!

 

By the way- how would you describe that Alerce top-wood? Tonally more like varieties of spruce, or more like cedar? Or very different from either? (The link you provided isn't working...)

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by CaevanO'Shite:

...By the way- how would you describe that Alerce top-wood? Tonally more like varieties of spruce, or more like cedar? Or very different from either? (The link you provided isn't working...)

Tastes like chicken!

[Caevan O’Shite]

"Less filling!"

 

"Tastes great!"

 

"Less filling!!"

 

"Tastes great!!"

 

[Robman2]

A native wood from the south of Chile that has the strength-to-weight ratio of Sitka Spruce and the warm tone of Red Cedar. Unlike Cedar, Alerce can be played forcefully without loosing its definition and warmth. Used for the tops of the Classical, Grand Auditorium, and Dreadnaught models.

 

 

ALL ABOUT ALERCE THE NEWEST 3,000 YEAR OLD TONEWOOD

 

One fateful day, a fine-sounding electric hollow-body found its way into luthier Lito Benitos

Santiago workshop for fretwork. Lito found that the original top had been replaced with Alerce,

a highly valued rare timber indigenous to Southern Chile ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 years old.

 

Fascinated by the warm tonal response, he realized that the sonic properties of Alerce would be ideal for acoustic guitar tops.

 

After developing and mastering the design of the guitars bearing his name, new bracing

innovations and construction techniques were evolved to harness the raw tonal power of Alerce.

 

Today, master luthiers trained by Lito create, by hand, a work of art, the L. Benito Guitar.

are small and thin, the red-brown bark often peels off in strips, and male and female cones can often both found on one tree.

 

Alerce is prized for the resins that make it water and rot-resistant. The oldest documented Alerce reached the age of 3,631 years. Only the California Bristlecone Pine is known to be older. Typically standing alone in a diverse forest, a giant among other trees, Alerce grows little more than one millimeter per year!

Alerce lumber is, like the tree itself, beautiful to behold.

 

Whereas often Sitka Spruce is an agricultural

product, Alerce is wild. The bold grain patterns are the result of its growth in geologically unstable areas prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The beautiful caramel color is marked with dark streaks and compression figure similar to the bearclaw patterns found in spruce.

 

After extensive lumbering reduced the widespread alerzales, as the growing areas are known, Alerce has been declared a National Monument in Chile in 1976 and is protected by the CITES treaty. The lumber, popular in building trades, is now being used by L. Benito Guitars for a purpose as lofty as the great tree itself, the craft of luthiery.

 

Master luthiers create a work of art,the L. Benito Guitar. Musicians use that work of art to create still more art: the Art of Music.

 

WHAT IS ALERCE?

Common Name: Alerce, Andean Larch, Lahual, Patagonian Cypress

 

Family: Cupressacea

 

Gender: Fitzroya

 

Species: Cupressoides (Mol.) Johnston

 

In the mountainous rainforests of south-central Chile, the great Alerce

typically grows to be 50 meters high and 4 to 5 meters wide. Charles Darwin, who named the coniferous evergreen after the H.M.S. Beagles

Captain Fitzroy, observed specimens of up to 130 feet in circumference.

 

Mature Alerce are characterized by a huge trunk which is capped by a pyramid shaped canopy that shelters others tree varieties. The leaves

 

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES ALERCE SUPERIOR TO MORE COMMONLY USED TONEWOODS, SUCH AS SITKA SPRUCE?

 

View of full grown Alerce in its natural habitat.

Alerce have aged for over twenty-five years.)

 

According to Chilean lumber and forestry expert

Victor Gaete, the density and elasticity inherent in Alerce yield lower impedance to the

propagation of low frequencies, without causing a loss in the high frequencies. In other

words, the wood has a great bass response, a fine treble range, a long sustain and a stable

sound wave pattern that allows each frequency range to vibrate freely without interference from

other frequency ranges. The frequency response chart shows Alerces clear superiority to Sitka

Spruce in the bass ranges, and competitive frequency response in all other ranges. (See

Figures 1 and 2)

 

Figure 1 Frequency Response Comparison (Alerce vs. Sitka Spruce)

 

Average Frequency Response

50 100 250 500 1000 2000 5000 10000 15000

 

Frequency (Hz)

 

Relative amplitude (dB)

 

A Curve

Alerce Sitka

Alerces long time decay coefficient (almost

1.5 seconds) permits a noteworthy sustain

that complements its natural resonant

frequency of 174 Hz, right in the same range

as Sitka and Engleman Spruce. Its slow

growth promotes the development of

individual wood cells in a way that enhances

the harmonious transmission of sound

waves, creating a profound resonance that

is enhanced by the seasoning process (the

harvesting of Alerce has been banned since

the 1970s, so L. Benitos legal stocks of

 

Figure 2 Data Points (Alerce vs. Sitka Spruce)

Property Alerce Sitka Spruce

Alerce/Sitka

Ratio

Density (Kg/m3) 449 400 1.125

Parallel Contraction (%) 6.3 6 1.05

Module of Elasticity

(Kg/cm2)

57.3 139.23 0.4115

Parallel Compression

(Kg/cm2)

411.6 353.9 1.163

Limit of proportionality

(Kg/cm2)

473 392 1.2066

Relative Deviation to A

curve

9.84 11.7 0.841

 

Huh?

 

This is the link stuff...

[Caevan O’Shite]

VERY cool; thanks, Rob!

 

Man, that sounds like the ideal tonewood. I already LOVE cedar-topped, mahagony-bodied flat-tops... generally preferring them to the standard spruce/rosewood recipe. Although, I also firmly believe that "the most important ingrediant in any recipe is the cook".

 

Hmmnn... I'd bet that an electric solid-body with an Alerce body and a Douglas Fir set-neck (with a Brazillian Rosewood fretboard) would be delicious! Are ya readin' this, Dave?

[Robman2]

I had to part with it today...

 

Davitt and Hanser's PA's are shipping it to the office because American Airlines would not guarantee a walk on in the coat closet from Cincinnati to LAX.

 

I also have a 1930's Kay type of mandolin which a dealer gave me on the first leg of the trip... (it's a beater, needs work but it's a cool old piece) which I tried getting in the suitcase from NYC to Nashville and suffered a crack because of that.

 

Couple all that with the 79'ish Music Man RD 50 watt I bought on the first leg and I guess it's been a good trip after all.

 

Plus I got to meet Niel...in my favorite city Nashville.

 

They are shipping back to Zaolla/Hosa as a favor...great folks over there at D & H (BC Rich, Kustom, Aria etc).

[Robman2]

BTW, Mitch and John (PA at Davitt and Hanser) noticed the L Benito, is not a set cedar neck... it's a revised hand built Taylor in a sense, with re-engineered cross bracing.

 

Lito B, was Taylors head guy for quite a while, the difference is his are hand built, versus laser cut parts and of course the Alcere topwood.

 

The warmth and frequency response is more then likely why he hasn't used ebony fretborads as yet (perhaps?).

[fantasticsound]

Cool Rob. Glad the trip was as much fun as you've described. I'll catch you again the next time you come to Nashville.

[Robman2]

Actually, I'm wearin thin and August will be a very busy time, staging follow up and...setting up the next round, CEDIA, FT. Wayne, New England (Daddy's) NYC, PA, MD, DC, VA possibly Nashville again with Brannan at the B B , we'll see.

 

Thanks for the great thoughts Nile and PM what you think about the cable...

[EmptinesOf Youth]

congrats