Here's a review of a guitar that I just found on this day in my journal, written on this day in 2003. I still have and love this guitar. Of my five guitars, it's my favourite - good to know that I made such a good decision on this one!
12 June 2003
My Heiner Dreizehnter Model A in Tasmanian blackwood throughout arrived yesterday and I've just spent a few hours getting to know it.
For those that didn't see my last post, Heiner is a German builder whom I met at the recent guitar festival in Germany. I played many guitars at the festival, but it was this one that stood out above the rest. I left it behind and have been thinking about it these many months. I recently decided that my J-150 wasn't the sort of guitar that suited where I was heading guitar-wise and the successful eBay sale meant that I was in the market again. I gave Heiner a call to see whether the Taz was still there, and it was!!! So it's now no longer "the one that got away"! and is here with me where it belongs.
In terms of size, it's OM-ish but perhaps a little less deep? I'm not really sure how deep OMs are, but it's a few mm less deep than my Lakewood.
Woods used are Tasmanian blackwood top, back and sides, with ebony bridge, bridge pins and fretboard.
It arrived with a set of used Nanowebs, so I whipped those off today as they didn't really suit the guitar as well as they do my Lakewood. They need something a bit less jangly to bring out the chocolatey richness of tone. On with a set of JP Slack Keys, tuned to CGDGAD and away with some festive music, a bit of El McMeen's music and some noodling.
All I can say is: wow, did I ever do the right thing buying this guitar!! It handles the low C about as well as my Lakewood, perhaps a little better, which is to say not as well as I had hoped. Even with the 0.56 it's still slightly lacking in tension, but I guess that's not surprising with a scale length of 650mm (25.35"): just a tad on the short side. Still, it's good enough and is considerably louder than the Lakewood, despite its body's being less deep. With a capo on, the tension issue seems to sort itself out and in any case, that should be remedied with my next and final guitar!
One of the over-riding tonal qualities is the amount of sustain, more than I've heard on a guitar thus far in my playing career. Really good for slow Celtic style airs and what have you. But the quality that attracted me to it in the first place is the rich, creamy low end. It's not the same whump that my J-150 had, rather it's more subtle and creamy. Like watching a Star Trek movie with a good subwoofer - you can FEEL the Enterprise but it's not too much.
The overtones aren't overpowering and the tone is bright, but not too bright. I'm not sure that I would say it's perfectly balanced in terms of tone, perhaps being a bit heavier towards the lower end, but that's what rung my bell. It's certainly deeper and richer than the Lakewood, and not at all sprucey like the Gibson. I'm not quite sure how this guitar's tone will change in time – do hardwood tops open up?
Some of the grain on the guitar is exquisite. There is some really nice grain on the ebony on the bridge and bridge pins, and the inlay on the pins is very classy. The tuners are Schällers, and are very smooth. This is my first slothead, and I really like the way the tuners work, although it did take me around an hour and a half to restring it. I'm sure that'll get easier in time.
The neck is kind of beefy, a bit more than I am used to but not to the point of being uncomfortable. The nut is 45mm wide, same as the Lakewood, but the string spacing is a bit more generous and I like that. The frets are quality too, taller than I'm used to, and have that hand-made-guitar quality to them, something I hadn't come across until my recent Brook festival! I thought I'd miss the fretboard markers, having never played without them before, but the side markers are sufficient and give the guitar a more naked look which I also like.
And that's about it from the first day. I've got a long way to go and need to get past our first date before she starts revealing any of her secrets, but I'm sure that the relationship is going to be a long and happy one!
