Moondog Grand Auditorium Moondog Grand Auditorium Tim Nicolai, guitar player turned design entrepreneur, offers the Grand Auditorium for consideration. Russell Welton discovers if it’s a howler of a guitar or if you’d be barking mad to ignore it. he Moondog ‘professional’ range of guitars represents the coming together of many unique qualities, some of which may well not be apparent at first and yet reveal themselves upon deeper investigation. Moondog have been selling guitars direct to customers from their website for around 19 months. Prior to this, master acoustic guitar player, Tim Nicolai, spent two years or more analysing and formulating the concepts that are brought together here, whilst never taking his eye off Moondog’s overriding goal of producing T professional-quality instruments at affordable prices. Has this been achieved? What impresses me perhaps most of all is that in those two short years Moondog guitars have come from wellresearched humble beginnings and sky-rocketed in popularity, selling hundreds of instruments per month (including violins) exclusively via their website. Construction The key difference to note about Moondog’s construction is that it is based on their design ethos that smaller guitars are louder than larger ones. Why? Because six strings will only drive a sound table into vibration across a finite width. After a given distance away from the bridge, the top will not vibrate any more, and so increasing the size of the sound table doesn’t increase the volume. This particular Grand Auditorium model retails at £695, has a solid European spruce top and Chinese-sourced rosewood back and sides, but comes with a fundamental twist: the back has a parabolic arch shape to it, encouraging a warm and round bass response, which in itself is tight and quite loud. There is no bracing to the back, but rather it is made from a sandwich of an internal rosewood layer, followed by a balsa derivative, then a carbon fibre mesh and finally the outer rosewood layer. The balsa assists the adhesion of the oily rosewood to the carbon fibre mesh itself, which is where the majority of the rigidity of the back comes from. The beauty of this unique system is that the rosewood-sweetened reflection of tone from the inside of the guitar’s body still carries rosewood characteristics rather than those of plastic or the carbon fibre itself. The guitar carries a substantial weight about itself which conveys a heartening sense of robustness. It also has a great balance point about the neck/body join area, perhaps where the guitar feels most dense. The unique back and sides arrive ready to be assembled in the rosewood armrest situated on the bass side of the guitar. Its purpose isn’t so much to rest your arm upon, but rather to help prevent you from dampening the top of the guitar’s vibration, by as much as ten per cent. It’s nicely finished, overhangs the top by about half a centimetre and is a nice visual balance to the rosewood headstock veneer. The neck itself is mahogany with Grover machine heads, and you are treated to a light ebony fingerboard rather than mainstream rosewood. The inlays are elegant, clean and tidy, and serve well as fret markers without being overly flash. The nut (45mm wide) and compensated “There is no bracing to the back, but rather it is made from a sandwich of an internal rosewood layer, followed by a balsa derivative, then a carbon fibre mesh and finally the outer rosewood layer” Nanjing facility and are then put together by hand in the true sense of the phrase, and are therefore hand built. Although I have seen guitars that are entirely carbon fibre, or others that employ carbon fibre bracing, to my knowledge this sandwich technique is not used elsewhere. The bracing consists of many fine, narrow, balsa struts which themselves are strengthened with a mesh carbon fibre overlay. This maintains vibration and strength but most importantly volume. You will notice also the saddle are both made of bone. This trait of attention to detail is also evident in that the 80/20 nickel and silver frets are all well profiled and then finally inspected and hand polished before dispatch from UK stocks. Perhaps one of the few giveaway indicators that the guitar is truly hand finished can be seen in the oiled and waxed back and sides. There is no varnishing or lacquering to be found here. You can feel and see that the grain has been fed with these oils as you run your finger over the surface. It adds 44 Moondog Grand Auditorium 45 Moondog Grand Auditorium Mooddog Grand Auditorium Model: Adam Black J-5 Price: £695 incl Fibreglass case and on board Schertler electrics Manufacturer: Moondog Guitars Built in: China Body Size: LB 15 in UB 10 ¾ in Body depth 4 in Scale length 25 ½ Woods used: Solid Spruce Rose wood/carbon fibre Top: Solid Spruce Back & sides: Rosewood / carbon fibre Neck: Mahogany Fingerboard: Ebony Frets (No. & size): 21 Tuners: Grover Nut Width & Scale Length: 145mm 25 ½ Weight: 2.45 KG Strings Fitted (Gauge & Brand) Optima gold 12 to 52 Onboard Electronics: Schertler Bluestic with pre amp Left handers? Yes no extra cost Gig Bag/Case Included: Fibreglass flight case in Black or Red Incl Pic. 1 Moondo g lattice ’s bracing pattern Showing Shertler’s pre-amp and the armrest designed to prevent excessive top dampening. a wonderful sense of personality to each instrument and even an organic touch of extra thought. Another unique feature of this guitar’s build personality is the blanking off of the upper bouts. Underneath the top of the bouts is a layer of wood only a few millimetres thick which deadens off those areas of the top not considered important in projecting volume. This blanketing is then extended down towards the soundhole area where it then ceases. After this point, the sound table then undergoes a further metamorphosis. The outer edge of the table’s outline is strengthened with further thickening. In contrast, the centre section of the table where the bridge is fixed is much thinner, allowing for a greater top vibration and a huge increase in volume. of a natural type of compression but without clipping high-volume output. Much time and effort have gone into measuring the output of the sound table checking for zones of sympathetic oscillation. As a result, Moondog claim their guitars can be up to 25 per cent louder (yes, measured in db) than similar body designs from manufacturers retailing at a much higher price point. Pic. 1 shows the lattice bracing pattern using thicker braces towards the treble side and thinner ones on the bass side. I can truly say this design lives up to its claim, producing broad dynamics and depth of tone. The dynamic range available to you (due to the design of the guitar and suitable marriage with the Schertler preamp) makes for a very controllable output signal. You have your usual three- band EQ and the ability to select a higher or lower output from the toggle switch on the preamp. The neck’s C profile is comfortable and smooth to the touch. You soon notice that this is a very loud guitar, if you want it to be. It responds well to a hard attack, and yet you still maintain a great tone from the strings when they are played gently. The rosewood and carbon fibre mesh system produces a great bass response and sustain, also due to the arched-back design. All of these characteristics translate well when plugged in. Overall, I was greatly impressed by the care taken in designing an acoustic guitar that was not only carefully researched but delivered good results. One of the best things is that any buyer’s investment will be in the instrument itself, rather than in paying for hidden distribution and handling costs. Russell Welton Contact Details Tim Nicolai Moondog Guitars Tel: 029 2049 8872 or 029 2046 2746 www.moondogguitars.com What we think Pros: There are many hidden innovations – this well-researched guitar shows that attention has been paid to many important details. Cons: Perhaps the lack of a second strap button. Overall: By cutting out the middle retailer, a customer buying direct gains tangible benefits, including the fibreglass hard case, the rosewood and the carbon fibre components. ACOUSTIC RATING OUT OF FIVE Sound And Electrics This design is in response to efforts to maintain a consistent volume from the strings, particularly from the 12th fret onwards. Typically, as the strings shorten in length, there is less mass of string vibrating than on openly strummed chords. Consequently, this usually translates into a quieter output and a loss of volume as you play further up the neck. Not so with the Moondog. There’s a surprising continuity of sustain and volume from the body of the guitar whether you play at the nut or at higher registers. An additional unique voicing enhancement is that there is further attenuation of the sound table by means of a thin, tapered, wooden skin. It is thicker at the bass side of the bridge which then narrows down to around 1mm on the treble side. It has the effect Acoustic Ratings Exceptional Excellent Good Average Poor 46