Artist Interview: SHAK
Humble, soft spoken, a man of few words, and far from flamboyant, Shak’s reserved demeanor is fairly unusual for a regular performer, which made us all the more excited when he agreed to sit down for an interview with us. Sitting down with him, there is an instant sense of someone who has a lot of heart.
Alternative Tonewoods
In recent times, more and more luthiers have started experimenting and looking for alternative materials, in a move that has set the community in a forward motion of innovation in the craft. This has spurred the progress of the art on even further as a result.
Tonewood Pairings
Through the years, we have made instruments with various tonewood combinations, giving us a deeper understanding on how each tonewood interacts with another, ultimately impacting the tonal characteristics of the instrument. In this Journal, we list down common wood used for back and sides, their characteristics, and our observations when paired with a specific soundboard.
What Is CITES?
In January 2017, a new amendment on CITES was made to for the inclusion of several Dalbergia and Kosso species of plants, further regulating the trade and harvest of these trees. Read more to know how does this affect you when buying and selling instruments made from CITES protected wood.
Learning Voicing from Ervin Somogyi
It was March 2015 when Hozen went to Oakland, California to further his studies on voicing under Ervin Somogyi. With him was one of his best builds during that time, a Raffles Malaysian Blackwood. He was very eager to find out what was he missing and hear how his “best sounding” guitar becomes better.