Evan’s Model S!
All words written by Evan, the latest owner of a Tom Sands Guitar.
“A few weeks in, and I absolutely love this guitar. I’m going to keep it forever and play it every day. It’s inspired me to aspire to do 3 things: do more arranging, practice pieces to competency and record them, stop messing around and build a ukulele already with all this wood I’ve been collecting.”
This is an extraordinarily comfortable guitar to play - for me. The body size, playing position, shape, contours, and fit-n-finish are all just right.
I have another 12 fret with similar scale length, and my biggest comfort issue with that one is the neck. It doesn’t fill my hand right and feels too thin, and the string spacing is a bit crowded. Salacia immediately felt perfect. Just the right amount of support, no strain, and I had the instant empowerment of fast and confident fretting. When a guitar just clicks like this for me, it noticeably raises my skill cap. This isn’t an accident. I went on a grand quest, took tons of measurements and profiles, and sent detailed notes to Tom.
Independent of personal taste and style, this is objectively an exceptional acoustic instrument. It’s a responsive cannon, balanced, even, has an unbelievably strong and focused fundamental in the bass, wonderfully even sustain, excellent intonation, tuning stability, etc.
It’s a completely different sound from my other guitars and I’m drawn to playing different music on it, but it’s also surprisingly versatile. It’s articulate enough that bluegrass fingerstyle sounds great on it - just very different. I think a big part of this is the consistency of tone over the life of a note. It’s an immediate response with very little bloom and very little tone change during decay. I can strike a note with different levels of attack and position, and my tuner shows remarkably little deviation all the way through (within 1 to 2 cents). Paradoxically, this instrument also has more tonal range than I think any guitar I’ve played. It’s the same dimensions I’m used to – nail/flesh, attack angle, depth, position, damping the back - but the magnitude of responsiveness feels like I’m exploring a whole new gamut.
“This guitar is properly loud. This is not what I expected from a redwood top on a delicately balanced raised pinky instrument. This is the result of a special set of redwood, a special builder, and likely a sprinkling of faerie dust.”
My default playing style is to go full volume and selectively make certain notes quieter for effect. This guitar is too loud for that. I can just play softer, and can access far more range on either end when I want it. It feels indulgent, bordering on illegal. I’m getting used to it.
I’ve soaked in the overall aesthetic of this guitar via pictures for months before seeing it in person. There are no surprises in the beauty of the design, the balance, and the focus on design and execution over intricate ornamentations. It looks incredible on screen and incredible-er in person. There are some new impressions upon receiving it:
The woods! Pictures don’t do them justice. You have to hold it and watch the grain play in the light – mesmerizing.
The execution! I’m really impressed - I’m pretty sure this is actually an injection molded and wire-EDMed guitar. I’ve built many different things in many different ways, and played a lot of boutique guitars from a lot of different builders, and I just don’t understand how someone achieves this level of execution.
The purple urchin! I thought that outside of the build pictures, there would be no discernible evidence of the urchin spine side dots. I would know they’re there, and that would be enough. But, there are subtle color variations and bits of true purple that are visible with the naked eye, and under a microscope the distinct growth structure is clearly visible!
Will another person ever notice this? No, of course not. But - if a race of technologically advanced cephalopods finds this guitar in a hermetically sealed time capsule on the moon 7 million years from now - they’ll notice. And they’ll know us humans had a complicated relationship with echinoderms - just like them.
“The decision to buy this guitar was an impulsive splurge. I had the means and the desire, but absolutely no good reason. I just really wanted to do it, and I did it. On the other side of it, this is one of the wisest things I’ve ever done – I’m a genius.”
Sweating the build was a great experience I’ll never forget, and I’m going to play this guitar nearly every day for (hopefully) the next 30 - 40 years. That extra bit of happiness and creativity will have a measurable cumulative impact on my life. Occasionally other people at holiday parties or local bars enjoy my playing too, and there will be a dash more happiness for them as well.