alchemy acoustic labs

Posts Tagged ‘jim relja’

We offered to do one guitar for one member of the online Collings Forum community free of charge. The recipient selection process took some time, but in the end we decided to go with one of the moderator’s guitars. Elambo is an audio engineer, studio musician and the furthest thing from an AAL cheerleader we could find. We wanted an objective opinion. We’re posting our results and opinions before Elambo does, in an effort to be as forthright as possible. Let the chips fall.

The Julius Borges OM-28 was one of our favorite guitars we’ve ever played or had in our labs. The build quality and playability is just phenomenal. It was already optimized for volume, versatility and projection by design when we received it.

Post AO1 process, it did not come up as dramatically in amplitude (volume) as some other guitars we’ve processed. It had more increase in sustain than volume. But where we felt that the process enhanced its sound the most was in the evening out of the notes, filling in the bottom end in the lows and low-mid ranges. It truly opened up the guitar in the way that age and playing (a lot) would do.

We’ll post updates to this guitar as the story continues to unfold. For now, here are some audio and video files chronicling the event.

Audio Files:

Elambo’s Borges (Before A01 Process  01)

Elambo’s Borges (After A01 Process  01)

Elambo’s Borges (Before A01 Process  02)

Elambo’s Borges (After A01 Process  02)

When one of your biggest problems is that every time your business partner goes out he comes back with a new lovely guitar – well let’s just say there are worse problems to have.

We’re extremely lucky to have one of the best-stocked high-end acoustic guitar shops in the country, manned by one of the most knowledgeable, passionate guitar dealers in the business, right here about 5 miles up the river from our headquarters. We have no connection with Steve from Acoustic Music Works, (other than being regular customers) but I can tell you his hand-picked instrument selection is unsurpassed.

We see our share of off-the-charts high-end guitars through here and I have to say that Bourgeois makes some of the finest playing instruments available.  Frank chose this gorgeous Bourgeois Advanced Slope D Premium Madrose from Steve’s stock because of its stunning tone and beauty. This is a player’s guitar.

This video is another casual behind the scenes discussion with Jim Relja playing and reviewing the guitar directly after it had been AO1-processed. the guitar has since opened up even more in the 4 weeks since this video was shot. You’ll hear one of our returning customers, Pat, asking Jim questions about the process in this clip.

Some days I have the best job on the planet.

We’ve got a lot going on right now, but this also qualifies as news. In case you haven’t seen it, we’ve been part of a rather lengthy and spirited thread on the Online Collings Forum.  I have enjoyed participating in it and answering as many questions as I can. We have had a few guys from the forum call and schedule guitars to be sent in. This is the first of them. The guitar belongs to “Maui” in Hawaii and it was sent at probably the greatest personal expense so far (Calton cased guitar to and from Hawaii to Pittsburgh is not cheap) The thread on the forum is now 25 PAGES long and has been viewed over 7400 times at last count.  With all those things in mind, we really felt like we were on the hotseat on this one so we recorded everything including our before and after commentary. As we have done all along, we’re not going to publish emails here but  we’ll be happy to put anyone interested in the process in touch with the guitar’s owner or the player at any time, as long as they are open to being contacted. Please keep in mind, this is a more casual, shaky-cam style video intended for entertainment  – not  a discerning audiophile demonstration. There are new MP3 files of this guitar HERE and better quality .wavs are available upon request.

Newest addition to our growing stable of different amazing guitars that have gone through our AO1 process:  According to its owner, this James Olson SJ style guitar is exactly like the Olson that James Taylor owns and plays except for the inlay design. This Cedar-topped, Eastern Rosewood back and sides SJ (small jumbo) model guitar produced by Jim Olson is favored by James Taylor, Phil Keaggy, David Wilcox, Patty Larkin, David Crosby and many other top level artists.

We just completed the AO1 process on this guitar. Sound files are available below and on the Audio Page.  As great as this guitar sounded before, it sounds even better now. The quote from the control room from Jim Relja was “More sustain. More volume and balance, and just way more fun to play than before. There was a dramatic difference between the before and after performance of the guitar.”

As always, we stress that the guitars that we receive are all different and they are among the nicest sounding instruments on the planet. We are not altering the voicing of these instruments, we are just making them more of what they are, or what they will be – many years down the line – right now.

Olson SJ Track 01 (Before AAL A01 Process)

Olson SJ Track 01 (After AAL A01 Process)

Apologies to J. T. but this just seemed fitting:

Olson SJ Track 02 (Before AAL A01 Process)

Olson SJ Track 02 (After AAL A01 Process)

Here’s the response from the owner:

Having had time to spend a few weeks with the SJ Olson you processed for me – the biggest difference is not so much the unplugged sound , yes that did improve.

It was the feel of the instrument that I most noticed. The improvements were not so much in tone, but in sustain, the bloom of the note and the subtle decay as the note fades to wherever they go.

Your process creates more time and space, which in turn, creates more options to interpret a song. Songs do not have to be pushed or hurried in anyway. A great guitar that already sounded good, now simply became more a more complicated platform in it’s options available to the player.

The tree became a guitar.

What makes a great guitar ?

The one that inspires you to pick it up.

Thanks Boys

Patric Dahms
Home Port , Pittsburgh 2010

June 9, 2009 – Session/touring guitarist and master guitar tech Jim Relja examines and plays this Collings D2HG 4 weeks after it received our AO1 Process.