Gila Eban Guitars (was: More Better than Ramirez)
Brian Abrams
>In article ><199808102347...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, Al Carruth
wrote:
<snip>
>>Also,I don't know what Gila Eban is charging these days, but she makes a
heck
>>of a guitar.
>>
>>Alan Carruth / Luthier
>I'd like to hear about Gila's guitars too. She's a smart lady and I'd
>feel very privileged to play one of her recent instruments.
>Best,
>Jim
I agree about it being a privilege to play her instruments. I feel that way
every time I pick mine up. <g> Thanks to this newsgroup, I had the good
fortune to meet this gifted luthier and was so impressed with her most
recent creation, that I just had to have it. Heck, I wasn't even in the
market for a guitar! Thing is, when looking at most guitars in this
price-range ($5k), picking one over another is really a matter of splitting
hairs. The market is saturated with a zillion incarnations of the same old
thing. Not so with Gila's instruments. One look and you know you're dealing
with a breed apart. From its appearance to its sound, every aspect of the
instrument is uniquely crafted to the highest standards. I have never heard
a richer, smoother sounding guitar. I have never seen a more visually
striking guitar.
On the day she showed it to me, she and I attended a recital at Carnegie
Hall given by a young Austrian guitar virtuoso named Alexander Swete.
Following the concert, I insisted on waiting for Swete and showing him
Gila's masterpiece. Swete, it turned out, was a very genial character and
happily obliged me in my request (thanks Alex :-)). As seems to be the trend
of late, he owned one of those new $15k double-topped screamers by the
German builder Dahmann. Well, Swete graciously spent the next 20 minutes
showing us how Gila's guitar was superior to his own! In his words "it has
both the sweetness and the power". Gila's (now mine <g>) guitar made the
Dahmann seem tonally bankrupt by comparison.
For a peek at the very guitar I bought go to
http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/2041/3.html . The b+w photos at the
bottom of the page are of my instrument. (BTW Gila, b+w really don't do it
justice). Don't be fooled by the futuristic appearance, the sound is more
reminiscent of a Rodriguez than it is of any of those new loud and twangy
guitars that seem to be in vogue.
So if you haven't guessed it yet, I'm a truly satisfied Eban customer. Now
is there anyone out there that could sell me some talent so that I could do
this baby justice? <g>
Brian
p.s. Gila can be contacted at GEgu...@aol.com
Al Carruth
want to know how she did the silver inlay in the rosette...
Brian wrote:
<<Now
is there anyone out there that could sell me some talent so that I could do
this baby justice?>>
Well, the guitar should *always* have more in it than you can get out;
otherwise you are just butting your haed against the ceiling. Sounds as though
you bought the right one...
Alan Carruth / Luthier
JamieWG
<manh...@programmer.net> writes:
> Thanks to this newsgroup, I had the good
>fortune to meet this gifted luthier and was so impressed with her most
>recent creation, that I just had to have it.
So, Brian _you're_ the lucky new owner of this gem! I had two opportunities to
play that wonderful guitar. I told Gila that had it been a shorter scale
instrument, she never would have gotten it out of my hands! It's one of the
finest guitars I've ever played. Congratulations on your new instrument.
Jamie
Jamie W. Grossman
Intermediate Classical Guitar Repertoire Favorites Homepage:
http://www.maui.net/~rtadaki/intcgrep.html
Brian Abrams
>I'm not even sure i
>want to know how she did the silver inlay in the rosette...
That had me baffled also. The answer I got from Gila was " analytic
geometry". <g> Hope that cleared things up. :-)
Brian
Brian Abrams
>It's one of the finest guitars I've ever played. Congratulations on your
>new instrument.
Thanks! It's definitely the finest instrument _I've_ ever played. Now if I
could just learn to stop shouting "wow!" while playing it....Or maybe I
could learn to shout on the beat? <g>
Brian
Jim String
She certainly did seem to like math. All luthiers have their secrets
though. ;-)
Best,
Jim
GEguitars
and that is -- many people deserve credit and praise for the guitar: The people
who sold me its very exceptional wood, the players whose critiques and whose
own instruments provided goals to aspire to, and those who helped me learn
about musical acoustics, all played some part in this, as did all the people
from the Newsgroups, (that's _you_) whose lively discussions helped me organize
my thinking and from whom I learned a lot.
BTW the N.G point is mentioned in the "acknowledgements" of a recent paper I
wrote as part of the June 1998 International Symposium on Musical Acousitcs.
(It's on page 102 of the Symposium's "Proceedings.")
Al Carruth wrote:
>I'm not even sure i want to know how she did the silver inlay in the
rosette...
Me neither! I told Brian how I did it, so he'll know in case I forget. It
_was_ a tough one to make -- I tell people that one day I'll publish it, in
hope that someone I don't like will try it <g> (bad joke but hard to resist).
Gila Eban
Jim String
>
>Me neither! I told Brian how I did it, so he'll know in case I forget. It
>_was_ a tough one to make -- I tell people that one day I'll publish it, in
>hope that someone I don't like will try it <g> (bad joke but hard to resist).
Great joke, I think, and a mark of a true artist. What artist ever wants
to repeat a work?
Best,
Jim