Daniel Slaman Sisterhood #6

Not long ago CR Guitars began our exciting relationship with the great Daniel Slaman, a luthier of considerable renown from The Netherlands. He has been wholly committed to making archtop instruments that capture the spirit and tone of the legendary Gibson period that ran from the early 1930s through the 1950s. If you didn’t get a chance to read our introduction to Slaman, here is a link:

http://www.crguitars.com/site/article/an-introduction-to-daniel-slaman

The last couple guitars we had in the shop from Daniel were part of the original run of archtops that were made alongside an instrument he developed with Pat Metheny. Metheny, a diehard fan of early Gibson archtops, discovered Daniel and fell in love with his superlative work. Here is a link to what Pat said about their collaboration:

http://www.newvintageguitars.com/guitar-for-pat-metheny-1.html

The new Slaman guitar we have in the shop is Sisterhood Series #6, and has a similar pedigree. Daniel built a second Sisterhood series guitar for Metheny, which is now his touring instrument (affectionately named Traveling Sister), and this guitar is the next serial number after Pat’s, and was made at the same time.

The top on this warm and articulate guitar is European spruce, with tight grain in the center, and more open grain toward the sides. Slaman counts the great classical guitar maker Antonio de Torres among his most important influences, and Torres—who made guitars in the 1800s—developed this way of orientating top grain on classical guitars, but it applies equally well to carved top instruments. The tight grain in the center gives this guitar a strong, dynamic voice with bell-like treble response, and the more spaced grain toward the sides brings warmth and openness to the tone, while keeping the bass response tight. In fact this is a strikingly balanced archtop, and the trebles are spectacular all the way up the fretboard.

Archop guitars were originally made for volume (practically because they needed to be heard in an orchestra setting) and they are tricky to build in a way that captures the tonal complexity other acoustic instruments are known for. Slaman’s tops are thinner than most archtops, and he has nurtured the skill to built instruments, like this guitar, that are both spirited and highly nuanced.  

The back and sides are beautiful three-dimensional quilted maple. Looking at the back reminds me of watching a clear mountain stream, the way the water ripples over the smooth rocks beneath the surface. It just shimmers and swirls in the light, but isn’t at all ostentatious.

This guitar has Daniel’s Betty Antique finish, which is a thin, lightly relic’d nitrocellulose lacquer finish that has the vintage patina of a well preserved guitar that has been lovingly played for many years. Moreoever, Daniel has mastered the art of craquele finishing, which recreates the spidery surface checking so common in old nitro finishes, and you’d never know that this guitar was finished in May of 2016.

As much as this guitar is rooted in acoustic tone, it was really made to be amplified, and has one of Slaman’s innovative custom Charlie Christian pickups. Unlike the historic version, Daniel’s CC pickup has individually adjustable pole pieces, which are an enormous aid in balancing the electric tone, and is an example of how he uses modern developments in technology to accentuate the vintage vibe and sound of his instruments.

For years Daniel has closely examined countless vintage archtop guitars and found that a common issue with many such instruments is poor construction technique. A central theme in his credo has been how to make an instrument that plays and intonates perfectly yet has an authentic vibe and pure vintage tone. This guitar is a fulfillment of that charter. With perfect intonation, a superb neck, stellar electronics and great reliability, it is a modern guitar, and yet it also is nearly tonally indistinguishable from a great vintage instrument. The guitar really is the best of both the modern and the vintage worlds.

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT DANIEL SLAMAN GUITARS
Daniel Slaman has been making guitars since 1978. Born in 1957, the first guitar was made with help from his father and the book ‘Classical Guitar Making’ by the late Irving Sloane. After spending much time with the classical and flamenco guitars, since 1995 Daniel has been making archtop jazz guitars exclusively. To Slaman, guitar making is an expression of creative freedom; every choice that is made for a particular guitar is made to achieve a unity in design. The result may not be to everybody's taste, that's a different matter, but the unity of design should always shine through in choices of wood, size, decoration and finish colour of the guitar. The result is always a unique one-of-a-kind instrument, made by one mind and set of hands. Slaman players connect to their guitar(s) in a unique way. To these owners, the guitar has a meaning beyond physical aspects; there's always a bond or connection between the player and the guitar. The guitars transcend the status of mere physical objects; they almost become a part of the family, an irreplaceable item of value both material and immaterial.