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Cole Clark Fat Lady FLI1AC Cutaway Acoustic |
Cole Clark Fat Lady FLI1AC Cutaway Acoustic
In less than three years, Cole Clark Guitars have made quite an impact on the Australian guitar scene and no wonder when you look at what they've achieved in that time! Bradley Clark worked for Maton guitars for eleven years before embarking on setting up Cole Clark guitars. He had some original and revolutionary ideas on how to build and assemble a guitar using CNC (computer numerical control) machinery.
CNC machines have become commonplace in guitar building facilities for ten to fifteen years and and have been essential to the development of U.S. makers like Taylor guitars as well as the dominance of Asian and Chinese factories in the guitar market. Even some small volume builders like myself use CNC gear - I designed and built my own unit in the early nineties.
What Brad Clark did was a complete rethink on guitar design based on utilising the accuracy and versatility of CNC machines. In basic terms the guitar is built around the neck instead of the conventional method of building the body and neck separately then fixing the neck to the body. The Fat Lady utilises a traditional Spanish style neck where the neck heel is an integral part of the neck, with slots cut in to it to take the sides.
Here's the clever bit! The top and back start out at around 6mm. thick (instead of the usual 3mm. (approx.) stock. The top and back are then machined and carved to variable thicknesses so that slots are produced for all the braces to fit into and a slot is made in the oversized pieces to receive the sides, the excess being trimmed off after assembly. This ingenious approach greatly speeds up the construction and assembly process resulting in a non cutaway, no pickup Fat Lady made of all solid wood construction (no plywood) selling for $999.00! There are no kerfing strips to glue the top and back to the sides as the top and back have extra thickness in this area.
This approach has allowed them to rethink the strutting pattern into two major struts forming an "A" shape with several smaller struts radiating off that. This is true blue Aussie ingenuity, alive and well! To Brad's credit they even called in renowned W.A. Luthier Scott Wise for a "second opinion" on the voicing of the whole guitar.
The Fat Lady FL1AC cutaway acoustic with pickup system sells for $1299.00 (plus case). The one I received was straight off the line, with Bunya Pine top and Queensland Maple back and sides with the Cole Clark under saddle piezo pickups and three piezo sensors attached to the top. The control panel sports a volume, blender (between the saddle and top sensors), and treble, middle and bass EQ faders.
First impressions were a bit weird! Unplugged, the guitar was impressive. It had good tops and ample bottom end and good attack/sustain characteristics but I felt that something was slightly missing. The Elexir bronze wound strings are not as "fat" as phosphor bronze strings and I felt that while everything seemed to be working right, there was a slight lack of complexity and mid range response.
Having given the guitar a good playing for a week and having discussed this concern with the makers and a couple of retailers, I believe the guitar needs a bit more running in than a more conventional guitar- it stands to reason! Play it hard and play it often and give it time to settle in!
Plugging in is a breeze! Heaps of level, effective E.Q. and a very nice blending slider between the bridge and face sensors. Cole Clark guitars claim it's the best pickup system around and maybe that's not too far off- it certainly works well and no complaints!
I've been involved in the the guitar business for thirty years and have therefore seen many of the "revolutionary" ideas presented in that time. My feeling is that most of these are more hype than substance. This is backed up by the fact that there is actually nothing "revolutionary" still around.I wont give examples here 'cos my lawyer charges way too much!
However, I'm here to say that an Australian firm in this case has come up with a revolutionary way to efficiently build an all solid wood guitar of excellent value for money at an amazingly low price. OK, it's a satin finish and the binding/trim looks a little different, but if you're looking at buying a guitar in the $1000.00-$1500.00 range with a pickup, then the Cole Clark Fat Lady has just got to be on the check list! Australian innovation at it's best!
It's a pleasure to see an Australian firm using Australian timbers produce a guitar that competes and compares well with the rest of the world in the difficult medium/low end of pricing in all solid wood guitars. Remember you'll be paying for no frills quality and performance rather than frills and trim and "mother of snail" inlays, and don't' forget to allow for a bit more fun playing it in.