Luke Duke
PRSlustologist
I went to the Dallas Guitar Show and spent some time with Frank Falbo and was able to really give his guitars a thorough "working over".
My current acoustic line up is a 70s ovation balladeer, and an 06 or 07 Martin D18V. I took the Martin with me to Dallas to have a frame of reference. Normally my Martin is strung with 13s and is very loud deep and rich. Frank had 3 guitars there. The Parlor (with cutaway) reviewed by Guitar Player, Grand Auditorium (with cutaway), Dreadnought, and Jumbo. Now before we get into a tonal discussion I'll say this Frank is not trying to re-invent the wheel, but he IS trying to to motorize it. Here's the video.
So I headed to the acoustic sound room to check them out. I started with the GA. As a rule I HATE the tone of cutaway acoustics....with a passion! They always sound thinner than I feel like they should and never seem to sustain very well. When you add a skinny neck (ala Taylor) it gets even worse. So to say I as skeptical is a HUGE understatement. Frank's a good guy but I really expected a smaller cutaway guitar to sound like a very well polished turd. What made it even worse was that the guitars are BEAUTIFUL! just the right amount of inlaid abalone, dark ebony board, bridge, faceplate, and very rich looking indian rosewood back and sides. The Italian spruce top really makes the guitar look fine with defined grain....but all that would be in vain for a well polished turd.
I strummed and was was blown away. The guitar was MUCH more alive than the small size or the cutaway would indicate. The guitar had good volume, lots of chime and a bouncy low end. The upper fret access was good and the transition on the neck wasn't awkward. The guitar was very well balanced, I know that is a GA tendency but this was a CUTAWAY GA so I really didn't expect it at all.
Then I grabbed the Jumbo. Now I'll say this, I'm NOT a jumbo fan. They always sound smaller (to me) than they should for the size, but it's all preference. It was incredibly even across the strings. the lows were there, though subdued because of the hips, and the highs were present. This guitar seemed to have LOTS of high mids and in a band situation it would cut through like nobody's business.
The star of the show was the Parlor. EVERYBODY loved that guitar. It had a huge sound from a little biddy body but still has the midrange bias that those guitars are known to have. That guitar was unreal, it was JUST as well made as the GA, great transition in the cutaway and didn't sound tinny like most cutaways do. The action was great even, and on most parlors it seems like the action is off due to the size, but it was spot on.
Then....we had the Pepsi Challenge. D18V Vs Falbo Dreadnought. At the core I'm a Mahogany back/sides guy, so the Falbo was at a disadvantage to my ears. I started out with 13s on my Martin and 12s (for the show) on the Falbo. As for pure loudness the Martin was on top. A little while later we changed the Martin to 12s. At that point the Falbo (a brand new guitar) was as loud as the Martin and produced a much more even sound. The Falbo had more true bass but the Martin had tons of low mids that people might mistake for bass if they are only a casual player/listener. The Falbo took MUCH less "work" to activate the top due to having about 20-30% less bracing. Because of that the sustain on the Falbo was much much longer than the D18V. It was pretty uncanny how different the amounts of sustain were.
On the whole the Falbos are fantastic guitars. The attention to detail is spectacular. Perfectly finished 1 3/4" nut, rounded binding, fret, and fingerboard edges, and a great bridge saddle that intonates well and makes for a great action. The thing that blows my mind is the sustain, and the highs last so long it's like you have a compressor on them. The bridge design and less bracing makes this a finger style player's DREAM guitar, and a guy like me who strums and fiddles gets a great tone and great volume.
I highly recommend you check them out, and if you are in the market for a high end acoustic give Frank a yell about what you are looking for.
Luke
My current acoustic line up is a 70s ovation balladeer, and an 06 or 07 Martin D18V. I took the Martin with me to Dallas to have a frame of reference. Normally my Martin is strung with 13s and is very loud deep and rich. Frank had 3 guitars there. The Parlor (with cutaway) reviewed by Guitar Player, Grand Auditorium (with cutaway), Dreadnought, and Jumbo. Now before we get into a tonal discussion I'll say this Frank is not trying to re-invent the wheel, but he IS trying to to motorize it. Here's the video.
So I headed to the acoustic sound room to check them out. I started with the GA. As a rule I HATE the tone of cutaway acoustics....with a passion! They always sound thinner than I feel like they should and never seem to sustain very well. When you add a skinny neck (ala Taylor) it gets even worse. So to say I as skeptical is a HUGE understatement. Frank's a good guy but I really expected a smaller cutaway guitar to sound like a very well polished turd. What made it even worse was that the guitars are BEAUTIFUL! just the right amount of inlaid abalone, dark ebony board, bridge, faceplate, and very rich looking indian rosewood back and sides. The Italian spruce top really makes the guitar look fine with defined grain....but all that would be in vain for a well polished turd.
I strummed and was was blown away. The guitar was MUCH more alive than the small size or the cutaway would indicate. The guitar had good volume, lots of chime and a bouncy low end. The upper fret access was good and the transition on the neck wasn't awkward. The guitar was very well balanced, I know that is a GA tendency but this was a CUTAWAY GA so I really didn't expect it at all.
Then I grabbed the Jumbo. Now I'll say this, I'm NOT a jumbo fan. They always sound smaller (to me) than they should for the size, but it's all preference. It was incredibly even across the strings. the lows were there, though subdued because of the hips, and the highs were present. This guitar seemed to have LOTS of high mids and in a band situation it would cut through like nobody's business.
The star of the show was the Parlor. EVERYBODY loved that guitar. It had a huge sound from a little biddy body but still has the midrange bias that those guitars are known to have. That guitar was unreal, it was JUST as well made as the GA, great transition in the cutaway and didn't sound tinny like most cutaways do. The action was great even, and on most parlors it seems like the action is off due to the size, but it was spot on.
Then....we had the Pepsi Challenge. D18V Vs Falbo Dreadnought. At the core I'm a Mahogany back/sides guy, so the Falbo was at a disadvantage to my ears. I started out with 13s on my Martin and 12s (for the show) on the Falbo. As for pure loudness the Martin was on top. A little while later we changed the Martin to 12s. At that point the Falbo (a brand new guitar) was as loud as the Martin and produced a much more even sound. The Falbo had more true bass but the Martin had tons of low mids that people might mistake for bass if they are only a casual player/listener. The Falbo took MUCH less "work" to activate the top due to having about 20-30% less bracing. Because of that the sustain on the Falbo was much much longer than the D18V. It was pretty uncanny how different the amounts of sustain were.
On the whole the Falbos are fantastic guitars. The attention to detail is spectacular. Perfectly finished 1 3/4" nut, rounded binding, fret, and fingerboard edges, and a great bridge saddle that intonates well and makes for a great action. The thing that blows my mind is the sustain, and the highs last so long it's like you have a compressor on them. The bridge design and less bracing makes this a finger style player's DREAM guitar, and a guy like me who strums and fiddles gets a great tone and great volume.
I highly recommend you check them out, and if you are in the market for a high end acoustic give Frank a yell about what you are looking for.
Luke
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