I received the Traphagen carved cedar top in good order, the box was packed so heavily with packing materials that a truck could have hit it and it would have survived.

Pulling it out of the case the beauty of the instrument was immediately apparent. Dake makes a guitar that mirrors the Northwest, beautiful treatment of woodtones with a rosette and bindings that look distinctly American and blends with the top as well as extends its color. The Brazilian rosewood back is made to highlight its golden color that exploits a figure in the wood that resembles a lion's head. This is a stunning guitar, so stunning that even though I have shipped it to a happy buyer in New York, the image of it is still fresh in my memory.

This is of the best of the West Coast guitars. I've known Dake's guitars for years. Stuart Fox, classical guitarist/instructor of CalArts and my former teacher, opted for Dake's guitar back in 1990.

It has a complicated sound. Like red wine. The sound of it makes you wonder if there is really a difference between cedar and spruce.

To me, spruce has always been the more complicated sounding wood, having a richer palette of tonal colors while cedar has a smooth and chocolatey sound that is fixed in a more narrow tonal focus. Being that the guitar in question is a carved cedar top I expected it to adhere to the description above. It didn't.

This guitar has the distinction of being the most complicated sounding cedar top guitar I have ever played. The Traphagen sounded like spruce; with all of the cedar focus. This is a hard sound to describe but suffice to say, beautiful and unique.

The carved top is central to its sound. It doesn't respond like an ordinary guitar. The sound and power hangs on the walls. The guitar seems deceptively slow in sound development because of this. What you hear sitting over the guitar is different than what you hear in front. What you hear is a spruce guitar with and uncharacteristic focus that comes from cedar. The basses are fat and the trebles are crisp and the guitar is very well balanced. It's what's in between the above that's different about this guitar.

This guitar played like a dream! The neck has a slight curve to the fretboard and the neck itself seems evenly rounded and not excessively flattened. A local luthier came over with measuring tools with the hopes to duplicate the action and neck shape. This act, I would say is a sincere form of flattery.

I've got to say that this carved top is something to try to understand. What does it contribute and what does it take away? The difference in sound, while being well within the normal sound of a classical guitar, is recognizable. I remember Stuart's guitar which was traditionally topped cedar.

Again, I sit writing about a guitar that is absent. I should make a practice of not doing that. This is an unfortunate thing. Can't own them all, unless you don't tell your wife. I can see the headlines:"man led double life while wife plotted to..."

ME- What was your inspiration for the carved top?

Dake- The idea behind the carved top was to build an arch into the top without stress. The usual way of "doming" the top is to put the top in a dished out work board, upside down, and push the braces into the curve. When the glue dries you have a domed top. This works well but the "dome" is aquired with the use of stress. The carved top is stressless. I start with a thicker piece of wood and start shaping the ouside first. I make the upper bout look like a normal top, flat, and dome the lower bout, from the bottom of the sound hole to the butt of the guitar, and accross the width.

I then flip the top over and carve the lower bout to the curvature of the out side until I reach the thickness I want. I then fit each fan brace to the curvature of the inside curve. Just like fitting a bass bar in a violin, except there are several braces. Remember, I was originally trained as a violin maker so this is not so strange for me.

ME- How much playing did you do before you decided to become a luthier?

ME- What kind of bracing system do you use?

Dake- I use a very traditional Spanish inspired bracing system for my traditional guitars. It's a compilation of different systems with the best aspects taken and used in my overall design. I also use another unique design, somewhat like a Bernabe, yet modified to what I think is necessary. The general thickness of my tops is about 2.3mm for spruce and 2.45mm for cedar. These dimensions of course change with each piece of wood and no top is exactly the same as another. Each top itself is not the same thickness throughout.

ME-Your action is mighty fine. What is your philosophy concerning this?

Dake- As for the action, I try and make each guitar as easy as possible to play while still mantaining some string tension, not loose like a rubber band, so they are easier to play fast passages on. The fret slots are precisely cut and the frets installed and shaped with great care. Repeated checking and leveling/shaping until they are all just right. Now you have a great fret board.

ME-Your instruments are beautiful! How did the "look" evolve?

Dake- The look of the instrument is important to me. I like a more rounded/shaply look, opposed to the rather square look of a German/Hauser guitar.
I also like to use beautiful wood and let the woods speak for themselves, rather than use alot of ornate fittings to make the guitar look flashy. I find beautiful wood inspiring to work with. It calls me to play with it!

ME- You mentioned that Brazilian differs in sound from Indian rosewood. Elaborate on this please.

Dake- I like Brazilian Rosewood over all other woods because I feel it sounds better. It has a much fuller color "pallete" to the sound than Indian, and is much more interesting to work with. Indian can still produce fine guitars but for me the ultimate is Brazilian. It has so much character and life to it!

ME- How many guitars do you make a year?

Dake-I make about 18 guitars a year.

ME- Any plans for new types of instruments or innovations?

Dake- I'm always experimenting with different bracing patterns and construction methods to see if they make a difference and to keep me " fresh". I have a 'shop' guitar that I do experiments on before I try something on "real" instrument. Most the experiments never make it out of the shop, but it's fun.

I'm not a fan of using graphite in the top because I feel it makes the sound a bit harsh and cold. So my experiments are not so much with modern materials but with using the wood at hand to "speak". I'm still playing with the carved top design to try and perfect it. It's a very complex system and many things need to be considered. I have no current plans for any 'major' inovations but many small ideas to make the instument better. I'm sure in the future I'll come up with some crazy idea and play around with it. It may never see the light of day but I'll still play with it.

ME-Around the US, where can your guitars be seen?

Dake- Many teachers and students have my guitars at some of the major universities around the U.S. and Canada, as well as private teachers. Also several major performers use my guitars to concertize on. I also have instruments in Europe and Japan. ( Look on my site for the stores that have my guitars)

ME-How do you feel about the general prices the guitar salons charge and how has it affected the classical market?

Dake- I think the prices of guitars are still to low considering the amount of work it takes to build them. If I were still making violins I would be charging at least $15,000.00 for an equivilent instrument. Having made both instruments, one is no more difficult to make than the other, just different.

The guitar salons have had an effect in the way people buy guitars currently. It tends to bring out the "mall shopping" attitude in people because that is what we've become used to. With this mentality I think people end up buying instruments that are not well suited to them.

Copyright 2006, new millennium Guitar Publishing Co., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED