Thomas Ochs - 2014 Double-Top

In his newest model, Thomas Ochs combines the advantages of his classic guitar (clarity, brilliance, fundamental bass, sustain, balance in all registers and chords) with the advantages of the so called “Double-Top” construction. Double-top, „sandwich-top“ or „composite-top construction means a special method in which the guitar’s top is laminated from several layers in order to obtain the lowest possible weight while at the same time having very good acoustic characteristics. The best-known method is the one developed by Matthias Dammann and Gernot Wagner in the 1990’s which is a laminate of two very thin (tone)wood layers with a middle layer of meta-aramid material (Nomex). Instruments in double-top construction is attested a higher sound intensity with easy playability and excellent response. So dynamic playing becomes a pleasure with a treble that has no equal. Both, the sides as well as the back are made of Santos rosewood. Four transverse struts stiffen the back and together with the stiffened ribs, they ensure that the top is able to swing like a firmly clamped membrane. Those characteristics of construction increase the instrument’s projection. The neck, which is stiffened with carbon rods, consists of cedro with a shafted headstock. It is connected with the guitar’s body in Spanish design. The top nut made of bone is not located directly at the end of the fingerboard, but is inserted into the fingerboard. By this technique, Thomas Ochs achieves an additional stiffening of the neck-head junction. The ornamentation of the instrument is classically elegant and it is kept very simple. A handmade soundhole inlay surrounds the soundhole and the body is framed by decorative purflings with precious woods, which harmonize with the soundhole inlay. The top of this instrument (spruce/cedar double-top) is refined through an exclusive shellac polish. The wood used for the guitar’s body is coated by a thin layer of nitrocellulose-based varnish and is hence protected for many years. The oiled and waxed neck imparts at once the incomparable haptics of the material wood and does not become sticky. Thomas Ochs places particular emphasis on an optimal playability of the instrument. A decent transverse curvature of the elevated fingerboard, which is made of ebony, perceptibly improves the playability, in particular talking about barré chords (also known as bar chords), and the reachability of higher registers. An armrest made of snakewood reduces the contact of the guitarist’s arm with the guitar’s body so that the top of the instrument can vibrate more freely as the armrest prevents the forearm to interfere with the full vibration of the top. A tuning system by Klaus Scheller with pegheads made of snakewood a fine tuning and warrants a high degree of tuning stability.