The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

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VikingBlues
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Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:44 pm

The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by VikingBlues »

The saga of VB and acoustic guitars has continued. The search was for a second acoustic so I could have one in standard tuning and one in lower altered tunings like DADGAD and Csus2.

Result is that a week and a bit ago my Tanglewood TW45 got a little brother. A parlour size Tanglewood TW73. Just the basic version with the satin finish and no electrics. But I wanted to buy the particular guitar I tried and the basic finish version was what the shop had.
Little brother joins the acoustic family
Little brother joins the acoustic family
Tanglewood TW73 and TW45 (2) sm.jpg (263.79 KiB) Viewed 9766 times
I tried out more guitars in this search than ever before. Sizes OOO and smaller and quite a few brands including Sigma, Martin, Guild, Blueridge, Vintage, Recording King.

And the TW73 was the obvious winner :cool: , only a Blueridge coming close - my only worry was if it would be too similar to what I already had. Both cedar top, both mahogany elsewhere, both Tanglewoods. But the different body shapes / sizes, the solid rather than laminate mahogany back on the TW73 and the shorter scale length combine to make the sound quite different and to make the playing experience more pleasurable. From what I've heard on line I think I have a liking for the sound from cedar top acoustics.

It took me years to bond with the TW45 due to finding the body size and shape rather awkward. This parlour size is just so much better. :thumbsup: With my preference for understated playing the lack of volume of a parlour size is not an issue.

Funding was helped by offloading the Crafter 12 string Hybrid. Not really as much of an acoustic guitar sound as I'd hoped for and bought shortly before my surprise conversion to the acoustic world.

Some pictures and a soundclip:-
TW73 Top
TW73 Top
100_0537sm.jpg (256.47 KiB) Viewed 9766 times
TW73 Soundhole
TW73 Soundhole
100_0538sm.jpg (268.79 KiB) Viewed 9766 times
TW73 Headstock
TW73 Headstock
100_0539sm.jpg (228.64 KiB) Viewed 9766 times
TW73 Solid Mahogany Back
TW73 Solid Mahogany Back
100_0540sm.jpg (254.46 KiB) Viewed 9766 times
TW73 angled view
TW73 angled view
100_0541sm.jpg (272.1 KiB) Viewed 9766 times
It was quite an effort of will to take my Resonator out for a play today as I'm enjoying playing the TW73 so much.

Sound wise - I'll just post this soundclick link to give a flavour. A little VB composition which I've been trying to get into a better shape than when I first thought it up a couple of weeks ago. It's probably now at least 80% planned - rather a long way from my more freeform spur of the moment improvs of the last 5 years.

guitar_fire:: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12686530
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
MichaelRobinson
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Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:20 pm

Re: The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by MichaelRobinson »

Good song. A soft female voice to what you play and it's a good bedtime song............. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Sounds good and makes me feel a little calmer in my otherwise troubled mind.
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HalfBlindLefty
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Re: The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

Swwet sounds VB, Time to get a 3nd nick I guess VaB, rVB and VB are well known now :D
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
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antigua72
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Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:29 pm

Re: The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by antigua72 »

really a very nice tune, I love it
...and the guitar as well
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12bar
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Re: The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by 12bar »

Congrats to your new baby! Looks like a classic headstock on a steel string guitar?
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vancouverois
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Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:55 pm

Re: The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by vancouverois »

Very nice, it sounds quite good! :clap: :thumbsup:
Jan 15th 2007
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VikingBlues
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Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:44 pm

Re: The Tanglewood TW73 - a little brother for my TW45!

Post by VikingBlues »

Many thanks for the positive comments on the sounds and even more thanks for the positive comments on my faltering early steps at trying to "compose" a piece of music. All very alien to me, and hard work too - appreciate the encouragement guys! :thumbsup:
12bar wrote:Looks like a classic headstock on a steel string guitar?
To be honest I hadn't really thought much about the headstock. I've just had a look at Tanglewoods site and it does look like a headstock they use on Parlours and on some of their ranges in general. I guess it's how they used to be made way back, but I don't think it gives ant tonal advantage - plus makes changing strings trickier apparently - though I have yet to find that out. :icon_whoknows:
HalfBlindLefty wrote:Time to get a 3nd nick I guess VaB, rVB and VB are well known now :D
I have a feeling VaB is here to stay! :big_smile:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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