# My new Art & Lutherie



## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

This my first parlour, it's an Amy made of wild cherry, maple, spruce and rosewood. I have no idea how to take care of acoustics in general so any advice will be welcome!


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

Even though your guitar is all laminated woods, you should invest in some sort of humidifier so the fretboard does not shrink during the heating season-this is to avoid fret sprout.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

rollingdam said:


> Even though your guitar is all laminated woods, you should invest in some sort of humidifier so the fretboard does not shrink during the heating season-this is to avoid fret sprout.


Thank you, could you tell me more about laminated wood guitars and humidifiers?


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## aC2rs (Jul 9, 2007)

That's a nice looking guitar.

I use the planet waves guitar humidifier for my acoustic guitar which seems to work quite well.

Here are a few options on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&key...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5zqprth6zl_b


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

A guitar with a laminated top will not be as reactive to humidity changes as a guitar with a solid top.

Here is a link:

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/repair/acoustic-guitar/care.php


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I just buy a huge humidifier and keep the door closed. Set it at 50% and just make sure to keep the tanks full. 

http://www.bionairecanada.com/en_CA...-cool-mist-console-humidifier/BCM3855-CN.html


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Congrats on the new guitar!

I have a Seagull S6 ...a gift from my brother.
It has a cedar top and laminate cherry sides and back.... a great guitar and very loud.

Her is a pic from the internet...










ENJOY!!!

Cheers

Dave


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

They make some good stuff, & parlour guitars can be fun to play.
there's some great advice on the page already.

Enjoy!


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

You called it 'Amy', if it's actually 'AMI', all 3 of my kids have them (except cedar not cherry). Bought one for my daughter several (5?) years ago now, she does no maintenance at all and even only changes strings about annually, uses it a ton, and it's a great sounding guitar. My 2 sons don't use theirs as much but they have no issues with them and just keep them in their gig bags all the time.

Really excellent value for money, fabulous sounding little guitars.


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## GWN! (Nov 2, 2014)

rollingdam said:


> A guitar with a laminated top will not be as reactive to humidity changes as a guitar with a solid top.
> 
> Here is a link:
> 
> http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/repair/acoustic-guitar/care.php


The Ami guitar has a solid top, laminated sides and back.


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## Guest (Oct 5, 2015)

amagras said:


> I have no idea how to take care of acoustics in general so any advice will be welcome!


Wipe down the strings after playing.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

Thank you very much for all your posts! Thank you for the information, the pictures (nice seagull Dave), the correction & the comments; I'll take a look at the links too. 
Being cheap as I am and being my nature of those who like building stuff I might end up making my own humidifiers, though. But please, don't stop, there's so much I need to learn about acoustic guitars... Anything will be of interest! 

I'll say it trice... Thank you!


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

amagras said:


> Thank you very much for all your posts! Thank you for the information, the pictures (nice seagull Dave), the correction & the comments; I'll take a look at the links too.
> Being cheap as I am and being my nature of those who like building stuff I might end up making my own humidifiers, though. But please, don't stop, there's so much I need to learn about acoustic guitars... Anything will be of interest!
> 
> I'll say it trice... Thank you!


I wouldn't be too precious about it. Don't drive over it otherwise just take the same care you would take for anything own.

I don't think you need to worry too much about humidifiers and such.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

1. Play the snot out of it. 
2. Leave your pick behind from time to time 
3. Write some songs (all new guitars have songs in them busting to get out 
4. Humidify if you like. Mine has a cracked top. Still sounds great.


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

GWN! said:


> The Ami guitar has a solid top, laminated sides and back.


Some do but the OP's guitar appears to have a laminated cherry top.

In any case here is a great link to make your own humidifier:

http://www.bryankimsey.com/humdifier/


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

sambonee said:


> Mine has a cracked top. Still sounds great.


My Simon & Patrick (Another Godin brand) 12 string has a cracked top--but that's from my elbow.
It hasn't grown noticeably in the years since I cracked it, and it still sounds great.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

i have an ami-
the solid cedar top one.
i love it.

im not overly protective of it and its held up very well-
i think i bought it about 8 years ago.

the cedar top dings pretty easy,
and the lacquer they finish the art and lutherie guitars with is very thin,
so itll wear after just playing-

but again, i love it.
lot of guitar for a couple hundred bucks.
maybe more now, but very much worth every penny.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

I love mine and still play it almost every day. Here's my NGD thread 

http://www.guitarscanada.com/showthread.php?48961-NGD-Art-amp-Lutherie-Ami


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

I have the nylon version of that and I like it a lot!


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

butterknucket said:


> I have the nylon version of that and I like it a lot!


I was thinking about getting that one but I'll probably go for my roots and buy a classical Spanish guitar. Art & Lutherie is in my heart tho. 

Thanks everybody for this thread!


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## S6 Cedartop (Jan 26, 2013)

Nice AMI! These little Godin parlours all use Godin's wild cherry laminate for the backs and sides - it is, in my opinion, a fine tonewood in its own right. The AMIs are available with solid cedar or spruce tops, and also with laminated wild cheery tops - I have an '04 AMI Wild Cherry steel string, great little guitar - nice snappy, snarly voice for blues and fingerpicks amazingly well. I've never bothered to humidify it - I live about 100 yards from the North Atlantic - and it is stable as a rock. Just after I got mine, I was telling a friend about it - she said, "The girls (now grown women) had a little guitar, I think it's down in the basement" - went and dug it out, and lo, an AMI identical to yours, apart from about five pounds of dust bunnies living inside. Action's a bit high, but it's still playable after a decade of sitting neglected - new strings really helped perk it right up. I'm now hot on the track of an AMI nylon that's for sale here - been keeping an eye open for one for a while...
Here's a pic of the AMI, cuddled up with a little Crafter TRV-LITE that followed me home one day...


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

S6 Cedartop said:


> Nice AMI! These little Godin parlours all use Godin's wild cherry laminate for the backs and sides - it is, in my opinion, a fine tonewood in its own right. The AMIs are available with solid cedar or spruce tops, and also with laminated wild cheery tops - I have an '04 AMI Wild Cherry steel string, great little guitar - nice snappy, snarly voice for blues and fingerpicks amazingly well. I've never bothered to humidify it - I live about 100 yards from the North Atlantic - and it is stable as a rock. Just after I got mine, I was telling a friend about it - she said, "The girls (now grown women) had a little guitar, I think it's down in the basement" - went and dug it out, and lo, an AMI identical to yours, apart from about five pounds of dust bunnies living inside. Action's a bit high, but it's still playable after a decade of sitting neglected - new strings really helped perk it right up. I'm now hot on the track of an AMI nylon that's for sale here - been keeping an eye open for one for a while...
> Here's a pic of the AMI, cuddled up with a little Crafter TRV-LITE that followed me home one day...


Thanks, I put on a new set of Martin 0.10 on mine because I come from electric and it plays super nice without a noticeable loss of tone. I
Also, I haven't care to make the humidifier yet but so fat it stays in tune apparently forever. 

Really good guitars indeed, I've been recording it with a Shure SM57 and they match magnificently. 

Couldn't see the picture you posted.


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