Mine

TGA STR dlx

Grand Auditorium body

Solid Spruce top in gloss finish

Multiple bound top, tapered body

Rosewood back and sides, gloss

Mahogany neck, matt

Oval shaped, rosewood fingerboard

Nickel silver frets

Rosewood Bridge

Compensating saddle

Gold stepped tuning buttons

Meet my new buddy, Woodie Mallamy. I got this from my first cheque (yay!) courtesy of my record label, Indah Karya owned by Aidit Alfian.

This is a rather huge step from Johney and Damo. I got Johney 2 years ago. I didn't know what good guitars are capable of doing then, so I chose Johney basely upon face value. It was rather shallow but Johney and I wrote a couple of nice songs that I am proud of. But, it was due time to get a better sounding mechanism.

We were in the guitar shop testing out really nice (and i-wish-i-made-more-money) guitars. I had a taste of my dream 'guy' (guitar, of course). He felt so goooood in my hands and made the loveliest of sounds. Alas, I felt that the timing wasn't right. 1) I don't have the money (yet..) 2) I don't have enough skills to earn the ultimate pleasure of handling him. Between the two, the latter is a stronger reasoning to settle for Woodie.

By to settle, I mean it wasn't as if there wasn't any other choice. Woodie was a rare case of fate knocking on my door. Abg Andy suggested the guitar to me, somehow we share the same preference for grand concert and auditorium bodied guitars compared to dreadnoughts which was abg Aidit's special quest of the moment.

It was the only one of its kind left in the shop. It was love at first chord, G to be exact. *sigh. It was really nice to hold and I like how bright and warm it sounds. The best part about it is that, I could feel the notes resonating and somehow swooping down to grab a hold of my heart.

I had to make the decision between getting Woodie or saving the money so I could get a headstart on nabbing dream 'guy'. Since I am performing, I need to have a decent sounding guitar to carry my songs. So it was decided that Woodie should be a good enough guitar to accompany me in my shows. It is my hope that what earnings I have through the help of Woodie will finance my acquisition of dream 'guy'. When the time comes, the effort would be more worth it and perhaps I would be more worthy of owning such a fine instrument.

Until then, I just have to keep on writing, improving and work hard enough so that my next guitar would be an upgrade that's more natural according to the order of the universe.

So for now, I shall let my dream 'guy', an American of German descent, be the yummy healthy carrot to drive me on and on and on. ;)