1998 Goodall RSC

25 January 2024

In 1977 I bought a top of the line Guild F50R that I had until 2010, and for 31 years I believed it was the best guitar I ever played.

Then in early 2008 I was in Billy Hydes in Camperdown Sydney and picked up a Standard Goodall and was just about speechless. I had never heard an acoustic guitar sound so good. The price on that guitar was around AU$7000 and I decided I had to get one.

Me playing "One For my Baby" by Frank Sinatra. Recorded October 2015 on a
relatively cheap Canon video camera so the sound is not the best.

Several months of trawling through ebay got me this one from the Boutique Guitar Shop in Little Rock Arkansas USA in June 2008. Because of its physical condition I got it for about US$2500 plus shipping and all the usual thievery from the Australian Government. A new one in 2013 cost US$5900, plus an extra US$900 for the cutaway, so mine was a bit of a bargain really.

Goodall RSC when I got it
As it was when I first got it, with transparent (invisible) pick guard.
Soundboard colour is not really accurate. It's more like
the deep honey colour in the other photos.

"RSC" stands for "Rosewood Standard Cutaway". According to the Goodall web site "James feels that the Goodall Standard is the crowning achievement of his luthierie career".

It has a lot of finish checking so it probably came from a very cold climate, and it has a lot of wear and tear for its age, but it sounds spectacular. It also looks like someone spilled a beer in it at some point. It was advertised as 'the best sounding Goodall to come through our shop' and I have no reason to doubt that. I have played quite a few Goodalls and this one is just magic.

see caption below
Closeup of finish checking and curly Koa binding

curly koa binding

I really like the bridge shape on these older ones. At some stage they changed the size and shape like on my Royal Hawaiian that was made a few years later.

The only plastic on this guitar is the tuning buttons and the pickguard, both of which I added myself. These guitars normally come with a pickguard of very thin transparent plastic, and on mine it was damaged and lifting along one edge so I decided to peel it off and replace it with a home made tortoise shell one.

finish checking on front

It has East Indian Rosewood back and sides, Mahogany neck, Spruce top, curly Koa binding, and Ebony headstock veneer and bridge. The tuning buttons are mock tortoise shell, ordered from Rothesay Music in Scotland - described below:

Our tuner buttons are manufactured from Casein, a phosphor-protein of milk produced by heating it with acid to form a beautiful, dense and extremely hard-wearing plastic. Casein can be made to closely mimic the appearance and to a large degree, the strength and density of genuine tortoiseshell.