Here is an overview of the current Cole Clark product range.
Cole Clark DNA – Present in all Cole Clark guitars:
- Every Cole Clark Guitar has solid wood top and solid back and side construction.
- Every Cole Clark Guitar has the Latest PG3 Preamp
- Every Cole Clark has Spanish Heel Construction.
- Every Cole Clark Guitar has a Plek fret dress and nut cut.
- 96% of all timber in Cole Clark guitars is sustainable
- The Face Sensor and Bridge Piezo are crossed over, this is patented and the most natural sounding pickup system on the planet.
- True Balance Magnetic electric guitar pickups are in all True Hybrid models and Electric Guitar Models. These include Single Humbucker Models and Multi Magnetic pickup models like the HSS. Patent Number 2022422207.
Body Shapes:
AN Grand Auditorium – 25.5-inch scale, mid-size body, comfortable, strong acoustic and plugged in sound.
TL Thinline Grand Auditorium – 25.5-inch scale only 7cm thick, less volume, very comfortable stage guitar, more access to frets up the neck due to a small heel joint.
TL Thinline True Hybrid – 25.5-inch scale same body and neck as the Thinline with thicker top to take magnetic pickups
FL Dreadnought – 25.5-inch scale, a big guitar with the strongest acoustic sound in the Touring Series. Strong amplified sound.
LL Mini – 23.5-inch scale mini size but not an ultra-small body which allows for our face sensor to work properly and provide a huge amplified sound along with a strong acoustic sound for it’s size.
SP Parlor – 24.75 inch scale, 13 fret neck join, 46mm nut, a Modern Parlor
SPM Mini Parlor – 23.5 inch scale, 13 fret neck join, 46mm nut, a Modern Mini Parlor
Series:
1 Series Studio – A grade solid timbers, now made part in China and part in Australia.
2 Series Touring and 2 Series Recording – AA grade timbers, made in Australia.
3 Series Touring, 3 Series Recording and 3 Series Recording Deluxe – AAA grade timbers, more aesthetic features, made in Australia.
Mastergrade Series – Mastergrade and rare timbers, often very small, limited runs, availability dependent on wood supply.
2 and 3 Series Touring Series:
Made In Australia – Best Cole Clark Plugged In, Very Good Acoustic Sound.
Bracing on Touring Series is a double V with a Mini-X going in between the V braces. The tops are carved on the inside from thick in the middle and thin around the edges. Sound holes are larger to reduce bottom end, which is the enemy of amplifying an acoustic guitar. The result is a guitar that resists feedback and has control over the amplified sound, and a very balanced acoustic sound. It uses the suspended Piezo for the best possible amplified sound. This is our best plugged in guitar.
2 Series Recording, 3 Series Recording and Deluxe Recording Series:
Made In Australia – Best Cole Clark Acoustic, Very Good Plugged In.
Recording has a large X brace and a Classical Guitar T brace at the rear. The top is 3mm thick with 2.6mm carved out in patches. The sound hole is smaller for more bass, and it uses a Piezo strip to keep the guitar loud acoustically. Of course, it still has the Spanish Heel and PG3 preamp system. This guitar is our loudest acoustic guitar.
Studio Series:
Made part in Australia and part in China – similar X and T bracing to a Recording Series guitar, 3.2mm face, well featured guitar.
Some models are 60 percent made in Australia and 40% China. This is when Cole Clark Australia supplies the wood from Australia, as well as doing the Plek production at Cole Clark in Australia. Other models are 30% Australia and 70% China, when the woods come from sources in China and the Plek production is done by Cole Clark in Australia. Plek production is done by Cole Clark in Australia and includes fret seating. The fret board and nut are dressed by the Plek. The strip Piezo is seated properly under the saddle and saddle height set for each guitar by Cole Clark in Australia. Cole Clark Australia also does the final installation of the preamp and wiring. This whole process leads to a fine, high quality all solid guitar at a price much lower than we can do a guitar made entirely in Australia. A Plek fret dress and nut cut has a value of around $300.
True Hybrid:
Uncompromised acoustic plugged sound, uncompromised Electric guitar sound. You need to use Phosphor Bronze strings for the acoustic plugged in sound to be good. The magnetic electric guitar pickups do not pick up Phosphor Bronze, they only pick up the nickel core on the wound strings. As there is only a small amount of nickel in Phosphor Bronze Strings, and the tension is low, the bottom four strings are quiet. Not so with the Cole Clark True Hybrid. The Alnico 5 magnets in Cole Clark magnetic pickups are balanced. For example, the B string is 80 milli Tesla’s and the G string 185 milli Tesla’s. This makes the electric guitar sound identical to using nickel strings on a standard electric guitar. This process for controlling magnetic is Patent Number 2022422207. This makes the Cole Clark True Hybrid the only Hybrid that works properly. All Cole Clark magnetic pickups are made at Cole Clark in Australia.
Cole Clark True hybrids are also available in multi and single True Balance, Patent 2022422207, magnetic pickup versions in Thinline and AN guitars. These include Single Humbucker, 2 single coils, 3 single coils and 2 Humbucker versions. They are also available in single Humbucker models with a sound hole in FL, AN, Mini, and 12 string Cole Clark guitars.
Hollow Baby and Culprit 3 Electric Guitars and True Balance Pickups.
Our Hollow Baby and Culprit 3 electric guitars are a re-introduction of electric guitars we manufactured from 2002 to 2012. These are completely hollowed out so weigh 2.7kg. These ship with Cole Clark True Balance Magnetic Pickups, balanced for nickel strings. On electric guitars from other brands, the G string is loud and the B & E especially soft. Using our Magnet Balancing Technology Patent 2022422207, we have made each string the same volume.
Pickups:
The Cole Clark ‘True Acoustic’ PG3 Pickup System:
It has a Piezo under the bridge saddle, either suspended with individual Piezos under each string, or a strip Piezo. It has a Face Sensor which gives a natural sound in the mid and high range, without feeding back more than the bridge Piezo. The Piezo takes the bottom end, and the Face Sensor takes the mid and high frequencies. It is crossed over at 350hz and this process is patented. There is a microphone that comes in at 6khz for extreme high frequencies. Cole Clark Full Patent.
Pickups For Sale On Their Own:
We now sell our Cole Clark Patented True Acoustic PG3mk2 system and True Balance Magnetic pickups on their own, Patent 2022422207 for phosphor bronze or nickel. This was not always the case for the Cole Clark True Acoustic system.
Spanish Heel Construction:
This is when the neck continues as a single piece of timber through the neck join almost to the sound hole. It is achieved by gluing the neck to the face and the sides into slots in the neck and the back glued in place to the neck and sides. This gives our guitars a unique tone. The Spanish Heel also makes the guitar sustain longer and sustain louder and play louder up the neck than a Dovetail or Bolt neck join. Compare a Recording with a similar size guitar with similar timbers in other brands. It also avoids the movement of an attached neck. You never need a neck re-set. This method is used by hundreds of thousands of Spanish made nylon string guitars every year. It is the original method of making a guitar. It goes back centuries in guitar making in Spain. It went out of use in most USA made steel string guitars in the 1880’s as it was quicker to make an attached neck guitar. This is not a better or worse method, just a different sound and approach.
Plek:
The Plek machine scans the frets under string tension following the string path under each string. It scans to 1500th of a millimeter, then cuts the frets and the nut for the best fret dress and nut cut available. Totally repeatable, every time.
Main Timbers:
Australian Blackwood – Sustainable from Tasmania Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Close relative to Koa, same sound and look. Good for tops, backs, sides and necks. Sustainable. A regular part of our urban recovery program.
Queensland Maple – not in the Maple family, light colour, similar numbers to Mahogany. Good for backs, sides and necks. Sustainable from plantations.
Bunya – from Queensland, similar numbers to Spruce. Good top timber. Sustainable from plantations.
Big Tree Redwood – One off ornamental trees grown in Australia. They die in the Australian climate in their second growth stage at 150 to 200 years old. Same family as Western Red Cedar, similar density and sound. Sustainable as they are a foreign species, a big part of our urban recovery program.
Rosewood – Premium historic fingerboard, bridge, back and side timber for extended bass response. A vulnerable species, not sustainable, but legal for instrument making.
Spruce – The historic and most used top wood for steel string guitars. The main source in the last 50 years has been Sitka. There is a shortage of 250-year-old growth trees that are needed for a 2-piece face. Much of the spruce is now from Europe with premium from the Adirondack mountains. We now use Thermo German Spruce in much of our 2 Series Spruce guitars.
River She Oak – sustainable Australian fingerboard and bridge timber. It sits between Rosewood and Ebony in its numbers. Sustainable. Guitars which are fully sustainable and have River She Oak fretboards have “-AE” at the end of the product code.
Ebony – popular fingerboard and bridge timber. Very dense. It reduces the bottom end in guitars. Good with big guitars and Rosewood back and side guitars. Not Sustainable.
Camphor Laurel – noxious weed in Queensland, originates from central Asia. Striking visuals, good tone, used in tops, backs and sides. Very sustainable.