Opal Ocean is an acoustic guitar duo that takes a prog rock approach to playing the classical guitar. With pounding rhythms and heavy fast riffs you’d think you are watching a rock show when seeing them perform. Their highly experimental side produces interesting and quirky tunes that push the limits on what a nylon guitar can sound like. From their humble beginnings as street musicians in 2014 to their current intense European tours they have gathered an impressive following and are constantly reinventing themselves along the way.
Guitars
Nadav: One of the first guitars that comes to mind is the PRS custom 24… not only because they look great but they have such a versatile tone. One of my all time favorite guitar tones comes from the band Opeth. They were the first to open my eyes to a guitar that could go from screaming leads like an old school Gibson to the subtle and almost jazz tones of a fender Jazzmaster. Plus 24 means more reach for those higher notes!
Nadav: Then there’s Conde Hermanos and whilst all of the Conde Luthier guitars are handmade and sound amazing the Al Di Meola has got a lot of things going for it and more including a beautiful cutaway and a great pickup system to play in studio and live!. I sat down with Felipe this summer and spoke about the possibilities of a 7 string guitar version of Als… he showed me one he was working on for another client!
Alex: Estave Elec 1, it was one of the very first high end semi classical guitars I’ve ever tried and to this day it remains on my list of dream guitars. It’s got a cutaway and all of the refinement you’d expect from a handmade spanish guitar. I believe the one I liked had a Cedar Top with Indian Rosewood back and Sides.
The JS1200, I am a big Joe Satriani fan, he’s part of the reason I picked up the guitar in the first place. I actually owned that guitar and it was the most fun electric guitar I ever owned. I remember how easy it was to play and how well it would keep its tuning that blew my mind as a kid! It has a pull up switch so you can split those coils and get a nice single coil sound or go heavy with the full humbucker. It was a sick guitar!
Finally, our last dream guitar doesn’t exist yet. We’ve enjoyed playing both Yamaha and Godin guitars with Opal Ocean over the years, but we feel the perfect guitar for us would be somewhere in between, with the refinement, precision and pick ups of the Godin Multiac but the sturdiness and body resonance of the Yamaha NTX. We’ve also played round with a Godin 7 string and we reckon that dream guitar would be a 7 string. Who knows maybe one day 🤪 (opal)
