8-String Guitar/Bass Coming Along

I've just finished binding and doing a first round of finish sanding on John's 8-String Guitar/Bass. The top here is Sitka spruce and the back and sides are Pau Ferro. The binding is bloodwood. Today I got a good start on the neck. Wait till you see this fat fingerboard! More soon.... :)

Dave Hilyard's "Little Martha"

Oh Yeah! My recent customer Dave Hilyard just recorded a really fantastic arrangement of "Little Martha" on his new Sitka Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood Baritone. Beautiful playing, Dave! Thanks. :)

Introducing the Aurora!

It's my great pleasure today to announce a new model...the Aurora! This is a relatively large bodied guitar (16" lower bout) designed to be played at concert pitch or in drop/open tunings such as DADGAD. Standard scale length on this model is 25.5", and longer custom scale lengths are available for customers who want to prioritize those slightly lower tunings.

This particular instrument was commissioned by Bill Fitzgerald. His main target tuning is, from low to high, CGCGCF. In this case, the bottom three strings are lower, but the top two strings are higher, so we opted for a multi-scale design that ranges from 25.5 to 27.5 inches. With light gauge strings it plays beautifully at concert pitch. This guitar has a koa top with Macassar ebony back and sides and bloodwood trim. For comfort, Bill chose to have the Ryan Bevel and Manzer Wedge included on this instrument as well. The koa top produces a very solid attack and really beautiful shimmering upper partials which are enhanced by the very hard ebony back and sides. This is the second guitar I've built with this wood combination and in both cases it has produced a timbre that is absolutely beautiful for strumming. The way the notes blend reminds me a bit of the way Ricki Lee Jones' self harmonization shimmers.

I've been enjoying putting my own fingerstyle technique on it today as well. I hope that in the coming days I'll be able to play and record a sample worthy of your brief attention. Tough job, but someone's got to do it. :) Also on Tuesday I'm taking this in for some studio shots so I can set up a proper new model page for the Aurora! :)

Shopping Binge!

Shopping Binge!
Yesterday I was on a roadtrip that brought me through Windsor California, which means one thing...shopping time at Luthiers Mercantile! Mainly I was looking for tops. I spent several hours looking through enormous stacks of tops and came out with a real top-shelf stash of my favorite master-grade sets, which I picked for their tap tone, stiffness, tight grain and cosmetic flawlessness. I came away with about seven sets of Italian Alpine Spruce, five sets of Engelmann Spruce, 7 sets of Sitka Spruce, and 7 sets of German/European Spruce. So this morning I reorganized my stash and here's the picture to prove it. Yeah, it's fun. :)

While I was at it yesterday I came across this fantastic back and side set of cocobolo, a wood I really enjoy building with. Just now I've added it to my updated Gallery of Tonewoods in the Shop.

Yesterday I braced the back of John's Sitka Spruce and Pau Ferro 8-String Guitar/Bass and closed up the soundbox. As you can see, the fingerboard is enormous and has a big variation in scale length. This is so that the bass strings can have a proper length to support a solid note with good sustain. I was extremely happy with the first 8-string guitar bass I built for Jim Saxa, so I kept the soundboard bracing pattern very much the same.