17″ Archtop guitar

17″ Archtop guitar

This guitar has an Adirondack red spruce soundboard with a layer of Nomex. Its construction was inspired by that of “double-topped” classical guitars that are currently enjoying a great deal of popularity. The Nomex honeycomb adds stiffness, which allows me to carve the soundboard thinner yet not worry about its structural integrity.  The result is a guitar with great projection and balance, and a more mature tone than one normally hears in an archtop that has not been “played in” for many years.

The guitar also has a rare 1-piece red maple back.   The one piece neck is curly maple.  There are curly maple bindings with black, white and red purfling lines throughout the instrument, even on the sound holes. Gabon ebony was used for the fretboard, tailpiece and peghead veneer.  The neck is 1 25/32″ wide at the nut and the scale is 24.9.” The handmade bronze tailpiece can be moved up or down to alter the stiffness of the strings and the tone of the guitar. I have added a neck-mounted Armstrong mini humbucker pickup since the photos were taken.

Acoustically this guitar is warm and well balanced.  Played through an amplifier the tone is clear and even across all strings. It is an excellent instrument for both solo and ensemble work.