Custom Blueburst Guitar

Here are a couple of pictures of a killer new guitar I built for a great client in Baltimore. This guitar features a hand cut split aluminum tailpiece with a blued steel hammered wammy bar, as well as a removable brace which blocks the soundboard, to open up louder playing opportunities, as well as provide stability for the whammy. The brace easily removes and the guitar sounds like the great acoustic archtop that it is. The pickup is a great repro of a fat De Armond sound, with a cool rythem lead switch.  It is my 16″ body mold. The tailpiece actually sounded very solid, not metallic like pressed steel or brass tailpieces, with a slight brightness to the tone.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to build a guitar for Tommy Emmanuel. It was to be based on the Frank Vignola model, but other than that I had free reign to make a unique creation. I really wanted to draw upon the gypsy vibe of the Selmer even more than the FV, yet also bring in some of the Gibson oval hole archtop  look. I wanted to do something with the Cedar/Walnut combination to get that dark woody tone, and I chose Ebony  binding  for  an elegant look. I love the way the oval hole turned out, and this consequently is available as an option for the FV. Other specs are similar to the FV.

I recently received this note from Dana Osman at Oregon Wild Wood   who supplied me with the gorgeous walnut that was used for the back and sides of Tommys guitar.

Hi Ryan,

It’s always wonderful to hear from you.  As I mentioned on the phone, the Claro Walnut sets you had purchased from us, including the wood for Tommy Emmanuel’s guitar, came from a very special tree. It was actually one of the very first Claro Walnut trees to exist.  Claro Walnut is not an ancient species, but the result of a cross between English Walnut and native California Walnut.  This cross pollination was not possible until the English Walnut trees were brought to the US west coast in the first half of the 1800′s (1820 to 1830?).  The tree, which yielded the sets you received, was salvaged from Grants Pass, OR, (not far from the Britt where Tommy occasionally plays).  At 150+ years age, it was the oldest known Claro in the area, also making it among the very first Claro Walnut trees to exist.

It had an interesting life, death and rebirth.  The tree started out living in the country, then a city grew up around it.  Wires soon ran through its limbs and generations of nails and hooks, bullets and chains penetrated it’s massive trunk (our saw found every one).  It bore witness to covered wagons and then to the space station above.  It withstood blizzards and droughts.  Then one day it began to die.  The city deemed it a hazard and ordered it removed.  The owner faced a $4000 cost for removal, to the dump.  Seemed like such a waste, so I paid the owner for the tree and paid to have it carefully lowered down in pieces, and transported to our shop for milling.  The wood was beautiful and yielded a rich warm resonant tap tone.  By my best calculations, nearly 500 guitars and basses will result from this tree.  So, it lives on in the form of magnificent instruments producing exquisite sounds around the world.

Music is magical to me.  It can elevate and transform the human spirit unlike anything else I know.  Our company is founded on my passion to literally improve the sound of music, (something never to happen from my playing, nor my luthier skills).  My opportunity was the tonewoods.  The woods typically used by the industry were selected mostly for convenience.  I found better tonewoods exist and can be supplied, without endangering the rainforests.  But it’s a team effort and until these woods are crafted into fine instruments and played for the masses, my dream is unfulfilled.  Your exquisite instruments and the unbelievable talent of Tommy, Frank and others, are allowing my dream to become a reality, for everyone to enjoy the sound of music just a little bit more.

Thank you Ryan.

Best always,

Dana Osman

Oregon Wild Wood

www.oregonwildwood.com

My take on the traditional archtop feel and sound,  is the model The Sweet “E”.  I am an avid fan of the archtop genre and great luthiers and guitars who have shaped its history and my life. I approach each and every one that I build with a desire to pay homage to the tradition, and an attitude that this is my opportunity to improvise and say something, hopefully, important (at the least make an honest artistic statement).  This latest build featured a play on the binding bevel that has deservedly become popular.  I had an idea to use the bevel to simulate a combination of two great cutaway shapes; a sharp venetian cutaway a la Selmer, and a Florentine cutaway. I wanted to combine also a very rich tobacco burst with an organic binding scheme, which led me to choose Bocote with maple and ebony lines.

This guitar is available for purchase from Rocker Guitars in San Fransisco, check my ordering page for their info. There are some great pics of the instrument in the front of the Sweet “E” gallery, if you are interested in talking about having me build one for you, give me a call or send an email. Thanks!

I have been really developing my 16″ archtop lately, it really is a powerhouse. So dynamic and responsive. The bass register, which is always touchy on archtops, I am really enjoying. It is balanced with the rest of the instrument, which is crucial with an archtop, yet it is rich and rev-ed up, opened up… This pic shows one of the instruments I am exhibitting at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival. This is the Sweet ‘E’ with a “16″ body. A shape that, I initially developed when I designed the Gianina. This has now become the standard shape for my larger archtops. The other shape that is very popular of course is my 15″ which I feel I really cut my teeth on in the FV models. The binding and inlay on this guitar features Bocote, which is a gorgeous wood, and one of my favorites. And check out that cutaway, a cool take on the Ryan/Laskin armrest bevel, that meshes a florintine cutaway with the straight shouldered Venetian. then there is a thumb carve in the back of the neck making the upper access awesome. I will post some pics when the guitar is all done. I might have to keep this one, it feels soooo good. A good guitar feels like that; thousands of years of evolution have perfected you to hold this particular instrument, and together you will rock!

Thanks again, I am very humbled to have the opportunity to do what I do. I hope that my guitars are an expression of all of us and the times we share.