OOO Steel String “Blue Jay”

This instrument was inspired by a 1927 Martin OOO-18 that I recently restored. I carefully measured plate thicknesses and brace dimensions of that guitar and built this instrument accordingly, although I made it with different neck dimensions and more ornamentation. The guitar is 15 1/4″ wide and 4″ deep at the tail. The back and sides are curly Honduran mahogany, the soundboard is master grade Adirondack spruce supported with a non-scalloped, tapered X brace. The rosette and bindings are ziricote and curly maple. The H. mahogany neck is 1 3/4″ wide, with a 25 1/4″ scale and a 14″ radius. [The scale and radius are identical to the Martin.] String spacing at the ebony pyramid bridge is 2 5/16.”

For Sale: $7500

Baritone Solid Body Guitar

This is a multi-scale, baritone guitar. The body shape is similar to the Gretsch Super Axe, but with a rounded cutaway. The body is black walnut with a thin Sitka spruce cap and ebony bindings. The mahogany neck is 2″ wide at the nut and the ebony fretboard has a 12″ radius. The treble scale length is 27.5″ and the bass string scale is 28.75.” The pickups were custom made humbuckers by Kent Armstrong and have black walnut covers. The bridge is made of 6 Hipshot saddles on a walnut base. This finish is nitrocellulose lacquer.

16″ Carved Archtop

This 16″ wide, 3″ deep archtop guitar was built with the first generation of the Gibson L5 in mind. The carefully carved, X-braced soundboard is made from 40 year old Sitka spruce. The neck is 1 3/4″ wide at the nut and the ebony fretboard has a 25″ scale. The carved back and sides are quilted maple. The 3-piece neck is curly maple and walnut. Although the L5 had a metal tailpiece, this one is made of ebony, primarily as an aesthetic choice. The pickup is an Armstrong mini humbucker with 12 adjustable pole pieces. It has Kluson tuning machines and solid mother of pearl inlays.

The guitar is very comfortable to play. It was built to have a superior acoustic tone and quick responsiveness. Acoustically, it is loud and well balanced with very impressive sustain. Played through an amplifier, it continues to sound clean and balanced. It is set currently set up with round wound strings and low action (<3/32″ at the 12th fret.)

7 String Nylon Guitar

This 7 string nylon/classical guitar has a lattice braced spruce soundboard, cocobolo back and sides and a Honduran mahogany neck with adjustable truss rod. It holds Rubner ball bearing tuning machines and a Barbera piezoelectric bridge pickup.

The 650 mm scale is on an ebony fretboard with a 16″ radius.

The offset sound hole results in a greater active surface area for the soundboard because the lower tone bar can be positioned closer to the neck. This augments the lower frequencies, giving support to the additional bass string.

The Brazilian rosewood bridge has a 14 hole tie block. This feature increases the downward pressure on the saddle compared to a 7 hole tie block and this results in a more powerful voice.

This guitar was built for jazz guitarist Steve Herberman.

Concert Classical Guitar

This guitar has a fan braced redwood soundboard, matched with Grenadillo back and sides. It has a powerful voice with impressive projection, perfectly balanced across all strings and in all fret positions. The redwood soundboard combines the clarity of spruce with the warmth of red cedar, resulting in a tone color in between these two more traditional top woods.

The 12 hole bridge is made of Brazilian rosewood and has a bone saddle.

The guitar has a 650 mm scale. The neck is 52 mm wide at the bone nut.

The tuning machines are by Rubner and the rollers have ball bearing ends, resulting in effortless, friction free movement.

The soundhole ring and tie block overlay are made of Amboyna. Bindings are birdseye maple. The 5 piece neck is made from mahogany, curly maple and ebonized holly.