Brazilian Rosewood Concert guitar, July 18, 2011.

I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.

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100 Years air dried Brazilian Rosewood B&S, Hauser Braced DOUBLE TOP, Alpine Spruce top. African Walnut bindings, Exclusive handmade luxury marquetry. Ebony bridge, violin tie & armrest. 16" radiused Ebony fingerboard, Double soundport in left and right upper bout, 640mm fret spacing. Embossed leather case included.
I can see every single color of the Tropical Winter sunsets in the grain of this marvelous work of art. The shades of deep orange that pass through all the imaginable reds, browns all the way into the darkest black. You will find yourself staring at her body for long stretches of time. The 100 years old set of Brazilian rosewood I used from Mato grosso is simply marvelous and from the minute I first tapped toned it a couple of months ago, I knew I would create a work of art. Some centenary fazendas (farms) are located in this Brazilian State and they have old stacks of centenary seasoned Rosewood that I am often privileged to work with. The Alpine Spruce top I used is PERFECT ! It comes from Val D'Aosta, Northern Italy and this is the same species that Stradivarius and Amati used for their Legendary Cremonan violins. It grows at over 1,800 meters when the rest of the pines seldom make it passed 1,300 meters. Amazing presence in the sound is proof that all my efforts to make her concert champion were totally justified. A second Sinker redwood top halfway between the main top and the back vibrates a fraction of a second after the main top is set in motion and the sustain generated is simply UNBELIEVABLE ! The double top also takes care of all the wolf notes. Building the rest of this beautiful guitar was easy because once the luthier is inspired, he'll not stop until the masterpiece is completed. African Walnut bindings sided with the most delicate handmade marquetry enhance her lines to make her GORGEOUS ! The 2 side Soundports add the extra shine to the trebles you have NEVER heard before and every corner on this Queen speaks out loud of the love and passion that was invested in her construction. Finally, and most importantly, her playability and sound put the final touches to this amazing instrument. Asturias FLOWS as if she had been my guitar for over 30 years when the truth is I only played her 3 minutes prior to the recording. A powerful sound booming sound that I have seldom heard before. Brilliant sound, thrilling instrument ! Ease of play and never a drop of strain in the left hand. All the playability extras I incorporate in the construction add up into making her an easy to play instrument that feels right from the very start. Radiused ebony fingerboard, 18 mm thick neck at fret 1; 3.4mm height of strings at fret 12 plus a 640mm fret spacing will make you feel like you at HOME.. The masterpiece you do not want to let go...
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The double top with the 9 braces Hauser fan, was developed and introduced by Master Luthier Manuel Contreras the II at the end of the 70s and reached its peak in the 80s. In this Variation of the Double top, a second top (Cedar, Image below) is located halfway between the main top and the back. This top vibrates a fraction of a second after the first one creating an immense sustain and punch.

Italian Alpine Spruce is the highest growing tree on the planet. It grows at or above 1,800 meters where the oxygen is rarefied. This makes the grain much tighter resulting in a strong reverberating tone wood. This is the species Stradivarius used for his legendary violins.

Sinker logs (top #2 ), are pulled from the bottom of lakes and rivers. Sometimes, scuba divers are needed to achieve the extraction. Most of these logs are hundreds of years old (In one of the pictures above, you can see that the tree was cut with an hatchet). Due to a series of factors (The logs were too big and heavy to be pulled out of the rivers or the logs were caught by currents and were sucked to the bottom) these logs were trapped by the muddy buttons of these water beds and this created like a time capsule where the wood was preserved in fantastic humidity conditions that made the wood season in a slow natural way during many centuries. Some of the logs are selected for musical instruments construction. The sound that these woods produce is unique and the grain has a beautiful coloration that changes according to the type of mud present in the water bed.
Radiused or flat fingerboard?
The radiused fingerboard has been around the acoustic and the electric guitar since day one. The same is true for most instruments of the Stringed family of instruments (violas, violins cellos, bass). Radiusing (image above) makes barre and left hand stopping A LOT easier. The only drawback is that you will NEVER want to play a flat fingerboard after that. If you are having your custom guitar built, I am all pro radiusing the fingerboard. The standard fingerboard is flat.