So this guitar has been creating some interest for a while and sorry for not saying anything sooner but I wanted to wait until Kramster had completed his videos to reveal it properly.
I built an X10 Nylon string woody for a customer last summer and this latest creation was comissioned by the same customer.
I was given a very simple brief "I want a Nylon string guitar that resembles a Cello" That was basically it, I had to work out the rest and was given complete creative freedom except for the fretboard inlay.
Obviously it was going to have to be an arch top, would need a cedar top and peg tuners.
Nylon arch tops are a very rare breed and this was certainly a step into the unknown but thats where all the fun is. To create the right look I needed Cedar but its very hard to get Cedar veneer so I decided to use a 2mm cedar top with a very light carbon skin and basic carbon X brace.
For the headstock i really wanted to create a unique look so I fashioned the head from a solid billet of carbon made up of over 80 layers of carbon. This gives it a great wood grain effect when you look at the edges. I used geared peg tuners from Pegheds to match the design. These look like friction pegs but have actually got a 4:1 ratio and work really well.
The neck is our standard hollow carbon neck and the fretboard has our standard stainless frets. As the customer spends alot of time sailing he requested Dolphin inlays which came out really nice and to match the nautical theme you will notice the side profile of the headstock resembles a breaking wave.
The bridge and tail piece were custom moulded from carbon and one very unique feature which you cant see is that the tail piece is held in place by a ball socket rather than a usual end pin tie. Ill post pics soon that will explain this better.
For amplification we used the K&K pure archtop which gives a lovely natural tone.
I have to say Im delighted with the way it came out. The customer wanted this design to use along with a cello and i think the styles compliment each other nicely.
I was delivering this guitar to the customer in SantaCruz during my NAMM trip and this is the reason we had the opportunity to have Martin play it. We had a wonderful night with Martin and Kramster bringing these guitars to life. One of my NAMM highlights for sure.
Thanks for all the kind comments on this guitar. It was both a pleasure and challenge to build.
This was a one off guitar but could be replicated. For those interested the price would be around €5,000 which is about $6,500 which I think is a very fair price for such a custom instrument.
Alistair