My custom Leviora fan-fret guitar
 

Finally got my chance to post some picture of my new custom Leviora guitar. The instrument came with a Hiscox Pro II case and I installed Sunrise, Highlander for normal use, as well as Miniflex model 7 for studio recording use.

The guitar is highly sensitive and responsive. And it's strong and resistant to humidity and other environmental changes. The cut-away, rib and arm-rest bevel do make the guitar more comfortable for playing. Furthermore, bayonet bridge make changing string become a piece of cake! In addition, the whole carbon fiber neck is extremely stable. So, I do not need to worry about the effect on action height when I use alternative tuning. The inlay is order specially since my wife suggested that when I ask for a small icon on the guitar.

The guitar is wonderful, no matter the tone, volume, and richness. I'm very happy of that.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/595/32...9dbeceec_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/780/31...7722a159_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/276/31...cb390338_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/341/31...87ec13fe_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/401/31...eeed136a_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/774/31...a8ec0d1e_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/681/31...52195877_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/528/32...1175c11a_c.jpg

That is a very unique, nice looking intstrument with an interesting finish seeming like brushed pewter, at least in the pics. The 'baby angel' neck inlay is absolutely beautiful, very nicely done. Did you design the concept for the neck inlay and does it have any special meaning? If you're able, it would be great to see/hear it being played. I think Levioras are the priciest of the CF offerings.....true?

That's beautiful ! Congratulations ! :)
I especially like the position of the arm bevel.
I have very long arms and most guitars don't have the bevel going round all the way almost to the end pin, which is where I want it.

Very nice! Congratulations and many happy years of play.

Congrats!! I have one too, and I'm sure Thomas got rather tired of my endless emails. I am still discovering all the subtleties of playing it - I will be very interested to hear your experiences with it!! (And I've been bugging Thomas to build a 12-string... but we'll see...)

Oh, poop - I can't open the pictures at work. *sigh*

That is quite stunning!

First thing I noticed was the modestly compensated nut. Very nice. That plus the fan fret must make your guitar play wonderfully everywhere.

Next was the beautiful abalone. Having abalone around the rosette is common. Having it around the edge of the top, common on nicer guitars. But then there the additional rows on the sides and back... wonderful touch! It balances out the carbon in a good way. I love how it goes around the bevels.

Congratulations!!

That is beautiful. You have no idea how jealous I am. The lack of a rib-bevel option (on the website) has been my primary defense for months now against starting to plot/justify how I might get one. Now I'm totally hosed. :D

If I may ask, how long did it take from order to arrival? And is the cost of the rib bevel comparable to the cost of the armrest bevel?

And finally, how does the finish feel without the gloss varnish? I love the look of the gloss on my RainSong, but it does tend to slide down my leg a bit when I wear certain pairs of pants.

So, so jealous.

Wow - most excellent indeed!! That's beautiful!

So you had Thomas ship it sans pick-up, and you did the installation with the dual end jacks?

I would be interested in the sound compared to other carbon guitars

Thanks for your comment. There’s a story behind the inlay. At the beginning when I contact Thomas for ordering the Leviora guitar, I originally pick the “witch” inlay from Larry Robinson (simply catched my eys) at the same position. But me and my wife are both Christian, we believe that’s not a good witness to adopt such inlay at the neck of the guitar which may be used at church services. So, we keep searching for a better choice after praying. After a month, my father-in-law travel back from Finland and bought us a souvenir which is a baby angel magnet. We both think that’s a better inlay pattern for that guitar. Then I do a little research on the net and have this “baby angel” inlay design.

Yes, the arm bevel is very comfortable. I originally think of using the Ryan-style arm bevel but Thomas only offer the arm bevel in this style. However, it comes out fantastically and I think this is better than my thought!

Yeah, that do cure my GAS (just don’t know how it can last for)! I stop go to guitar store for a while, except for purchasing new guitar string.

Hi, Kray Van Kirk. I notice Leviora guitar after reading your post ^^. Believe it or not, me and Thomas keep sending and receiving more than one hundred of email. Since there’s lots of custom request for my Leviora guitar, I need to make every request as clear as I can. Apparently, I’m not a luither, there’s many misunderstanding and unrealistic requests I made during the progress. Therefore, Thomas need to teach me by replying numerous email and contributed massive precious enhancement base on my requests. And the outcome is gorgeous!

Originally, I decided not to go for a fan fret. But I was being persuaded after reading Leviora guitar’s website and Kray Van Kirk’s Leviora fan-fret post. When the guitar comes to my house, I have no regret about such decision.

The abalone purifying is excellent in my eyes too!

I decided to have cut-away & rib bevel for visual factor originally. However, I admitted that do contribute to the comfort of playing. For me, it’s worth for going to request that.

Since my leviora guitar has so many custom requests, I have no idea how Thomas quote the price for me. As a result, the best thing I could tell is that give an email to Thomas asking for that. He’s patient and nice guy to communicate with.

I do think that’s already extremely luxury for me. Thanks Thomas for building such a nice guitar for me.

Since I’m just a guitar player, I ask Thomas to do all the pickup installation and wiring for me. What I do after receiving the guitar is just tighten the string only ^^

About the pickups arrangement of this guitar. The sunrise pickup is passive, no need battery. The Miniflex model 7 rely on phantom power. The Highlander IP-2 require a 9V battery. Thomas is very thoughtful to suggest to place the battery near the soundhole monitor. As a result, I do not need to remove string for changing the battery.

In addition, I originally suggest to use 011 gauge string since I use EXP26 on my wooden guitar. However, Thomas advises me to stick with 012 gauge as the Fan-Fret already made the guitar very easy to play. It's not worth to sacrifice the tone for using smaller gauge string. I finally agree with him and now the guitar is on 012 gauge string.

About open up
 

One strange point I notice after playing it a few months, I suspect the sound of my leviora guitar do open up a bit. I search around regarding to this, most believe that carbon fiber acoustic guitar would not be open up forever. Still keep tracking on this, may be the outcome will be more obvious with a few years data ^^

(Or maybe just my ear getting used to making be believe it do open up ?.?)

Should open up in about 4000 years give or take. Might want to change strings at least twice..... Oh and maybe a battery change or 2 as well. Hope this helps.

Wow, these are in a class by themselves.

Indeed. I'm thinking to get a radial firefly so can add a bit tube sound to the output. Just wondering radial firefly is enough or the latest orange acoustic pre will do?