Edwinson Zephyr 00 for Healdsburg
 

I love building guitars on spec. I get to be the art director, designer, and builder, so I get to make the guitar I would want, if I had the money to spend on a custom instrument. Sometimes I think I got into lutherie just so I could have a productive outlet for this obsession. It's like an advanced stage of Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. Except that commissioned builds never hang around long enough for me to really get to know them, or experience that rare pleasure of seeing and hearing a new guitar developing its sound and personality. So when I get a chance to make one on MY dime, it's a real treat.

I'm working long hours lately, hoping to have three new guitars ready for "the Healdsburg" in August. The first one to reach completion of the construction is this "Zephyr Noir". This is my 00-size guitar, in a standard (non-cutaway) version. The woods featured are: Malaysian Blackwood back and sides; a very nice Sinker Redwood top; laminated curly Honduran Mahogany neck; Gabon Ebony fingerboard, bridge, front head plate, and bindings; and a rosette and end graft inlay of Spalted Maple and ebony. Here are some photos of the Zephyr "in the white". I will begin the lacquer finishing this weekend.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0085.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0063.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0047.jpg

Some specs on this guitar: Scale length: 25.5"; thirteen frets-to-body, twenty total; string spread @ saddle, 2 1/4". Fingerboard radius, 16". This guitar will be set up and optimized for fingerstyle playing. The sound box is incredibly responsive, and has a big, lively, sustaining sound when you tap on it.
I built this guitar with double sides. The inners are Honduran Mahogany.
The "Pogoda" style slotted headstock will be fitted with Schertler tuners. The bridge is an "Element" style.

I decided to use Abalone purfling on the guitar top, fingerboard, and headstock. It's a nice decorative element that is really set off by the dark woods. Also, the fingerboard sports Copper/ Abalone position markers, and some of the same on the back of the headstock and heel cap.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0083.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0068.jpg

Malaysian Blackwood is a species of Ebony, and will finish out with some dark but vivid contrast. The Sinker top will also darken under finish. That's why I call this a Zephyr "Noir".

The rosette and end grafts are a new series for me. I've seen some other talented builders doing something similar. I have always been intrigued by the idea of "Chaos in Nature", the way pattern and figure occur everywhere in nature, often appearing highly random and chaotic, as in Spalted woods, the figure of abalone shell, and many other forms. I like to take these elements of Chaos, and organize them into rosettes and other inlay.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0038.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0091.jpg

Thanks for looking, everyone! Now, I need to go get some work done. Healdsburg is just a blink away, in luthier-time!

Beautiful work as always, Steve! Looking forward to seeing all of your "Healdsburg Trio" :D

what a gorgeous guitar!

Wow... "cousin Zephyr Noir" here in West Georgia says hello, and welcome to the world, new Edwinson son (or daughter, it's hard to know). BEAUTIFUL work, Steve!

MK

Stunning Steve! Hopefully I'll be able to make it to Healdsburg this year and see this beauty in person...wonder if it'll enjoy Hawaii :D

Gorgeous...love the headstock!

Aloha, Hen! I hope you do make it over to the Healdsburg this year. The new venue-- the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa-- is a great place for the show. It's the center of the acoustic guitar universe for three days. If you can make it, you WILL have a really, really good time.
And yes, I'm quite sure this Zephyr would get along quite well in Hawaii.

Joel Stehr will be there too, along with quite a few other people you know.

Hey, Mark!
I'm fairly certain that your Zephyr Noir is a cousin to this new one; they are too different in certain respects to be sisters. Yours is a multiscale cutaway; this one's a standard. Yours is Gabon Ebony with Church Beam redwood, and this new one is Malay Blackwood with Sinker redwood, and there's a lot of variation in the designs. I'm calling all my guitars made with predominantly dark woods "Noir", in the same way that a Cypress/Spruce Flamenco guitar is a "Flamenca Blanca", and a Rosewood/ Cedar Flamenco guitar is called a "Flamenca Negra".

Just to illustrate the amount of variation you can get in one model designation, here are a couple photos of Mark's Zephyr Noir-- the ORIGINAL Zephyr Noir:

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...K/IMG_0010.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...IMG_0011-1.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...K/IMG_0039.jpg

I have one set left of this Gabon ebony, which I bought from Michael Gurian in Seattle about three years ago, and it's just wide enough to make another Zephyr Noir.

I heard it's too hot in Hawaii... Here, on the other hand the humidity is just right :D

This is a such a beautiful guitar, Steve!

Oh man, another (future) example of why the Healdsburg show is so rewarding.
Can't wait to see this beauty!

Steve

Hey, Steve! Looking forward to seeing you there too. I think it's going to be a great show again this year. Seeing all these world-class builders, and so many splendid instruments, is both humbling and inspiring to me.
I'll be roving around with my camera whenever I can take a few minutes away from the table, so I'll be sure to look for you and your guitars. See you there!

pure awesomeness.

Very nice... as always. ;)

Steve, my friend, this is an exquisite piece of art. Very well done! I look forward to seeing it in August!

Joel

Hey, Joel, are you gonna show us what you're bringing to the show? I'm pretty sure there will be at least a dozen people who will be there just to see you, and your incomparable instruments. I know you're going to have great success there- again. And you totally deserve it, brother!

Time to dig this thread out of the attic! The Zephyr Noir has been strung up for about two weeks now, and right from the start, I'm just over the moon about it. Since I built this guitar to the exact specs that I prefer, it just looks, feels, and sounds right to me. If you come to the Healdsburg show next month, stop by the Edwinson table and check this one out.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0020.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0041.jpg

The three copper-encircled shell dots on the back have a little story. When you hold the guitar in playing position, this area of the back is closest to your heart. I put these three dots there as a symbol of the emotional connection between the player and the instrument.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0031.jpg

This Zephyr is a smaller, 00-size guitar, 14 3/8" wide in the lower bout, and I built it for maximum responsiveness and tone color, optimized for fingerstyle. The Malay Blackwood with the Sinker Redwood top proved to be an excellent combination for tone and response. This guitar has a wide dynamic range, a surprising amount of bass, clean, balanced mids, and crystalline trebles. I just love playing this one. Even with my rusty chops, it's a total joyride.

The headstock is a Pogoda style slotted design, outfitted with Schertler open-gear tuners. Swiss precision, and smart, modern styling. These are my new favorite slot-head tuners.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...IMG_0047-1.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0052.jpg

The neck is made from some beautifully figured Honduran Mahogany that came out of an estate sale last year in Seattle.
The bridge is a newer design called the "Element" that I'm using on about half of the guitars I build now. For a long time, the ninja-weapon style "Talon" bridge was my trademark, but at the urging of several of my clients, especially Ernie (Sage97 here on the Forum), I came up with this design, which is a little more conventional, but still modern looking. Functionally, it works the same as the Talon.

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_0043.jpg

Looking forward to the Healdsburg, and reconnecting with my favorite colleagues and friends there. Stop by and say hi!

Excellent excellence.

Really looks like rich chocolatey fantastic instrument! Gonna go get a hot fudge sundae now...

Ok, if luthiers weren't so eternally broke, I'd buy that.
What a beauty.

Steve

Hi, Steve! What a beautiful guitar. I really like the rosette and the inlay on the bottom of the guitar. It almost has a stained glass look but with wood. Very nice! I love the new bridge design too. Very nice work on that. It's leaning more to the traditional while still maintaining lines from the Talon bridge. :up:

JR

Beautiful guitar! I'm looking forward to seeing it and hearing it at Healdsburg!

Thank you, Steve...Isn't that why we became luthiers in the first place? To feed that incessant hunger for fine guitars...?
I'm a big fan of your work too, brother. Maybe if we strike out with the buyers, we can work a trade!

In fact, I want one guitar from every luthier on this forum.

Hey, J.R.! Thanks for your kind comments. It seems that in the last year or so, it was time to take this thing to the next level. Every new guitar I make is showing up as a "Second Gen" iteration. This work never gets old. Always something new to discover.
Really looking forward to seeing you guys in a couple weeks. It's the absolute high point of the Festival!

-Steve

Thank you Larry! I haven't heard if you will be at the Healdsburg this time. I sure hope to see you there. It's been too long!

Wow! Your Zephyr builds are beautiful!

Wow. Will make sure I stop by and check it out. I too usually want to come home from the show with one guitar per builder. I need a bigger guitar rack :-)

Hey! I thought I heard someone say my name. :) I continue to enjoy my Bubinga/Redwood Element. Thanks Steve.

This Zephyr looks fantastic!

I'll be in the Napa area during Healdsburg. My schedule is so tight I doubt I will be able to swing by but......I will definitely give it my best ninja efforts. :) I want to come by and say hi to you and all my other luthier and AGF friends.

Hey, Ernie, it would be great to finally meet you in person. If you're gonna be close by anyway, how could you NOT come to the show? There will be hundreds of gorgeous, beautiful guitars there, and a whole lot of fairly plain-looking luthiers.

Please do stop by if you can. And, while we're on this page, Ernie, I want to thank you for influencing me to expand my design sensibilities when I built your EPC "Element" guitar. The asymmetric rosettes, and the new bridge style are directly a result of your input. I call the new bridge the "Element" style, thanks to you.

Hope to see you at the show!

Steve