To my eye, they are "Alessi" inspired, but that's mostly because they have an elliptical base plate. The big difference between these and most others, beside that they work above average well, is that the body of the machine is made from aluminum, so it is quite light weight. I personally prefer a faster gear ratio, while these are very smooth and under control, they are slow and so more about incremental perfecting than intuitive accuracy. I have probably been playing violin too much. :)

NCAL meeting 3/5/17
 

As reigning president of the Northern California Association of Luthiers (NCAL, not quite a 12 step program) I am producing my first meeting in an official capacity tomorrow 3/5/17, in my own shop. I am spending today cleaning so as not to appear quite as casual a housekeeper as I know myself to be. Any person who is interested, by the way, is welcome to attend. It's 1pm through 5pm and the address is on my website's contact page. In the process of dusting, I found three BRW sets (less one set of sides) I had forgotten I had. Amazing!!!

http://mojoluthier.com/LP17/NCAL-3-5/BRW1a.jpg

http://mojoluthier.com/LP17/NCAL-3-5/BRW2a.jpg

http://mojoluthier.com/LP17/NCAL-3-5/BRW3a.jpg

http://mojoluthier.com/LP17/NCAL-3-5/BRW1b.jpg http://mojoluthier.com/LP17/NCAL-3-5/BRW2b.jpg

Wow, Bruce--those are incredible sets of BRW!

Awwweee yes, those are about as good as it gets I believe. WOW...they may be deserving of a slight upgrade in price when the time comes ;)

You are telling me I don't charge enough for my Brazilian Rosewood upgrade, Tom? I guess that means you're not ordering a guitar from me just now . . . ;)

That first set is pretty much the top of the heap, the other two are more than just Okay, but not the big bucks. In order of appearance, I'd grade them Mastergrade AAA, regular AAA (higher on a smaller guitar), and low AAA by today's reckoning, though perhaps high AA 40 years ago as set 3 is quartered enough, but not adequately straight grained, especially on the joining edge. Despite that, it will make as good a guitar in my opinion as the other sets, and be perhaps more interesting looking to the average observer. Saves the eventual buyer a couple of grand!

Well I am no marketing expert of course, but since these were forgotten on the shelf somewhere for an indeterminate length of time, I logically can deduce that they are not that important. I will give you a thousand dollars for the three of them right now....:D:D:D

They have been misplaced for about a year, I think. They were on a shelf behind a joined top which completely hid them from sight. I knew about the sides and had a couple of time wondered why I had such nice orphans. Now it seems like the back is the orphan. I'll bet it isn't as I have always acquired complete sets, and if anything an occasional extra back half or side. Now I have incentive to do and even MORE thorough job of straightening up.

I do have a couple of sets of BRW I plan to offer at tomorrow's meeting in the $500 range. It is rare to find anyone flush enough even for that kind of deal at an NCAL meeting. Cheap from my POV, it's very close to what I paid, but $500 is $500.

Well heck! I'll bring that much just in case! ;-)

Well Bruce,

You find that other side set to complete the trio, which has to be somewhere, and I up that to 1500 for the three, haha!!! I would think a set of sides is easier to misplace than a back set, I bet it shows up. :)

Nonetheless, all three of the sets will be dark and beautiful when used someday!!!

Have a great Sunday.

Unless I turned it into bridge plates . . . I'll find that side!

It is unexpectedly sunny this morning, a good day seems likely! Thank you, Tom.

3/5/17 NCAL follow-up
 

Yesterday was beautiful, a bit of rain in an otherwise sunny yet blustery day, and the turnout was much better that my previous meeting, with around thirty attendees for my first my-shop hosted Northern California Association of Luthiers meeting presiding as President. That's a mouthful. Rather that try to describe it, courtesy of Our Friend Tad Laird who iPhone video'd much of the proceedings, there will be evidence published on Vimeo.

Here is the first installment, about 8 minutes long, in which I hold forth on a piece of "The Tree", that was brought for show and tell.

The Tree video

Subsequent videos will likely include a presentation of my SBAIC giveaway guitar, a short bit on the Dream Series currently in finish, and a tutorial on fret dressing using Bob's single 0 as the subject.

SBAIC/17 Guitar Giveaway Video
 

I am breaking the video from last Sunday's NCAL meeting into topical chunks and some of those chunks SHOULD be of interest to you readers. This one is 6 minutes of me talking about the SBAIC Walnut/Englemann 00 I am giving away in August at the Santa Barbara event. Toward the end you can even get a sense of its tonal qualities. I am perhaps a bit too candid at one moment, so if that bothers anyone, well, sorry.

NCAL 3/5/17 SBAIC segment

Too candid? Was that when you said it wasn't the . . . okay - I think I know what you mean. As a potential customer rather than a luthier, I am neither surprised nor disappointed. If I were going to Santa Barbara (can't this year), I would still drop my tickets in the box!

Not every guitar will be in your top five, although I bet lately most are.

Wish I was a few hours drive out, I would surely drop in a ticket or two.

My hope is that 80% of the attendees at SBAIC will pick up this guitar while they are standing in front of my table. I would estimate that 10% of the attendees at the last show pickled up any of my guitars. If I didn't think this instrument was up to snuff, I'd be making a pretty foolish move putting it in so many potential buyers hands. Although this is indeed my entry level model, I will have the other end of the spectrum available as well, should anyone at the show have an inquiring mind.