The Acoustic Guitar Forum - January 12, 2020: picking up Kostal #165.

I flew to Phoenix on Saturday, January 11th, 2020 to go and pick my newly commissioned guitar from Jason Kostal.
Jason is a star luthier in the acoustic guitar world. When I first wrote to him it was the end of May 2018 and the subject line said “making up my mind for a definitive instrument”. Someone just dropped off his waiting list, a spot was opening for end of ‘19, and that was it: I acted immediately, before I could plan for what to ask for.
....

#165 is a Modified Dreadnought sporting an elegantly figured Madagascar rosewood coupled with Jason’s favorite German spruce top, a Manzer wedge, a cutaway, a two-tone headstock, an end graft resonating with one of Jason’s signature stained glass rosettes, and comes with an onboard K&K mini pickup.
The looks first.
If you haven’t seen one of Jason’s guitars in person, you should. At first look, the instrument is of an integral, essential and formal elegance. Sleek and completely balanced, and absolutely recognizable, she possesses a strong complex identity and a gentle politeness, that captures Jason Kostal’s personality very well.
I should say- and I know Jason agrees- that a true work of art is self sufficient, representing a statement of existence which completes itself. You see a Kostal and that’s a Kostal, undeniably and absolutely...
I’m immensely pleased with the looks of the wood essences. The Madagascar rosewood is highly figured both on the back, with a three-dimensional grain, and on the sides. The pale white of the spruce has a very elegant and complex transverse pattern, that ripples through the top. It’s probably just the fact that I’m not yet used to such a beauty, but I could contemplate the **** thing for hours...
Once one starts looking at the details, the level of perfection is unreal. I am still looking for one single flaw, one slight asymmetry, one wood defect. Nope. The level of craftsmanship is absolute, every single square millimeter either on the surface or in the guts is visually perfect.

The heel and the headstock are both sculpted. The headstock has a sort of “hook”, for lack of a better word, where it connects with the back of neck. The Master explained to me that it has both functional and structural reasons, as it serves as a tactile reference for the player and as a mass to balance the instrument and tune the vibrational modes. Whatever. All I can see is unusual beautiful elegance. The Master holds that he’s tackling the job from an engineering standpoint and possesses no artistic fluency of his own. Little piece of advice: don’t listen to him. If he were a fashion designer, he’d be Armani, not Versace. If he were an architect, he would be Renzo Piano, not Frank O. Gehry. If he were a saxophone player, he’d be Lester Young, not Coleman Hawkins. Look at the bridge, for instance: at first look it’s - well - just a bridge, right? Well, after considering it closer, you’ll notice the curved contour which aligns, just perfectly so, with the rest of the body, the gentle asimmetry, the sculpted profile... The aesthetic is robust, self-contained, aristocratic, profound, functional, and formal. That’s what make a Kostal look like a Kostal. And that’s why you definitely need to see it in person.
In other words this guitar is **** well executed, however you look at her. She’ll never scream at you, and doesn’t need to: she’ll drag you in without even whispering.

At least until you pluck her.
Then, scream she will.

But one thing at a time.