Round Peak in Braz and Adi
 

The latest guitar out the shop. Its my Round Peak design that features a sizable lower bout, 16 and 1/4 and rounded proportions.
This is a Brazilian Rosewood, master grade Adi topped guitar with a short scale length. Bound in cocobolo, with radial cocobolo bevels top and back and paua purfling..Mahog neck with cocobolo insert.

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Thanks for looking

Wow that’s beautiful!

Thanks Jaan

Yeah, what jaan said!

There are so many elegant details here: the sunburst on the back of the neck; the Cocobolo soundport binding; the way the reds of the Cocobolo body binding, neck laminate, and back strip bring out the oranges of the Brazilian; the tuner buttons, etc... Really nice work, John!

Thank you brother. You are back safely from the great northwest i'm assuming
Thanks for the kind words and for noticing the details.

Now that is some beautiful guitar right there!!! Bet it really sings as well. Nice John!

Thanks Dennis. It sings constantly :)

I know there are "no dumb questions", but let me ask one anyway. With a guitar of that size I would bet that most of the time the scale length would be 25.4-25.7", and it'd be a monster for dropped tunings. I'm thinking of big Blanchards, Ryans, Sobells, et al. With a short scale, 12 fret, huge-ish box, what does it sound like?

Stupendous guitar!

True enough, a longer scale length would make it easier to coax out those bass notes. The guy i made this for wanted a short scale length for playing ease. So, the challenge was to compensate by construction details. Those details plus the fact that it is a 12 fret guitar which moves the bridge down away from the intersection of the X braces into a more sensitive area helps overall response, especially the bass response. I thought it sounded good.

That is really stunning! I'd love to hear sound samples, thinking it is pretty loud, and not too hard to get it to reach a serious volume.

John forgive me for putting you on the spot and you don't have to answer if you don't want to.

I hear this all the time with short scale guitars or 12 fretters, i.e. this moves the bridge down onto the sweet spot of the top to make a more responsive great sounding guitar. If this is the case, why is the bridge not placed there all of the time and the scale length adjusted to that placement on all guitars. It seems like it is always said that is the honey hole for the bridge, but it is only moved down on short scale guitars?

Thanks, Tom

I normally make a 25.5 inch sl, that is my standard whether 12 fret or 14 fret. So, its not the string length per se that determines where that bridge goes relative to the lower bout, but the number of frets clear of the body. That said, the whole scale length/frets clear of the body thing is interactive and there are several other factors at work. Length of the upper bout, sound hole placement(which can effect the cross over of the main braces) etc. But your point is well taken and there are a number of innovative guitar bracing schemes and top designs that allow for more flexability of just where that scale falls relative to the player and the lower bout. Im thinking of Mike Doolin's guitars that have a minimal upper bout and that allows him to place the bridge where he wants and still have at least 14 frets clear of the body, if not more. (Im thinking more)

I work within the constraints of a more traditional design which limits max and minimum string length and also pretty well dictates the upper bout/lower bout ratio and where the neck attaches. I did make WOODY a 13 fret OM, fairly nonstandard, and got a number of PM's asking why i did that etc. So its clear a lot of players are sensitive to those details.

Thanks Mike. I appreciate it.
Rob is going to have to post any sound clips we may get. My playing does not lend itself to an audience. But you are right, it does have good volume and balance, which is a good thing because those strings are on the deck and wont tolerate hard licks without fretting out.

Yummmmm.....
 

Oh, YEEEESSSSS!

I can speak to the sound/tone questions, as I have two of these monsters and a third incoming!

All have 12 frets, cuts, bevels and sound port. The first is 25.5" scale in Euro/Honduras Rosewood. The second is 24.625" scale in super Cedar/figured Mahogany. John has a thread going on the new incoming, in Cedar/Maple...

They are both VERY LOUD, and the tone is quite well balanced. Last year I played about 250 gigs, most in senior and healthcare facilities. There is rarely a stage, and there's all kinds of crazy stuff happening during my performances, like people falling out of their wheelchairs. These guitars have made it much easier for me to perform and be heard without an amplifier! Thank goodness as I am often gigging two and occasionally three times in a day.

Of course the sound ports make it easier to hear yourself when singing in a noisy environment. THANK YOU JOHN!

As one might expect, the LS Rosewood/Euro is more crystalline in tone and has more of a glassy reverb.
The SS Cedar/mahogany has a warmer, and rounder sound.

As I play and sing solo and a lot I tune down to D concert, open D and occasionally drop the big string to C. Both of my Round Peaks are just fine tuned that low. And recently I have been experimenting with another open tuning for slide on the Long Scale RP: CGCECE which obviously has lower lows and higher highs!

Both guitars are perfectly happy to go clear down to drop C tuning, but I have not put the SS in the open C tuning yet.

I asked John to make these guitars to be tuned low, and he certainly delivered!

I am sure Rob will be stoked! I know he tried to buy my second RP. Mike sent a pic of Rob with his checkbook out and JK. Nice try Rob, and play this beauty in fine health and spirits.

Cheers

Paul