I met Benoit Lavoie in 2016 at a Ottawa, Ontario luthier showcase. I was struck first by his passion and enthusiasm as well as his kindness. When I looked more carefully at his work, it became clear that his creativity and workmanship were at another level compared to many other talented guitar makers. His approach combining great lutherie with technology like spectral analysis makes for very interesting guitars.
I've run into Benoit two or three times a year since at different shows in the North East and just knew that I would eventually own one of his guitars.
Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to acquire one of his demo guitars, originally built for the 2015 Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase.
Here are the specs:
Fully hollow 15" body
24.75" scale
White spruce top
Mun ebony back and sides
Maple neck with carbon fiber reinforcement
Stainless Steel frets
Waverly tuning keys with ebony buttons
Floating Kent Armstrong Handwound PAF Style 12 Pole Humbucker Pickup
Volume / Tone (pickguard mounted thumb wheel controls)
I'm not a (real) jazz guitarist although I love jazz and jazz guitar. This is a lot of guitar for my skill level but I won't have any excuse not to learn!