[SprintBob]

I'll be the spoiler here. I reached out to Steve a few weeks ago about taking a trip over to Fairhope from Covington (LA) to A/B this beautiful guitar against my equally beautiful SCGC Skye 00. I was interested in this guitar because both are the same tonewoods. A primary motivation for me was that I really miss not having a cutaway on the SC so if tonally I felt it was at a minimum the equal to the Skye 00, it might come home with me.

I did the visit along with my brother yesterday and got to meet not only Steve but his compadre Joel Teel. I'm happy to say I have bought this guitar and I'll probably be putting the Skye 00 up for sale. The Skye 00 is a superlative instrument but I think the Zephyr will fit my playing style a bit better with not only the cutaway but its voicing is more "orchestral" with a bit wetter/lusher bottom and top end. The Skye 00 is punchier, "funkier", and (probably) the slightly more projective of the two. My brother has played for over 50 years and is a fantastic blues guitarist and he just tore it up on the Skye 00 and that makes sense since its design mission was the signature instrument of an amazing jazz guitarist.

Steve and Joel share a beautiful shop and I really enjoyed the 3+ hours we spent there and hope to spend more time with them in the future. Both of these luthiers are committed to their craft and I am over the moon on the finish details and the tone of this guitar.