Hi,
I posted this thread last August and I am excited to tell you that I have reach the front of Kent's build queue and he is about to begin building.
Part of the reason that I selected Ken for this commission was his personal interest and passion for this design movement. We have had a tremendous amount of collaborative correspondence and phone calls over the last 4 to 5 months regarding potential design themes in the Craftsman Style design motif. Kent has been extremely patient with my barrage of communications while he has been executing other builds for clients. Having background in both architecture and industrial design, I likely overwhelmed him with design input and thoughts while he was taking care of other clients (sorry Kent!). Based on input from me and his own research, Kent developed two concepts:
1) A more traditional looking instrument, emphasizing the inherent beauty of wood, joinery, textures with Craftsman Style decorative design motifs (think Stickley, Roycroft etc.)
2) A more modern interpretation, using Kent's elegant design aesthetic, integrating the simplified, abstract designs of Prairie Style architecture (think Frank Lloyd Wright)
After discussing a path forward, because we both like each concept, and Kent's personal interest in this project; he made me an extremely generous offer:
How about I build both guitars and you can A/B them to decide which one you like better and I will sell the other as a spec. guitar? How could I say no? So this is what we're doing!
These two builds happen to be Kent's #99 and #100 guitars. He is going to build them serially. I will try to keep the forum updated on the progress as he moves ahead over the next 4 months of so. Based on my playing style and sonic preferences we had decided that the top wood of choice for me was some stiff Engelmann Spruce that he has been saving. In terms of back and side woods, both Brazilian Rosewood and Wenge are the top choices together with the Engelmann to support my goals. Design 1, #99 (Craftsman Style), is more synergistic with the straight grain, porous texture of of quartersawn Wenge and Design 2, #100 (Prairie Style) has synergies with Brazilian Rosewood. Additionally, being Kent's 100th build, he has a particularly nice set of BRW to use.
Guitar #99: "Craftsman Style"
Model: Concert
Top: Engelmann Spruce
Back/Sides: Wenge
Cutaway: Modified Florentine
Scale: 24.9"
Nut: 1-3/4"
Other: Manzer Wedge
Guitar #100: "Prairie Style"
Model: Concert
Top: Engelmann Spruce
Back/Sides: Brazilian Rosewood
Cutaway: Modified Florentine
Scale: 24.9"
Nut: 1-3/4"
Other: Manzer Wedge
So Design 1 (#99, Craftsman Style) is up first. I will post some updates as they come in from Kent.
:-)
Bob