Here's the truth; I absolutely do not need another guitar.
Another truth is that Rebecca Urlacher's recent Parlor guitar (shown at Tom Bowersox's B.I.G. event) was a huge "hit" with me, and as far as I can tell, anyone who played (or even saw) the guitar.
Now, when Rebecca delivered the original Concert guitar she custom built for me last year, I decided to hold off on adding any *more* guitars to my already too-large stable. However, after a few months with the Concert, I knew I wanted to ask Rebecca to build one more...maybe I would sell a few of the totally-great guitars that I have here that are just not getting enough attention/playing time (for no reason other than "too many"!). So we planned for Rebecca to build yet another Concert for me.
Rebecca and I have been friends for nearly 20 years, and this was about wanting another great guitar (GAS on my part, I admit it) *and* in wanting to support Rebecca's top-shelf work.
Then I got a chance to test-drive a bunch of her guitars headed to B.I.G. This was a nice revelation, as not only did I fall in love with the aforementioned Parlor, but I got to play Karlijn Langendijk's Concert model, in Camatillo. I loved her guitar as well, and totally dug the sonic differences between my EIR Concert, and the Camatillo...so this comparison allowed me to select the back & sides wood for the new guitar!
Amidst the "too many" guitars here, I have OM-ish sized guitars from Rebecca, Joel Michaud, Simon Fay, Tom Rein, and Bozo Podunavac (x2)...too many, indeed! One of my other in-house favorites, BTW, is a 00-R from Joel Michaud...14 frets, and really quite perfect in every way.
And in having *loved* Rebecca's Pink Ivory Parlor, I began to contemplate a 12-fret Parlor with cutaway (Rebecca confirmed it as 12-frets, only...no way to do 14 frets to the body on her Parlor model), rather than adding yet-another OM to my mix.
I slept on this notion overnight, and then decided against any kind of 12-fretter, even with cutaway...and in discussing this with Rebecca, she reminded me of her re-named "Small Concert" model, which has been built-out as both a tenor guitar (24" scale...or less, possibly), and earlier as a 6-string with a 24" scale.
The Small Concert is 14.25" across the lower bout (so 00-ish in size), a 14-fret model, and so-very similar in shape to Rebecca's Concert model, with Rebecca's design...kind of a great fit for me. It's also shorter than her Parlor model overall (only a bit over 18"), so a great couch/travel guitar, as well...it will fit in most any classical-sized case, such as the Visesnut., another *plus* for my aging "infrastructure" (body!).
So the build-specs look like this; Camatillo for the back & sides, German Spruce top, with variations on Rebecca's now-well-recognized (& well loved) “stacked wood” rosette and headstock overlay designs...cutaway, of course, and a hard-to-see micro-bevel on the bass side binding. Standard 25" scale. Custom neck geometry and profile/thickness.
So yet another great-guitar-build-adventure has begun...I'll start with a few of the beginning photos...
