Hi, Tom, and everybody else groovin' on this thread. I've been a bit of a hermit lately, submerged pretty deep in various projects, getting ready for this show. I think it's time to post some photos of a couple of guitars I'll be showing at the Bowersox Invitational. Just so you guys know I haven't been slacking off (at least not too much). The photos are pre-finish, which I like to refer to as "tasteful nudes".
Both of the guitars I'm showing here are now in the final round of lacquer spraying, so I'm feeling a small measure of relief, with enough time to get these done and dialed in before the last minute.
First, a Quilted Maple/German Spruce Eclipse OM guitar. The bindings, bevels, bridge, fingerboard, and headstock plates are all Mexican Royal Ebony, aka Katalox. It's a 25.5" scale guitar, thirteen frets-to-body, with arm and rib bevels, dual side sound ports, and an Omega open headstock, which will be sporting a set of Schaller Grand Tune tuners.
I was actually going to give this guitar a transparent blue with black shading paint job, but decided against it after I sprayed the first base coats. The quilt figure on the back and sides is amazing, and the Maple has a reddish flash at some reflective angles, so I decided to keep it natural. Why mess with that! Wait till you see that quilt under lacquer!
Here are a couple more shots...
Next is a pretty high-end version of my Zephyr 00 model- a little guitar that punches above its weight class. This one has Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, a Bearclaw Sitka top from Alaska, and a lot of Macassar Ebony trim. I decided to give it the Pogoda style slotted headstock, which will also be fitted with some exotic looking Schaller Grand Tune tuners. I decided to give this one a scoop-cutaway.This guitar is a 25" scale, and will be optimized for fingerstyle and pick-style, if I have anything to say about it.
I used cross-grain Zebra Wood with thin red veneer lines for the purflings. Again, arm and rib bevels, and dual side sound ports. The ports on this guitar both have sliders, so they can be played open or closed. It's amazing how the pitch of the sound box tap tone changes, depending on the sound ports being open or closed. I expect this guitar to be a very versatile instrument that will offer a lot of options for recording with microphones.
The Brazilian Zephyr also comes with a custom Hoffee carbon fiber flight case.
Thanks for looking, everyone! I'll post more photos of these guitars before the show, when they are all done and ready for prime time. Now, I gotta go shoot the final coats of lacquer on these babies.