Goodacoustics

Threet Model E.

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:38:28 +0000

Threet | Model E | 2009 |

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Luthier: Threet Guitars, Judy Threet

Model: E

Year: recent

Serial #: E04.2-55

Back/Sides: Tasmanian Blackwood

Top: Bearclaw Sitka Spruce

Neck: Mahogany

Headplate: Ebony

Headstock Inlay: Fly and Moon custom inlay

Fingerboard: Ebony

Frets to body: 14

Cutaway: smooth

Top Trim: violin Lines

Tuners: Gotoh 510s Gold With Ebony Buttons

Case: Accord flight case

Condition: Excellent

Body Length: 20 in.

Upper Bout: 11 in.

Lower Bout: 15 1/2 in.

Body Depth @Neck Heel: 3 1/2 in.

Body Depth @Tail Block: 4 3/8 in.

Scale Length: 25 in. (635 mm)

Nut Width: 1 3/4 in. (44.45 mm)

Strings Spacing: 2 1/4 in. (57.15 mm)Model: Model A2

Pricing: US$6,500ng.pacasd

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This Model E Threet guitar has been with me for several years and is a a really great example of Judy’s eye for detail. From the bearclaw top to what must be my favorite headstock inlay of all time, the detailing and aesthetics are near perfect. The tone is clear yet expressive with a good headroom which makes it versatile. The short scale and cutaway make it easy to play.

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Resources:
Read an Interview with Laurent Brondel: here
Read more about Cocobolo here

See more lovely guitars at the Guitarbench.com guitar database where we have entered our entire inventory!

Pictures kind courtesy of Laurent Brondel
Pictures ©2009 T.Tan

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome!

2006 Lowden F35cx. SN 15487.

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:31:45 +0000

Lowden | F35cx | 2006 | SN:15487

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Luthier Facts :
Name: George Lowden Guitars
Location: Downpatrick, Ireland
Wait list: Sockists Worldwide
Taking Orders?: Yes, standard & customs
RIYL: George Lowden guitars have been crafting high quality predominantly fingerstyle guitars for many years.
Note: (RIYL) Recommended If You Like

Builder: George Lowden Guitars, George Lowden
Model: F-35CX (X stands for customization including mastergrade tonewood upgrade)
Year: 2006
Serial #: 15487
Back/Sides: Privately supplied highly figured Black Walnut
Top: Lucky Strike Redwood
Neck: Mahogany/Rosewood/Walnut
Headplate: Rosewood
Headstock Inlay: Builder Logo
Fingerboard: Ebony
Frets to body: 14
Cutaway: Venetian
Pickguard: Clear
Body Bindings: Figured sycamore
Top Trim: Wood Lines of Sycamore/Rosewood/Mahogany
Rosette: Abalone & Wood
Tuners: Gotoh 510s with custom ebony buttons
Pickup: K&K Pure Western
Case: Hiscox
Bracing: Dolphin profile
Body Length: 19 5/8 “
Upper Bout: 11 1/8 “
Lower Bout: 15 7/8 “
Body Depth @Neck Heel: 4 1/8 “
Body Depth @Tail Block: 4 7/8 “
Scale Length: 650 mm
Nut Width: 1 3/4” in.
Strings Spacing: 2 1/8 in

At Goodacoustics, we love unusual instruments, especially those with hard to find tonewoods and a history to boot. This Lowden fits the bill nicely! It was built for Hank Mauel, who has been the source of the sought after Lucky Strike Redwood (read more about here). I’ve always found redwood and claro walnut to be a bit flat in the upper registers but this Black walnut is quite different with crisp and clear upper partials and a singing treble. It’s also very hard to find Black walnut with this claro type figure and marbled colouration. Without further ado, here’s what Hank has to say about this instrument:

“Built by George Lowden from wood I supplied to him for this specific instrument. Body is highly figured black walnut from Davis, California and was cut from a tree that was more than 150 years old. The top that I supplied is the famous Carter LS redwood (no longer available from Lowden). Body and fingerboard binding is figured sycamore, purflings are sycamore/rosewood/mahogany fine lines. The scale length is 650 mm (25.59”), nut width 1 3/4 inches and string spacing at the bridge is 2 3/16 inches. Fingerboard is ebony. Tuners are gold Gotoh 510 with ebony buttons. K & K Pure Western pickup installed. The original Hiscox hard shell case is included as are George’s construction detail documents.”

See more lovely guitars at the Guitarbench.com guitar database where we have entered our entire inventory!

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! Guitars are property of individual owners.

Any infringement of copyright is entirely unintentional. Any copyright issues should be address to: writers@guitarbench.com. We will attempt to resolve these issues quickly. Guitars remain property of respective owners and not for sale through guitarbench unless specifically stated.

F35cx

1963 Martin 000-28c Conversion.

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:55:12 +0000

Martin | 000-28c converted to 00042 | 1963 | SN:189073

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Luthier Facts :
Name: Martin
Location: Nazereth, PA
Wait list: Sockists Worldwide
Taking Orders?: Yes, standard & customs
RIYL: Martin have set the benchmark for a lot of builders and manufacturers.
Note: (RIYL) Recommended If You Like

Model: 000-28c converted to 00042 by John Greven

Year: 1963

Top: Adirondack Spruce from West Virginian Smoky Mountains

Back and sides: Brazilian Rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

Nut Width: 1 13/16″

String Spacing: 2 1/4″

Scale: 25.4″

Body Length: 20 1/2″

Lower Bout: 15″

Upper Bout: 11″

Body Depth: 3 1/4- 4 1/4″

Bridge: Ebony

Binding: Ivoroid

Rosette: Abalone

Backstrip: Marquetry

Purfling: Abalone, 42 style

Pricing: US$9,500

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The Conversion.

This is a 000-28c from 1963 which has been converted to a 00042 style by John Greven. John worked as a repairman in George Gruhn’s shop for a number of years and really pulled out the stops. He slimmed the neck from 2″ to 1 13/16″ and managed to use the old steel tuners for the peghead. The bindings were salvaged as was the finish for the back and sides!

The Topwood.

The topwood is Adirondack Red Spruce obtained from John Arnold. This particular top is from an old tree in the Smokies Mountains which John Arnold explains:

“The Great Smokies National Park contains the largest continuous stand of old growth red spruce remaining anywhere. Many of those trees exceed 500 years in age. In October 1995, the remnants of Hurricane Opal came through East TN and Western NC. The heavy rains and high winds combined to fell some 400+ year old red spruce trees in a landslide. The landslide covered US 441, which is the only highway bisecting the park. Normally, all fallen trees in National Parks are protected. They cannot be removed for any reason. But the necessity of clearing a Federal highway led to the decision to remove the trees from the park. By law, once the trees left the park boundary, they became property of the contractor. That is the loophole that allowed me and Ted Davis to obtain those logs. The red spruce from those 400+ year old logs was extremely tight-grained (up to 65 grains per inch).”ver seen, it has very complex tiny grain patterns with nice coloring. “

This particular top has fantastically tight grain 60 per inch and is cut on the quarter, displaying excellent silking. There is some hard colouring especially in the joined area, but it on the whole a very high grade top.

The Back and Sides.

The figured back and sides on this guitar deserves a special mention. The spiderwebbing is as extensive as I have ever seen and is very well bookmatched. As far as vintage Martins go, this is one of the most figured Brazilian rosewood back and sides I have seen.

The Result.

After an initial break in period of a few months, this guitar has opened up nicely with an impressive balance coupled to exceptional volume and response. The overtones have a particular depth to them and the speed with which the guitar reacts to nuances in playing. The volume, response and overtones were the characteristics from the early 12 fret 00028s I really wanted to have in this guitar and I am very pleased to say that John Greven has pulled off a miracle in succeeding!

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See more lovely guitars at the Guitarbench.com guitar database where we have entered our entire inventory!

References: Martin Guitars, a History by Mike Longworth.

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! Guitars are property of individual owners.

1920s Stahl Style 6 OOO.

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:50:24 +0000

Larson Stahl | 000 | 1920’s | SN:unknown

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Year: 1920’s

Top: Spruce

Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

12fret OOO in dimension

Nut Width: 1 7/8″

String spacing: 2 3/8″

Bridge: Ebony

Binding: Rosewood

Rosette: Marquetry

Backstrip: Marquetry

Purfling: Marquetry

Pricing: US$12,000

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This is an example of an early Stahl 000 guitar from the 1920’s. It is a style 6 acoustic, Slotted headstock 12fret to body join, Scalloped X braced, Auditorium sized, 15″ across the lower bout

The prior owner has this to say about this guitar:

“This Guitar is totally original even down to it’s bridge pins & tuners, and has no issues. It has never had a neck reset, and also doesn’t need one. It has all the hallmarks of being Larson built, Kerfed linings, typical Larson side depth taper, Typical Larson inlay pattern, Ebony fingerboard visible beneath the necks edge binding, woodburnt Stahl logo etc, hand pencilled internal strut numbering! No Cracks, no wear & no issues. It comes with a non original hard shell case.“

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See more lovely guitars at the Guitarbench.com guitar database where we have entered our entire inventory!

Pictures kind courtesy of owner.
©2009

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! Guitars are property of individual owners and are not for sale unless specifically stated

1995 Griffin/Arnold Dreadnought.

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:44:52 +0000

Griffin/Arnold | Dreadnought | 1995 | SN:2495

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Model: Dreadnought

Serial no: 2495

Year: 1995

Top: Adirondack spruce, from a tree harvested by Ted Davis after Hurriance Opel.

Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

Purfling: Herringbone

Fingerboard: Ebony

Bridge: Ebony

Nut Width: 1 3/4″

String Spacing: 2 1/4″

Scale: 25.4″

Body Length: 19 7/8″

Lower Bout: 15 5/8″

Upper Bout: 11 3/8″

Pricing: US$6,000

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This started out as a 1995 Ronnie Griffin guitar herringbone reproduction with a sitka top and brazilian rosewood back and sides. In 1999/2000, the owner had the reknown John Arnold of Tn retop the guitar to a Adirondack top from salvaged from the Smoky Mountains after the 1995 hurricane Opel because he wanted adirondack. The result is phenomenally loud yet responsive guitar.

John Arnold’s guitars are extremely rare and extremely sought after- more so than Wayne Henderson’s. Ronnie Griffin has recently retired and is only accepting small repair work.

John no longer has any Smoky mountain tops for sale and the brazilian is high grade material, this is a guitar that will make any player happy. The action is low, neck is vintage shaped, nut width 1 3/4 at nut. also bone nut and saddle.

acespac

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Resources:

Pictures kind courtesy of owner.
©2009

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! This database entry is sponsored bygoodacoustics.com

2007 Greven 0028c.

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:44:27 +0000

Greven | 0028c | 2007 | SN:2054

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Model: 0028c

Year: 2007

Top: Adirondack spruce

Back and sides: Brazilian Rosewood

Cutaway

Neck: One piece Mahogany

Upper Bout: 9 3/4 “

Lower Bout: 14 1/8 “

Scale Length: 24.9″

Nut Width: 1 13/16″

Strings Spacing: 2 3/16″

Bar Frets

Bridge: Ebony

Binding: Brazilian rosewood

Purfling: Herringbone

Pricing: US$8,000

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This guitar was completed in 2007. John Greven has rolled back the years with this thoroughbred interpretation of a prewar OO. We’ve kept as many of the features which have contributed to the prewar sound and feel. We’ve gone so far as to use bar frets. The only change is the use of an adjustable truss rod for easy adjustment, a cutaway for better access and a hand-rubbed, varnish finish to ensure a hard, thin finish similar to the nitro without the hazardous application process. The woods are of the highest grade possible with a clean Adirondack top and Brazilian rosewood from my personl stash out of a log found in a veneer factory dating from the 30-40s. The result is a powerful yet exquistely sensitive instrument with liquid trebles and bell like overtones.

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See more lovely guitars at the Guitarbench.com guitar database where we have entered our entire inventory!

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome!

2009 Brondel Model A2.

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:44:25 +0000

Brondel | Model A2 | 2009 | SN:090424

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Model: Model A2

Year: 2009

Top: German spruce, with bearclaw

Back and sides: Cocobolo

Neck: Honduran mahogany

Upper Bout: 11 1/4 in. approx

Lower Bout: 15 1/8 in. approx

Body Depth @Neck Heel: 3 1/4 – 4 in. approx

Scale Length: 25.59″

Nut Width: 1 25/32″

Strings Spacing: 2 1/4″

Bridge: Ebony

Binding: Figured Indian rosewood

Purfling & rosette: handmade “zen” style wheat purfling

Options: Hazelfichte (bearclaw figure) on top plates, double sides, mitred purflings, hot hide glue construction

Pricing: HOLDcing.pacasd

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This is a model 2a by Maine based luthier, Laurent Brondel. It features a non matched cocobolo sides and back as specifed when the chaps at goodacoustics placed the order…. here’s what they say “Laurent had an orphan set of figured cocobolo sides with lots of spiderweb as well as a spare back set of straighted grained cocobolo.

As we had already decided we were ordering a guitar with double sides, the importance of matching the sides to the back from a sonic point of view was minimal. So we had Laurent construct this beauty out of the two and this is the result! By the way, Laurent also used a very elegant black and white wheat purfling for the rosette and the top. It’s so nice, we’ve started to call it the Zen purfling!”

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Resources:
Read an Interview with Laurent Brondel: here
Read more about Cocobolo here

See more lovely guitars at the Guitarbench.com guitar database where we have entered our entire inventory!

Pictures kind courtesy of Laurent Brondel
Pictures ©2009 T.Tan

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome!

2004 Ragghianti OM.

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:54:43 +0000

Ragghianti | OM | 2004 |

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OM model

Italian Spruce top

Quilted Mahogany back and sides

Finish: French Polish

Ebony fingerboard

Quilted Maple headplate

1 3/4″ nut width/ 25.5″ scale length

Single piece Mahogany neck with dart volute

Fine violin-cello purfling on top

Figured Maple binding

Mini Schaller tuners

Solid Bone nut, saddle and bridge pins

Handmade mosiac rosette

Black pickguard- Can be changed to your choice!

New! Waranteed by Fabio Ragghianti

Price: US$3,600

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The OM was designed by Martin to meet Perry Betchel’s requirement. It was designed for use in an orchestra, hence the designation. We think that the OM is the most versatile guitar shape; a luthier can push it into a fingerpicking box, a flatpicking machine or an all rounder.

This Ragghianti is an all rounder with a great bass response. If you thought that a mahogany dreadnought is great for strumming or flatpicking, this OM may well challenge that! It’s good ooodles of headroom and project with a good blend of overtones. We found this guitar to be a good fingerpicker as well. Overall, it is a very enjoyable guitar!

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Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! This database entry is sponsored bygoodacoustics.com

Norman Blake’s 2006 L’arrivee SD50

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:43:08 +0000

L’arrivee | Dreadnought | 2006| SN:unknown

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Jean L’arrivee Ltd

12fret Dreadnought

15″ lower bout

11.25″ upper bout

4 5/16″ deep

25.5″ Scale length

Year: 2006

Back & Sides: Honduran Mahogany

Top: Sitka spruce

Top Trim: Herringbone

Rosette: Herringbone

Finish: UV finish

Neck: 1 piece mahogany

Headstock: Slotted

Headplate: Rosewood

Fingerboard: Ebony

Frets to body: 12

Bridge: Ebony, Ebony Pins

Nut: Bone

Nut Width: 1 7/8″ , String Spacing: 2 1/4″

Body Bindings: Curly Maple

Tuners: Ebony Buttons, 3 on a plat

Case: OHSC

Condition: Mint

Pricing US$3,200

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A standard factory guitar at Goodacoustics? What’s going on? Put simply, this is such a fine sounding guitar with provenence that I couldn’t resist. This is L’arrivee’s version of the prewar 12fret D18. It sports a sitka spruce top and honduran mahogany back and sides. These pedestrian specs belie a super charged guitar. Norman Blake bought this guitar for himself in.

It was used at various outlets and Norman decided to move it on as his Martin signature model was a little smaller and more comfortable for him. It’s light and it’s powerful with more of a vintage sound than you would think. This is a very fine sounding guitar suited to Flatpicking and Fingerpicking. These retail at around 2,ooo sterling, street price it has been used carefully and is in excellent condition. In some respects, I prefer this guitar to the new Martin D18 Authentics, it is the equal of the Martins. It’s that good. Full documentation and provenence. Full documentation and provenence.

acespac

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Resources:

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! This database entry is sponsored bygoodacoustics.com

Jean L’arrivee Ltd

12fret Dreadnought

15″ lower bout

11.25″ upper bout

4 5/16″ deep

25.5″ Scale length

Year: 2006

Back & Sides: Honduran Mahogany

Top: Sitka spruce

Top Trim: Herringbone

Rosette: Herringbone

Finish: UV finish

Neck: 1 piece mahogany

Headstock: Slotted

Headplate: Rosewood

Fingerboard: Ebony

Frets to body: 12

Bridge: Ebony, Ebony Pins e

Nut: Bone

Nut Width: 1 7/8″ , String Spacing: 2 1/4″

Body Bindings: Curly Maple

Tuners: Ebony Buttons, 3 on a plat

Case: OHSC

Condition: Mint