40th Anniversary Historic Series
As I approach my 40th year in musical instruments, I have been considering what to do to mark that milestone. I have decided that I will be offering the following four models. I have chosen these because they interest me and these concepts have been on my mind for years.
All four of these will be built in the style of the place and time mentioned. Construction, size, bracing and choice of materials will be consistent with this. They are not copies of any particular instrument, but are an amalgam of instrument making practices of that time and place.
All of these are patterned after instruments used by working people and musicians and not after the much more ornate styles of the upper classes.
"Californios"
1832 Alta California
This is a gut strung guitar built in the Spanish Colonial style of the early 1800s. Although small by contemporary classical guitar standards, the Spanish style was generally much larger than the instruments of the rest of Europe. The cloth hanger on the guitar pictured is an almost universal feature.
This is a transitional instrument, particularly suited to the music of Alta California, that part of Mexico we now call "California", early music of the rest of the New World, and the classical guitar repatoir of the first half of the 19th century. This is also the size and style of guitar the Vaqueros would have brought to the Big Island in the 1830s. According to oral tradition, this would have been the type of guitar played at the birth of Hawai'ian slack key.
It is not a copy of any particular instrument, but represents the construction, woods, and ornamentation appropriate to a musicians guitar of the time. All the material, with the exception of the bone pegs are from the New World.
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Price: $3200 $4000 $300 |
Panama, Honduras or Palo Escrito Rosewood Brazilian Rosewood Custom Built Hardshell Case |
Facts and Features:
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"Kapuailohia" A concert size 'ukulele built and appointed as the Island made instruments before the war. Named in honor of Auntie Nona Kapuailohia Beamer, one of the most beloved and important figures in the renaissance of the Hawaiian culture. |
Available Now, Pictures Coming:
"Deluxe"
Chicago, 1933
Available Feb, 2008
A Grand Concert size guitar, reminiscent of the higher end Chicago built guitars of the Depression era.
"The Territorial"
Honolulu, 1925
Available Mid 2008
An all koa guitar in the style of instruments for Island musicians in the early 20th century.