Click here to see video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz-Al1svBLg

This last summer I got a phone call from A woman named Anna Farrow. She said that she was a documentary film maker by background and that She was doing a piece that featured different crafts people and their work spaces and that it would be used on the web site of a company that designed leather products. If I was interested she said she would get her art director to make an appointment with me. The whole process was surprisingly quick! Anna called me on a Thursday, the art director came Saturday, they shot it on Tuesday and I think it was up on the web about ten days later. It’s pretty cool. Check it out its only a few minuets long.

Click here to see video

This is an instrument I got just recently and am trying to authenticate it. Ive been trying to do a bit of  reading about romantic period  guitars and Fabricatore is one of the earliest  as well as one of the most recognizable  names from that period of guitar building. There are a couple of great sites out there on Romantic Guitars.http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com http://www.crane.gr.jp/indexE.html

The guitar is as I received it. The original owner had some work done to it before I got it  attempting to stabilize the guitar as it had quite a bit of worm damage to the back and sides. The top though is in excellent condition.

Its hard to believe that it’s the end of the summer and looking on to fall. The last six months have been incredibly hectic and it never seems like there is enough time to document and post  things up here on the web site but I am going to make more of an effort to do that as we have had some really interesting things come in for restoration as well as some fun ” builds” .

We finished this cut away tenor this last spring. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Lutz Spruce top, curly koa bindings. Abalone top and soundhole Martin 5K inlays.

Sometimes called Bass Guitars or contra-bass guitars these instruments were very popular in the 19th century, primarily in Europe. There were many variations on the size and shape of these instruments. How the Bass strings were supported varied as well, and the number of bass strings that they used were all over the place. Starting with as few as one or two bass strings, it was not uncommon to see guitars with as many as fifteen sub bass strings. Most of these instruments were built pretty heavy by todays standards. The tops are ladder braced and often dont have any bracing below the soundhole. In spite of that they have a surprisingly sweet and intimate sound all their own. If you want to see more photos click here.