Archtop Jazz & Semi Guitars & Mandolins
One of the most beautiful styles of instruments. Here are some samples of archtops hand made for customers.
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Originally this ASAST was to be honey coloured but after I sprayed on the clear base coats of lacquer it became clear that the superb Canadian sitka (thank you Kevin!) and amazing Croatian maple didn't need any colouring at all. I sent a picture to the customer and he agreed.…
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An example of the ASAS Archtop with the classic combination of back and sides of flamed maple and top of Canadian sitka spruce. Top and back are hand carved and tap tuned. The neck is a laminate of figured hard maples with veneer details topped with an ebony fingerboard. The…
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As far as I know the tenor guitar first appeared at the start of the 20th century where they became popular with tenor banjo players who could transfer to the instrument without having to learn new fingerings or chords since the two instruments shared the same tuning. The sound is,…
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Harry's mando has superb quilted maple in the back, sides and scratchplate with a close grained sitka top. The neck is laminated from flamed maples. The fingerboard and bridge are ebony, the binding walnut. A Highlander pickup is built into the bridge and the battery for the preamp fits under…
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Let's start with an 'art pic'. Making archtop guitars and mandos is quite difficult but not half as tricky as photographing a gloss black one! Gloss black lacquer is like a mirror and shows every reflection, piece of dust and fingermark so I am particularly proud of the pic above!…
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Sunburst. I really like doing sunbursts. Often the customer will send me a picture of the colours they want and I have to match them. Adding the shadings can make the figuring in the woods really stand out. This ASAST turned out really well - even the scrathplate gets the…
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ASAST Pointy Cutaway. The first ever ASAST with a florentine cutaway (it always seems to me that the pointy version should be called venetian since I associate 'pointy' things with Venice and 'curvy' things with Florence but that is not the way it works in the archtop guitar world!). I…
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This is Akira's third guitar from me. This ASAS Semi is a little thicker than the usual (45mm rather than 35mm at the edge) and has both back and front carved from very tight flamed Croatian maple. The neck and sides are flamed Swiss maple, binding and headstock veneer are…
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Tonnie's 7 string ASAS. This was a first for me - an ASAS Semi with 7 Strings. Tonnie plays jazz with a low A string and wanted a guitar with the archtop looks with less feedback potential so the semi was the obvious way to go as construction allows for…
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The regular ASAS Semi is a pretty special guitar but this one has a few more bells and whistles than normal. First the back, sides and top are all high grade flamed maple, the neck is a three piece flamed maple laminate and the ebony fingerboard and headstock have extensive…
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