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Rosettes. Just to show
some of the options - standard, abalone or solid
wood. The solid wood in this case is spalted beech
and fairly dramatic I think.
Labels. I make
individual labels with the customer's name and
other details. The motif in the centre is a section
of one of my wife's paintings. I use different
paintings for different instrument types. Compare
the thin solid mahogany rosette on this guitar to
the ones above.
Alessi machine heads.
At the Frankfurt Musikmesse in 2004 there was a
small stand showing the most beautiful hand made
machine heads for steel string and nylon string
guitars. The maker was Nicolò Alessi from
Italy and each set he makes are like little jewels.
The gearing is very precise and the engraving very
tasteful. They look wonderful and perform to the
same standard. I am really happy to be able to
offer them as options on slot headed instruments.
As with all hand made highest quality products they
are not cheap but for the discerning player they
are worth the extra cost.
Carbon
fibre neck reinforcement.
For two years I have been
experimenting with using carbon fibre in bass necks
to add stiffness without increasing weight. Now I
have come to what I currently think is the best
system for my necks which you can see on the 5B
neck blank above. There are 4 long rods (2 pairs of
2) each side of the trussrod that extend the length
of the neck and then 4 short rods (2 pairs of 2)
from the body end of the fingerboard to the 12th
fret. The bond between the carbon fibre and the
wood is made with an epoxy resin that never becomes
completely hard and so allows for some movement if
needed. This system when combined with the truss
rod makes setting up very low actions (if that is
what the customer wants) and also enables me to
carve the necks thinner in depth than if there was
no reinforcement.
Rio Jumbo. I don't get
to make too many Rio acoustics probably due to the
extra cost of the timber but it does look good. The
three piece back in this one had great
figure.
Quilted Jumbo. The
combination of quilted and flamed maple in this
three piece back is pretty luxurious. The dark red
of padauk bindings add great contrast
Details. Simple details
can add to the elegance of an instrument. A bit of
extra purfling here on the back and heel of an
acoustic guitar lifts the overall look (but doesn't
make it sound any better!)
Pale Rio. Not all Rio
is dark. The back and sides on this ASAP Cutaway
are a fine, even, light colour.
Native Walnut The back
and sides of this acoustic bass guitar are made
from quartersawn European walnut from Northern
Ireland - a wood as beautiful as any
exotic.
Khaya mahogany from
Africa has beautiful 'roe' figure when perfectly
quartersawn (as all backs and sides should
be.)
  Bearclaw
Sitka (left). I recently got some of this wood
with very pronounced bearclaws.
Swiss flamed
maple (right). Normally I would just add a
honey tint to maple but in this case the customer
wanted a vintage sunburst and it looks good to
me.
Lacewood.
Plane maple when cut on the
perfect quarter gives this figure that is known as
lacewood. I have got some boards of Irish plane and
I'm using it for headstocks, bindings and
facings.
3 Acoustic
Models
A chance to see 3 different
acoustic models together. At the back is an ASAPJ,
in the middle an ASAP JM and at the front an ASAP
CAW. Different body styles, different headstocks
and different woods. Difficult choice or take one
of each?
If you would like any more
information about these items, just email me
chris@ChrisLarkinGuitars.com
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