I recently finished an Angelina 12 string that I'd been wanting to make for a while. It was inspired by the work of Raphael Ciani and Antonio Cerrito, two of my favorite luthiers of days gone by. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to build it.
The top of the guitar is red spruce. The back and sides are mahogany. The bridge and fingerboard are ebony. The bridge pins are bone with a "French eye", very sharp looking. I had the tuning machines custom made by a machinist in Germany. He did a really wonderful job. They are beautifully handmade. I made the mosaic purfling about a year ago. It's made up of three pieces, a black and white checker, a red/white/green/ black diagonal checker, followed by another black and white checker. The guitar is assembled 100% with hide glue and the finish is a French polished varnish of my own recipe.
It's a joy to look at and to play. With the 26 1/2" scale, tuned down to B, it really puts out a lot of sound.
WOW! I love it!
ReplyDeleteYou've really got quite the eye for combining the best of classic designs.
With that scale length I'm imagining this thing to feel quite nice tuned to B as well, with not too much extra spring in the strings.
Great!
A very beautiful guitar, Todd.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I waited quite a while to build it. I was happy that it turned out as well as it did. I had it tuned down to B, with strings ranging from .013-.066. It sounded great. I'd liked to have tried it with some lighter strings to see how it responded. I have another in the works which I'm going to try the lighter strings on.
ReplyDeleteThat's a real beaut, Todd, and congratulations on 7 years of French Polish and hide glue! Tom at vintagebluesguitars
ReplyDeleteThat guitar has a lovely smile.
ReplyDeleteJust received my Francesca 12-string, and it's hard to imagine a finer instrument!! Every detail and it's SOUND speak of love!! "Thunder across the Prarie" and it'll keep on getting better! Can't wait to get some more of Todd's amazing work!
ReplyDelete