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here is the most bling free guitar I have ever made. Body is malasian blackwood, top Italian spruce; binding, back overlay, tuner buttons and butt wedge is snakewood. Top overlay is African blackwood. Rosette made of spalted maple. Those tuners are the most expensive I have ever used. Fortunately the customer bought them up front. $520. They are hand made and just ooze quality.

Very ,Very cool guitar John. I really like guitars without a lot of bling.
Those tuners have got to be some of the nicest I've seen !The
whole guitar oozes quality and is just gorgeous!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Yeah...it's stuff like this that makes me want to never build again....

Dang John, that's great.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

John my freind this is a gorgeous guitar and I like everything about it!

Bling free - hardly, what you have put together here in terms of the design elements and the beautiful wood combo, tuners, and sweeping curves all work perfectly together. IMHO this is a VERY custom looking guitar and just right in all respects.

What kind of tuners are these and where did you get them - do they have a web site, they look incredible?

The headstock is a perfect example of letting the wood speak for itself IMHO. I have always loved your bridge design too.

If I were to commission a guitar to be built for me I would want one just like this one!

Beauty. Love the contrasting woods.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Not much bling maybe, but every cell of wood glowing, every curve alive. Lots of nice details. Cheers.

Very nice John. That is one reason your one of my favorite builders. Your instruments are always elegant, bling or not and I prefer the non bling builds best

Thanks gents for the kind words. The pics are terrible, I was rushed for time and just used a flash and available light.
Hesh I will find out about those tuners. It is a shame that I have forgotten those details.

Very sweet, bro!
Are those Rogers tuners?
(Wouldn't know...I've never had any...)

Don said it quite well: "dang".

KBW

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

A visual treat..

John, this guitar is stunning!!

John, you sure build a fine guitar. Another winner!

Do you know what country / region the spruce came from?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

John,

Lovely guitar and nice wood combinations. The tuners look similar to Robson Tuners made in the UK - very nice.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Thanks guys.
Dave you nailed it. Those are Robson tuners and indeed they are made in the UK. They are just great and if a person can afford them I recommend them.

Arnt, the wood was sold to me as Italian spruce. Other than that, I cannot say.
John

John, that is a truly beautiful guitar, every details just hangs together and it just oozes quality. As Stan said it's guitars like this that are the reason you're one of my favourite builders as well. Where is the guitar destined?

Robson's are indeed stunning tuners. I'm always amazed that both the Rolls Royce (Rodgers) and the Bentley (Robson) of tuners are both made here in the UK, just that I can't afford them!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Beautiful, John...I really like the wood combinations. Your choice is symbiotic in that each wood enhances the other.

I dropped off some work at Joe's last week and just happened to see one of your guitars for the first time. As good as your photos have been over the years, they don't do justice to what they actually look like in person. I only wish I could play one and hear what they sound like now!

Thanks for posting...as always, more inspiration!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Quite simply.....stunning! Gorgeous choice of wood.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

I like the way the sapwood in the head plate simulates a truss rod cover. Was that intentional?

Thanks guys. Kind words indeed.
Colin, that guitar is going south to Georgia. Only a couple hundred miles or so from where I live, but worlds apart in climate.
I am like you regarding tuner price. Waverlies are about as high end as I can afford and that's a stretch. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with these.

JJ you must have seen that little maple guitar trimmed in cocobolo. I really like that combo and am amxious to see it myself.

Barry,it actually took some doing to just get two book matched pieces out of that scrap of blackwood I was slicing up. I lucked up on the truss rod cover simulation.

John, could you show us your Maple/Cocobolo soon? I just closed a Myrtle OM up and want to do Coco for the bindings. Actually, if you think it is a good idea, I have nothing to worry about. Still, let's see her!

hey John
very elegant.
do you have a better pict of the bridge?, it looks beautifully shaped.
Did you mention what the bindings were?
Geordie

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some tunes on acoustic and guitar synth.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGeordieAdams
http://www.myspace.com/geordieadams