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August 2011 - #220 is a departure from the light weight guitars I've been building recently. This would qualify as a heavy guitar, although not as heavy as some, it features a raised integrated rosewood neck/fretboard, Macassar ebony back and sides, and an expanded vibrating region that encompasses the waist/soundhole area. This is a concept I've been working on and is also built into #218. In this case the heavy (and heavily braced) back acts as a reflective rather than a live back, so the audience gets more sound while the performer hears less.

 The neck is a solid piece of Indian rosewood which is fretted. The lack of a separate fretboard means greater stability and of course rosewood is incredibly stiff, so more sound energy is directed to the soundboard. The additional strength is taken into account with the slim profile of the neck. The peghead is Spanish cedar to help offset the weight of the rosewood. The raised angle of the neck is similar to that used by the late Thomas Humphrey in his Millenium series guitars.In addition, the neck is fully adjustable and removable.

I have dubbed this guitar "Wrinkle" due to the wavy nature of the Ebony used for the back and sides.

Above, deflection testing Wrinkle prior to installing binding. The weights I use can be seen on the top of the box to the right. Testing and playing the guitar at this stage led me to decide to finish it. The soundboard mobility, the alignment of the resonant frequencies and my subjective evaluation of the sound combined to convince me that this could be a very impressive guitar and worth finishing.

UPDATE: I've done a considerable amount of post-construction work on Wrinkle. The latest is a small resonance tuning port (aka "sound port") on the bass side shoulder. This has brought the resonances into better (IMHO) placement and allowed a better experience for the player. The overall projected volume is not significantly reduced by doing this.  In volume testing this guitar achieved 98Db at a distance of 1 meter. This is one of the loudest and yet deepest sounding (to the player) guitars I've ever tested. 

Price $2950 (with case) 

 Materials used for #220 :

Soundboard - Englemann Spruce
Sides/Back - Macassar Ebony
Fretted Neck - Indian Rosewood
Bridge - Tzalam
Nut/Saddle - Snakewood
Binding - Yellowheart
Scale - 650mm
Weight -2800 grams
Mobility - 33*10-3s/kg