Jeremiah

Ed is just one of those people that can transfer the images in his mind into tangible objects. Or fix just about anything he lays his hands on. About six or seven years ago, he built his first guitar, in the classic Martin style dreadnought. That guitar turned out incredible. I have a friend that is a professional Blue Grass musician, when he played this guitar, he said he couldn't believe it. Ed's guitar had the feel and sound of his classic Martin's and he has a couple valued in the twenty to thirty thousand dollar range. High praise indeed, but Ed, always modest, was like, I did nothing special, anyone can do it. This was not a kit guitar, he built it from scratch. Enter Ed's first attempt at a arch top guitar. He has always admired the style and craftsmanship of the D'Angelico New Yorker. So it was a New Yorker or nothing for Ed. The guitar pictured above is an Original 1947 New Yorker. Originals are highly prized and worth a fortune. John D'Angelico hand made 1164 guitars in four different designs New Yorker, Excel, Style A and Style B before he passed away in 1964. The New Yorker is copied by several guitar makers and some of the high end builders get large sums of money for their versions.
Money was the last thing on Ed's mind when he decided to take on the challenge of building an arch top. He had more selfless ambitions in mind, but we will get to that later. He started this project, again, not from a kit but from a storm damaged maple tree. He did buy the sitka spruce as a solid piece from Alaska, and hand formed it for the top of the guitar. As any luthier will tell you, this is no simple task. It has to be shaped to not only the right form, but the right thickness or you will not be able to get the proper vibration to produce the sweet tone you are striving to achieve. He took the best pieces of the maple and quarter sawn it and then book matched and carved the back. He also made veneer from the same cuts of wood to make the sides. And made the neck from a solid piece. He used ebony for the fretboard and hand carved all the inlays and abalone he filled them with no dremel tool for Ed.Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I only had my cell phone on me at the time. I will post better pics later as these don't do the instrument justice. It took him about two years to build this beauty and the results are stunning. I had a chance to play it yesterday and have to say, it plays as smooth as butter, and sounds as good as any hollow body arch top I have ever played. I'm not in the same league as our buddy Richard, hell, I'm not even in the same sport when it comes to the quality of my playing ability. But I can play fairly well and have been playing for more years than I care to remember. I am truly impressed by the quality and sound of both guitars Ed has made. Oh yeah, I almost forgot I got so caught up in hyping Ed's latest creation. The reason Ed was compelled to build this guitar in the first place, He built it for his son Jeremiah's eighteenth birthday. Happy Birthday Jeremiah, here is one present you will never forget.

Till Next Time...........