Koa Ariel

This rather special guitar was inspired by an article in the Sunday Times about the cost of the exotic woods used by some guitar makers. Figures of £10,000 and more were quoted for the rarest pieces of figured Koa being imported into the UK, then sold to makers in other parts of the world.

Then I thought back to a conversation I had with one American maker, who liked to pay as much as possible for his wood supplies because it enabled him to charge so much more for the finished product.

I'm not the only maker who finds this sort of thing rather "triggering", and I decided to demonstrate what can be done simply by speaking to contacts in Hawaii and the west coast of America.

Here it is. Isn't it gorgeous?

The back and sides are of course Curly Koa from Hawaii, via one of those special contacts I mentioned, and the bindings are made from the same pieces of wood, Paul has just reversed the grain and added gentle borders to make the colours "pop". The soundboard is Salvaged Redwood that Moira and I collected from a long-established supplier in Oregon, (a beautiful spot right on the coast, overlooking the Pacific Ocean) and the neck is Torrified Rock Maple from Seth Baccus guitars in England.

The finish is hand applied French polish with gloss lacquer on top.

The guitar already has a home, so it isn't for sale. Yes, it would be expensive, but not stratospheric.

It's a guitar, not a Faberge Egg. Let's keep guitar making real.