Koa Falstaff

I made this guitar for Joseph Sobol. Joseph is best known for playing fingerstyle cittern, (he uses Stefan’s Instruments) but he is also a considerable guitarist and mandolin player. Some while ago he traded in his damaged Fylde Cittern and I suggested that he had a guitar instead, and this is the result. Isn't it Pretty?
Joseph doesn't take any prisoners with his playing, and needs instruments that don’t "give up" on him when he plays hard. We spent a long time discussing all the options - he had settled on a Custom Falstaff early on, but the actual timbers took a long time to decide. Joseph found a number of nice Koa sets in the US and sent them over, which meant that I had lost control of the supply chain, crucial from a seasoning and quality point of view, but also from legal and sustainability considerations. Having sorted that out, we discussed the possibility of using an Adirondack soundboard, but Joseph prefers the "crisp response to my fingers that Italian spruce guitars have ". It isn't just about the sound - timber choice is also a big factor in the way the guitar "feels" while being played.

Joseph flew over from the US specially to collect the guitar, the journey going wrong at every possible stage, and the scratchplate is also part of a very long story for another time. Joseph is "Artist in Residence" in North and South Carolina, and loves to spend time around musicians and makers. When he visits here we put him on a chair with wheels so we can move him around while he plays.