1995 Palaise de Danse 16.5 inch Arch Top

This is number 2 of the first two Archtops that I ever built... they were started in late 93 but signed of in 95 so there 21 years old now .. the first one resides here in Melbourne somewhere , it came into the workshop a few years ago and it was converted to a left handed guitar ...

Its great to see this one come in to the workshop I know the two owners that have had this guitar over the years, its in great condition and really has been looked after and played ...

One of the first things I noticed is how nicely the German Spruce top and Maple back and sides have aged ... also that there Full bout guitars ... asthetically there balanced and acoustically it really has a voice ...

I got to the end of the day and pulled up a chair when every one had gone and sat around playing this guitar for some time acoustically it displayed a beautiful direct open tone that could be compressed with lots of dynamics ...so i was having alot of fun on it ...

When the photos came back I could see the out line of the Gibson L-5 that these guitars were originally designed from ... I had a 1947 L-5  in the workshop for a re fret... I took all the templates I needed and scaled it down to 16 3/8 inch for more comfort and accessability it was a great bench mark to launch into my first Arch tops ....

The back on this Guitar was a good example of  the German Maple and Spruce I had access to in the 80's and 90's from Lamberti Bros here in Melbourne alot of it had been in there possession from the late 60's early 70's seeing this guitar and others built around that time reminds me of how lucky I was to have access to these materials and at prices that were by todays standards very affordable. 

 

The Neck has a lovely proportion and profile slightly more refined than I have been doing over the years ... a three piece Maple neck with Ebony stringers and Brazilian Rosewood back plate veeneer on the headstock.

The head stock was inspired by 1929 Loyd Loar designed L-5 I love the simplicity of this instrument less is more it sparked my first interest in the Arch top 10 years before I built these ... of course getting my hands on a 1929 L-5 was going to be a long wait ... I looked at the head stock and did my best not for an exact copy but to keep it in the family ...I still use the same template from time to time ...

It has a Benedetto small floating Humbucker attached to the pickguard with a volume contol only ...its tasty and warm and enhances those extended chords with lots of colour and tone ... there not much more that I can say about this guitar other than I love to see them after many years ... old friends who have been out and about developed some character ...and made a few people smile ...