The Frank Lloyd Wright
This model came to me years ago, as an attempt to bridge the gap between my education and degree in Architectural Engineering, and my skills in guitar building and design. I was looking for some inspiration, and found it when my Mom, an incredibly talented artist and designer, sent me some pictures of a Tiffany style lamp she was working on. It had something like 2500 pieces of glass in it, and weighed upwards of 25 lbs. It was huge, and it was beautiful. It hit me. I always loved Frank Lloyd Wright, but not just for his spacial understanding, but also for his interior design, and of course, window treatments. His stained glass work goes deep, but it didn’t take me long to find what I wanted to do. The Coonley Playhouse addition, 1912, in Riverside IL. I instantly loved the glass work, and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I’m not a huge fan of pearl, or “bling”. However, an inlay design imitating such a profound glass piece, and done with wood, I could get on board with. Each piece of inlay is comprised of individual 0.020” colored pieces of maple veneer glued together, then cut to shape with the joins running at a 45. The smaller squares have around 20 pieces of colored wood, the larger squares have upwards of 40. The circles have anywhere from 45-85 veneer strips. Then of course there are the strips connecting everything together. All-in-all, there were upwards of 6000 veneer strips used in total. It was quite an endeavor, but worth every second. The pieces were inlaid into a beautiful master grade set of Hawaiian Koa back and sides, and a wonderfully aged and stiff Carpathian spruce top. The body is a 00-14 fret, with a 24.9” scale. This beautiful piece currently resides at Rudy’s Music Stop, NYC.
The Blackwing Model 602
More information on the pairing of Boswell Guitars and Blacking Pencils to come shortly…
1937 Gibson “AJ” Advanced Jumbo Replica
I’m honored to be a part of this project. As many of you may know, I grew up, and honed my skills as a luthier in the repair world. By the time I was in my late 20’s, I was working for Rudy and Fran Pensa of Rudy’s NYC fame. Working in that repair shop I got to handle any vintage guitar there is. You name it, I handled it, fixed it, played it, or prepped it for sale through the main shop. Now, in my mid 40’s, I’ve developed a reputation as someone you can trust with some of the most prized and valuable vintage instruments there are. So, about a year ago, a customer brought me a 1937 Gibson Advanced Jumbo to repair/restore for sale. I won’t go into the details, but if you would like to see the project in its entirety, you can check it out here. It was quite a project, but when all done, none other than Rudy himself bought it. As he and I discussed the complexities of the project, and the history of Gibson at that time, Rudy got an idea. Why not recreate the AJ here in my shop from the actual specs from the restoration project?. In fact, why not create two? It’s a lot of work creating a new, old, new guitar. In all seriousness, whenever you make a new model, a lot goes into it. Research, measurements, templates, forms, bending jigs, materials, etc… Plus all of the design and ideas that go along with it. These two guitars have been built to the exact specs of the 1937 AJ that I restored here in my shop. They are now “show” pieces out at Rudy’s Music, NYC, from which they are now currently taking orders. Without the push and support from Rudy, this project would have and could have never happened. To honor that, this model is only available through Rudy’s Music, NYC. For more information, you can visit the Rudy’s website here.
