Soiva Puu

Week wrap up

2012-03-02T13:00:00.001-08:00

The maestro Timo Kämäräinen had his guitar set up just before the weekend and gigs.

One strat that I finished with cellulose , and assembled together for a customer.

And finally the mandolin is getting ready next week heres a pic of the tuners on it

French polishing the mandolin and making rosettes

2012-03-01T07:04:00.001-08:00

More pics on the new model

2012-02-27T04:22:00.001-08:00

New guitar model - name to be revealed soon

2012-02-26T11:23:00.001-08:00

Logo installation- here's how i do it

2012-02-24T05:14:00.001-08:00

My logo is cut on this paper. I take the insides out and place the logo paper on the headstock. Then i'll mask everything else from the spray. For this mahogany neck i used gold spray. Light mist of paint does it. Then take all the tape and masking off and its ready. First coat after 20 minutes, light mist NOT wet coat.

My flattop mandolin model

2012-02-23T00:12:00.001-08:00

Heres a few pics of my 'Kelt'- mandolin. Im beginning on another one , stay tuned.

First batch of refinishes done!

2012-02-21T05:21:00.001-08:00

Shoreline gold strat and sand white tele with vintage lacquer and tanned necks.

Relic job done!

2012-02-20T03:54:00.001-08:00

Here it is, with intonation correct nut placement and compensated saddle parts.

I love the looks and the sound. One of the best wood combos ever: swamp ash body and all maple neck.yeah, Antti come pick it up!

Lacquering the tweed

2012-02-20T01:06:00.001-08:00

Im offering lacquering for all u owning a tweed case either for guitar or amp cab. I think we all love the look of old yellow tan tweed more than the new ones. So get your stuff here and i will give it a proper vintage treatment to look goooood!

Relic neck

2012-02-17T09:01:00.001-08:00

Some in progress pics here u go!

Two acoustic guitars

2012-02-15T23:39:00.001-08:00

No.1 will be a dreadnought with indian rosewood back and sides, bearclaw carpathian spruce top. Aimed for plectrum players nut will also have fast attack and sparkle for fingerstyle too.

No.2 is my own Little Lion model, with cutaway , indian rw back and sides and port orford cedar top. This will be a fingerstyle model

In one of the pictures you can see brazilian rosewood spliced and thicknessed for headplates. Lovely looking wood, and smells even better!

Western red cedar body Tele with mahogany neck!

2012-02-14T00:47:00.001-08:00

Hi guys!

Just wanted to let you know that western red cedar body with mahogany neck/ brazilian rosewood fretboard makes a killer combo!

I have new one ready soon if you like to come and test it.

Relicing a custom shop tele

2012-02-13T03:11:00.001-08:00

The owner of this custom shop tele wanted me to relic this to look like 50's worn on the road guitar. It came to me with body factory finished fully glossed and neck with ugly looking attempt to take the lacquer off. So i took almost all the lacquer left off and gave it a yellowed tan lacquer color. All the lacquer used is vintage-style with no plasticisers or gummy additives. The lacquer will crack nicely.

For the body i sprayed a 10/90 mix of lacquer and thinner to take the gloss off. Then working the metal parts to look more authentic. Most of the parts are chrome and that dont look good on vintage models, so i used a litlle bit of toner on the metal parts too. Then with secret ( hah;)) tools to get some chips and marks all over the body!

Nice job i have!

Mandolin sunburst

2012-02-06T06:32:00.001-08:00

This morning i painted the mando with traditional tobacco sunburst colors, have a look!

I sense this will be a good week..:)

Another week wrapped up!

2012-02-03T06:03:00.001-08:00

This week i started to put finish on the a- mandolin. Its gonna be a burst but im not so sure about the colors yet, maybe tobaccoburst, but then again could be something else.

Got to see a old epiphone slope shoulder dreadnought and installed a new old stock celluloid pickguard on.

Did some shading to customer's guitars that im finishing. They are moving on quite nicely. The thing with lacquer is to go slowly and make it as thin as possible. I also tried for the first time different mix of lacquer and thinner to avoid the need to sand and buff the necks. It Worked!

My baritone acoustic and my bouzouki found homes last week. Really happy to see happy players with my instruments! I miss both of those instruments already..:)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Weekly update!

2012-01-23T02:42:00.001-08:00

Hi! Last week was purely repairs and preparations for this weeks finishing process. I have 6 bodies and 4 necks to paint/tint and put lacquer on so lots to do this week. But i gotta mention I like it!

Mandolin is proceeding nicely. I have the bindings now on and next i will glue the neck to the body, really looking forward to that.

one of the finishes im doing is this TV yellow pictured. Its a mix of white base color and yellow tan on top of it.

I installed a Earvana compensated nut to one of my customers and really liked the intonation on it. The only thing that bothered me was the material, tusq. So i made one out of moose bone. Im beginning to offer this to all you interested.

Gentleman pictured with my baritone acoustic is Matti Laitinen, great person and player!

Repairs and miscallenious photos

2012-01-14T22:46:00.001-08:00

Another week went by. Did a lot of repairs and met clients. Took in some cool vintage goodies. Got some fresh lacquer. Went to kitarapaja to get stuff and a new Polytuner from tc electronic.
And another Tvango got ordered!

Versus vintageburst

2012-01-10T02:05:00.001-08:00

How about some good fingerstyle tunes with this little sweetheart? It is for sale!

Mandolin update 2

2012-01-05T07:01:00.001-08:00

Box is now glued together and i did the neck joint today. Really happy with how it looks. Now couple of days relaxing with family! More pics next week about my mando project. Thanks for checking out:)

Mandolin update

2012-01-04T02:48:00.001-08:00

Having a blast here at workshop!

Happy new year folks!

2012-01-02T07:29:00.001-08:00

Inspired by this beautiful Kimble that came to visit me , Im continuing my long process of completing A-mandolin made of local finnish woods. Watch this space for progress pics.

Visio relaxing

2011-12-27T09:02:00.001-08:00

Take it easy during holidays!

Elysee

2011-12-21T12:47:00.001-08:00

Recap of the year 2011

2011-12-10T00:29:00.001-08:00

Year end is nearing and I think we all are starting to get excited about christmas and holidays ahead, so here is a small recap of the year 2011.

The biggest thing that happened was that I became a father to our lovely baby boy Eino. He is such a charm, I love him. Eino is now 3 months and growing up fast. Who knows if in the future things grow into family business here @ workshop!

oh, its you dad..!

I made around 12 instruments this year to a fine group of clients. From 24 fret electric to 10 string bandolim to small Songster acoustic with a bevel. I enjoyd each of the projects and my deepest thanks yous to all of you who ordered from me, the local luthier!

My Modern Man model appeared on finnish Idols tv show finals in the hands of mr. Lasse Sakara in the spring.

Teemu Viinikainen joined my workshop at the end of the summer and really brought some magic along. We designed the Tvango model which premiered at the Turenki Tonefest this november.

My guitars were used in many records and projects this year, from live rock albums to recording a score for a movie. My workshop is close to the most iconic recording studio here in Finland so many times I received a call to rent instruments for sessions.

I was presenting my guitars in Tampere Guitar festival and Turenki Tonefest this year, and had great fun at both events.

thanks also to all of my repair and mod clients. lots of great vintage goodies and other interesting things. and sorry for those who suffered from my small break from repairs during hectic building and baby vacation, i ll make it up to you next year, promise.

Some of you might have also seen me on the newspaper as SiniHannele Mesilaakso interviewed me about my profession as a luthier.

once again great products and service from lollar pickups!

Janne Ainesmaa took great photos for me during the year, thanks!

I also had a chance to write songs this year and make music too. I have written couple of songs for Juha Metsäperä´s fourth album which I think will release next march.

David Lyle Morris´ forthcoming album contains also my songs and some playing too, greetings to my favourite Kiwi!

I wish you all happy holidays, merry christmas. Keep on pressing forward !

Harvest Jumbo "1934"

2011-12-10T00:23:00.001-08:00

One of the last guitars finished in 2011 is this beautiful Harvest model. Made from genuine figured mahogany back and sides and adirondack spruce top. Braz Rosewood bridge, fretboard and headplate. Cellulose finish and deep tobacco sunburst.

By the way, not my car on the reflection=)

The sound is impressive and big but also very articulate which I think is a neat thing with all those old Gibbys. No muddy bass frequencies here.

I miss this fella already!

Visio Baritone

2011-11-30T22:20:00.001-08:00

Few years back Petteri had idea of this electric baritone that would also work for slamming and his style of playing. We chose beautiful curly maple neck to give it some real punch, and hollowed out cedar body with pau ferro top , fretboard and headplate.

as you can see on the back there is an extra cavity for slam pickup.Slam pickup goes into a separate amp and has a miniswitch for on /off operation.

It is coupled with these little singlecoils with wood covers.

Very natural and organic, it is the Eco-era right? Finished with oil and wax that are uber thin but still protect the wood well. Same kind of finishing products are used on gun stocks so its waterproof.

Voila!

Salminen, Sariola, Wäinölä

2011-11-26T01:25:00.001-08:00

At last I was able to deliver my bartione Visio model to Petteri Sariola, the pickups had seen so many versions so far but now it seems they are like we planned. Amazing sounds from the fingertips of Mr. Governor of Guitar! More pics of this model coming soon.

Anssi Salminen dropped by and had some time to play my Visio model. Anssi plays in many bands but recently been busy with Rosa, an EMI signed band.

RRRawks..!

Tuomas Wäinölä came to visit my workshop, and is pictured here with his solo album which I highly recommend! So talented playr and very nice person. Tuomas Wäinölä world tour starting soon, so buy the tickets, peeps.

Tvango going through some sweeping .

Thanks guys for the support and the great live music I get hear!

Turenki Tonefest 2011 PICS!

2011-11-21T10:10:00.001-08:00

Turenki Tonefest gathered hundreds of visitors and over 25 finnish luthiers/ companies to a beautiful old wooden railway station in Turenki. Harri Koski of Mad Professor Amps arrenged the event for the first time and I definately hope for continuence, the day was success all the way! During the day bands, artists and guitarist were demoing stuff and keeping the crowd merry and upstairs was filled with so many beautiful instruments. Here is Teri Mantere, singer and a great guitarist trying out my grand acoustic baritone.

Thanks Harri for arranging it!

Pauli Halme played fingerstyle pieces with ease and style with my new model TVANGO. I think Pauli should perform next year at the event, he´s a gem!

Timo Kämäräinen, royal finnish guitarist warming up with my Harvest "1934" adirondack spruce topped acoustic before he went on stage.

Mr. Tone, Teemu Viinikainen held a clinic and played Tvango there too. Notice how fast the right arm?

Amphisound had a stand next to me. Metal music diggers went nuts with these!

I think this was a poplar burl top.

They come from Oulu, close to Lapland.

Another Amphisound masterpice

Next to amphisound was Flaxwood, best known for their composite bodies and necks

Like on this one, beatiful gold top!

They have also started to make bodies with wood but fingerboards with this new composite material that sings well.! It did. Behind the desk Mr. luthier at having a brainstorm ( a new model perhaps?)

Lottonen Guitars is based in Helsinki and makes all sorts of stringed instruments. I used to work and study repairs under luthier Juha Lottonen´s guidance.

Here´s one beautiful Ukulele, made of finnish curly alder.

Here is Juha´s stand. on the right is the new travel guitar that was very popular.
Behind the desk on the left Jyrki Kostamo of Ruokangas and on the right Juha Lottonen

Beautiful jazz guitar and the travel model

Another Lottonen model , maybe a Modesto or Centurion?

The famous Eero Aarnio designed Copacabana guitar.

Conan O´Brien has one too!

Next table was Sale Custom guitars. Lovely LP´s on the right!

Headstock

Some were reliced like in the middle.

And the luthier himself, standing proud.

Juha Ruokangas having a kodak moment!

Beautiful unicorns , I think there were 3 of them all together, lovely goldtop!

And the infamous arctic birch top, almost like a trademark for them.

Flame!!

Mojo and new bass model

Anders Liljeström ( thats me by the way=) Visio Hollowbody model, with Lollar P-90s

AJL Guitars are known around the world for premium Gypsy and archtop guitars. they are uber cool, and look at the cases in thes pictures, they are made in house too! and the pickups, and the tailpieces...

Yam!

Grrr..!

Nice Stromberg style archtop

Dentist says: open yoor mouth!

Master of acoustic instruments AP Paasonen enjoying the Tonefest with one of his premium acoustic models. Go AP! You da man!

Nice mandolin from AP Paasonen of Jasesoi company

Unusual for purists, familiar to everyone who play it.

Rauno Nieminen was also there with his wonderful acoustic bass. Rauno is the father of finnish luthier school est, 1984, and we salute you Rauno, look how many builders you have raised!!

Rauno has doctors degree in old native finnish instruments, and knows how to make fine mandolins too.

Krisian Wetterstrand had just gratuated from the luthier school in the spring and brought some fine instruments along to his first ever guitar show.

Really nice bouzouki!

The headstock for Wetterstrand Bouzouki

Keijo Liikanen of Liikanen guitars looking handsome. One Liikanen and one Kantare classical guitar in the background.

Olav Loef was also there with his acoustic guitars.

Nice burst Olav!

The man himself.

Jarno Salo was there with his new innovative guitar pickps. he makes a proprietery single coil without hum, that is cool.

Lots of different pickup models to

choose from

Rami Hakala of Mikki House had his handmade pickups in line

Snakeskin!

Hnery Salo of HOS Guitars brought this fine electric dobro along. I think this one belongs to Erja Lyytine, famous finnish blues guitarist.

More of HOS! These are super sounding guitars.

New model that I hadn´t seen before.

And the famous Zebra bass

Teemu Järvinen of Finlandia Instruments had fine electric guitars in display.

AriJukkaLuomaranta giving a test drive to one of Teemus guitars

Monster amps had also clone guitars at their booth, here vintage looking LP

and Stevie Ray strat here.

So that´s it for this year´s Turenki Tonefest report! Apologies for not having any pictures from Mad Professor booth, but they were downstrairs and it was too crowded for me to even get in, so check their website for the latest. Bye!

Anders Liljeström,
www.liljestromguitars.com

New Model - TVANGO!

2011-11-16T08:26:00.001-08:00

The latest from my workshop: Inspired by teles, jazz guitars and holy simplicity.
Designed with jazz greatness Teemu Viinikainen over a good lunch at local kepab house.
And this is the outcome of those quick notes and drawings!
Made from Spruce top, hollowbody cedar, mahogany neck with brazilian rosewood fretboard.

Bevel arm rest, and custom sound holes.

The whole.

Cellulose lacquer and tobacco sunburst.

Lollar Charlie Christian neck pickup!

Maestro himself. TVANGO = TV ( Teemu Viinikainen) AN ( Anders) GO ( Go and play!)

Dynamo model with zebrawood!

2011-11-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

My Dynamo model in beautiful looking and sounding wood combo, zebrawood back and sides and redwood top.

Nitrocellulose lacquer makes the colors really jump out. "Freedom Dove"- inlay on 12th fret.

This combo gives great defined bass woody middles and strong trebles.

And here´s a link to short video clip of the instrument in the hands of Teemu Viinikainen, the owner of the guitar is Tipi Tuovinen.

Songster with a bevel

2011-10-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

This beautiful acoustic model named Songster comes with a Ryan-style arm rest, or bevel. This bevel helps the player in many ways. It feels comfortable under the arm, much more so than with a regular edge. It also changes the right hand angle and makes it better to get the right playing position. And it lifts the right arm off the top from damping the response. Plus the bevel looks uber nice!!

Swiss Moon spruce, mahogany back and sides.

Mahogany neck with Gotoh tuners.

Brazilian rosewood headplate, I still have some of this spectacular wood in stock, with CITES papers so its completely legal.

Finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. The sound: amazing response, even smallest of attack will do. Very open and clear sounding guitar. Customer Ari Peltola.

Tommi Kalenius ja Ville Salminen

2011-10-15T04:28:00.000-07:00

Meet Ville Salminen. This handsome rocker is a great young guitarist touring alongside many artists and bands here in Finland. Recently he has bought only red guitars! here are the latest two that he´s holding.

Tommi "Hitmaker" Kalenius, has released his newest album this year. I recommend you go and buy the album. Tommi has superb voice and makes beautiful songs! He brought his Gibson J-45 for a new saddle to me. and by coincidence, these two fellas also tour together as Ville happens to be in Tommi´s tour band! Go guys

Lasse Haapala and Evolver Classic

2011-10-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

Lasse Haapala plays guitarhero(!) in Katajainen Kansa- reggae band, and here is his Evolver Classic, the very first I made a few years back. P-92 style pickups, cedar body, alder neck (yes alder) and madagascar rosewood fretboard.

1961 Gibson Les Paul Custom

2011-08-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

Old and oh-so-cool Les Paul came in for repair. This is from year 1961, and just before they honored Les Pauls´s wish to delete his name from the guitar. after that this model has been known as Solid Guitar or SG.

Nice color on this oldie that was top-of-the-line model when it was released. Notice the sideways working vibrola? It was produced only during one year. It wasn´t the best equipment in keeping the guitar in tune and the aluminum parts broke upmore easily.

Nice headstock and yellowing of lacquer.
Inside the minds of the sixties luthiers..

3 PAFs, the wiring is somewhat unusual too: neck pickup normal, middle pickup out of phase, and bridge too. really reminds of the sounds heard in sixties pop albums, not the bluesy ones..almost like a rickenbacker sound on the bridge pickup.

Youtube clip - Tv tube amps

2011-08-20T02:06:00.000-07:00

Hi!

check out Teemu´s youtube channel, here is one clip where he also happens to play my relik stratocaster model. click HERE to see the video. Kuuuul!

Teemu Viinikainen

2011-08-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! Teemu Viinikainen joined our workshop community this week. Teemu repairs and mods tube amps in his sparetime, other times he is playing mind blowing music in various groups and his trio is putting out an album next month. Check his website. Teemu is world class jazz elite.
Inside view of a fender twin.

Visio photos

2011-08-10T00:06:00.001-07:00

Carved curly maple top, basswood body, maple neck , rosewood fretboard, dimarzio Mo´Joe and PafJoe pickups.

Photos by Markus Vainiomäki

KELT mandolin

2011-08-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

this is my original design mandolin. spruce top , cherry back and sides, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard. offset soundhole for better bass.

Photos by Janne Ainesmaa

10-string Bandolim

2011-07-30T00:37:00.001-07:00

Here it is in all it´s glory! this project has been so enjoyable from the day one and I´m glad that Mikko ordered this from me. 10 string bandolim has to be my favourite instrument at least for the reason that it looks even better than guitars do!

Everything ( except the tuners which are Gotoh and strings which are ghs/john pearse) is made by me. Even the case. Case making is something I will definitely continue to do, and maybe even offer them for sale to custom instruments.

French polished shellac finish adorns this bandolim. Shellac is so light and can be put on very thinly that there is almost nothing on it. still it shines quite nicely. Shellac also has the sound properties that I really like, it adds sparkle and crispness.

Here is the custom case.

and pau ferro/ bolivian rosewood back and sides

Handmade brass tailpice. piece of fine leather on it so it mutes the strings from rattling.

Bandolim almost finished

2011-07-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

This is my original bandolim design going to Mikko Kolehmainen. Pauferro back and sides, finnish spruce top , french polished shellac finish, handmade brass tailpiece ( doesn´t show on the pics) slightly longer scale than normal. custom made case. It has been so rewarding to build this and yesterday after stringing it it was hard to put it down. luckily I have two days left to play it before it is shipped=)!

The sound hole design is a new concept that I have tried on couple of instruments. It is essential now to have the tone I'm looking for.

Mika Kuokkanen and guitarlele!

2011-07-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Mika Kuokkanen enjoying the kodak moment with my Vunukka. Mika has had a busy summer gigging and giving baths to their baby girl. Hoedown was opening for legend Tom Jones this year in Pori Jazz. Check Mika´s and Ninni´s wonderful record "POWDERBURN" !

Now touring with Edu Kettunen, Mika needed me to mic this guitarlele. we ended up with Schatten dualie insider.

New instruments

2011-06-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Ari and Mikko are waiting for their instruments to arrive this summer , been busy with the show so running up little late with these but here are couple of shots of whats on the bench at the moment. This acoustic is my SONGSTER model, and it will be mahogany -Swiss spruce with a Bevel . Ari wanted to have a really clean and simple design on this. Here are the sides and the back waiting to be joined

Mikko ordered a 10 string bandolim with pau ferfo back and sides, and I chose a stiff Finnish spruce top for it. the neck is maple.and rosewood fretboard will have a little bit longer scale to work better with that low C/D bass strings.

Thinking inside the box this time

Here´s the classic shot of the braces glued to top. on the front is the Brazilian rosewood fretboard going to Ari on this guitar. nice!

Grand Concert Baritone

2011-06-21T20:25:00.001-07:00

Pictures of the Baritone that was on the guitar show last week. the sound is big , bold, piano-like and rings like a bell. this monday it was on it´s first recording session.

Super Currrrrrrly maple back and sides

Sitka spruce top with abalone rosette, ebony fretboard with my logo on the 12th fret.

Honduran mahogany neck

Gotoh S510 tuners, the flagship of their tuners, of any tuners in my opinion

Side soundport, this is something I strongly suggest. If you haven´t heard about these, just google it. theres lots of info and pics on different forums in America about soundports. It takes nothing away of the guitar´s sound but adds so much. You can hear yourself better with the port, the flow of notes is better, to my ear it makes it also a little bit louder in front. I have used soundports since 2006.

New purling that I used, and zebrano backstripe

Greetings from Tampere

2011-06-18T03:41:00.000-07:00

Early morning @ Tampere talo, eight hand made delights and Fazer chocolate awaits the visitors...The place was really nice with lots of light and beautiful interior.

Osmo Palmu released his new CD during the festival and had a couple of short concerts there as well. Here he is testing myGrand Concert Baritone, amazing player!

Henry Salo holding one of his beautiful HOS GUITARS models.

Harri " Proffa" Koski was there with his Mad Professor amps and pedals.

Left to right: Saku Vuori, AP Paasonen, Keijo Liikanen, Tero Siromaa and son Artturi.

Songster having a test drive. The chap played superbly, though his hand was injured from broken glass.

The baritones pictured here where maybe the most played guitars on the show, and it is no suprise since it´s not everyday you get to play these

One of the Tampere Guitar Festival headliners this year was Celso Machado. He is a sight to see when he starts playing.:his feet start to beat and he sings and plays you happy. " Where´s my favourite instrument?" he really enjoyed his time with Vunukka on couple of occasions.

The young minds of finnish lutherie - in company with Sami Koivisto and Saku Vuori . Sami crafts awesome flamenco guitars in Pyynikki and does a lot of repairs too. Saku is the right hand, the wing man in Jasesoi workshop, and also the guitar tech to mr. Andy McCoy.

Here is the master builder AP Paasonen in his right persona: smiling and having fun playing the hand mades. AP , together with Saku, builds wonderful mandolins and steel string guitars in Jyväskylä , thumbs up!

To the next year: hoping to see you again!

Tampere Guitar Show starts tomorrow!

2011-06-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

Come meet the maker! and a few hand made delights. here is the Visio Hollowbody, with Lollar p90s, tonepros wraparound bridge and a curly birch top that I will pack with me. This and the photos below were taken by photographer extraordinaire Janne Ainesmaa.

Tampere Guitar Festival - im in!

2011-06-04T00:09:00.000-07:00

Warm welcome to everyone interested in custom guitars and music apparel at the annual Tampere guitar show. This is a first for me in Finland, and I´m hoping to meet many of you there. Still unsure of how many guitars fit in one table stand, but it looks like I will be bringing these to the show:

1. Grand Concert Baritone, acoustic guitar
- Currrrrly maple back and sides, sitka spruce top

2. Songster prototype, acoustic guitar
- my first parlor model, mahogany back and sides, german spruce top

3. Visio Baritone electric, the first picture below
- basswood body, pao ferro top, mahogany neck, Lollar firebird minis

4. Visio hollowbody electric
- curly birch top, alder body, cedar neck, Lollar p90s

5. Modern man electric
- in aqua marine blue, with lollar Regals!

6. Supernova mandolin and Vunukka, the small treats

Visio baritone having a sun bath
Visio hollowbody with 3-tone sunburst.

Grazy Green Evolver for Petteri Sariola!

2011-05-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Grazy Green! lots of flakes and a chameleon effect: the finish turns from green to orange depending on the direction of the light. Lollar Imperial humbuckers howl and growl..

Ergo-joint

Visio Carved Top

2011-05-04T22:15:00.001-07:00

Updates updates updates

2011-04-22T00:34:00.001-07:00

Meet Jesse Pitkänen, all around great guy. Jesse is a worship leader in Suhe church in Helsinki, where he sings and plays guitar amongst a great team of musicians and crowd of 250+ young adults every sunday and in gigs around Finland. Jesse bought one of my Elysee model acoustics 4 years ago, and been a great salesman for me since! kudos! Here he is testing Modern Man no.1. with Bluetone amp.

Hannu Nissinen ordered a carved top Visio with 10-top flame. That is what he gets! Super flamy and lightweight maple top with basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard and nice details all over. He wanted to make Joe Satriani jealous with this one - let´s do it.

Hand carving the top - rough work, but worth it. If you´re interested in class A tube amps check out Hannu´s Pro Amp Boutique.

This 60´s Gibson J-45 came in for headstock re-gluing

Belonging to this gent here: Jere Ijäs. Jere´s been writing new material, while waiting for that check out his myspace here.

And finally, here´s early fifties Gibson Southern Jumbo in the hands of a proud owner Petri Suoniemi. Petri has the greatest collection of vintage Gibbys in Finland that I´m aware of. I did some sanding and buffing +setup to it as the previous owner had put on a huge pickguard that almost ruined the finish on the top. Don´t!

Greetings from Israel!

2011-04-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

Wife and I had a great holiday in Israel. the scenery is fabulous there with all the dry desert areas, steep mountains and colorful sand layers. This one was called spiral mountain.

Lots of water sports and marine observatories in the coast. Shark came to say hi.

No comments.

Modern Man is ready

2011-04-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here´s the latest from the workshop: My new model " MODERN MAN" number two is ready and in the hands of the owner, Sami Eloranta. Number one went to Lasse Sakara, who was featured on previous post.

Here is Sami giving a test drive: the sound is HUUUUGE..! Lollar regal in bridge position and Lollar P-90 on neck. my faves.

duh, no sunshine in Finland, little dull photos.

Vintaged headstock

And lovely aged tuners from crazy parts in Deutchland. There is a silky satin Tru-oil finish on the back side of the neck.

My 12th fret Logo

Soon starting two new MODERN MANs, stay tuned

Lasse Sakara

2011-03-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

I met Lasse when I was finishing my luthier school in 2004 or something like that, and he ordered an acoustic guitar from me . Since then he´s made me one proud guitar maker! If you already didn´t know Lasse Sakara is the go-to guy, super musical session ace appearing on loads of CD´s , TV and film productions. And he´s fine man in person too. Recently I saw him on tv playing behind Johanna Kurkela in Kosketuksessa tv series, and live in Antti Tuisku´s band. He now owns two of my acoustics, and you can see him playing one of my electrics on MTV3 Idols finals beginning this thursday.

It always amazes me to see guitarists of this caliber. Somehow no matter what instrument you give them, they always get the real sound out of it. oo-yee, go Lasse!

Beauty of the burst

2011-03-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Updates on my builds...

2011-03-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

Visio Hollow went to spray booth and got a yellow stain right on bare wood. Me like the figure of this curly birch top!

70´s Tele is getting ready, made the pickguard and next I have to solder the pickups and pots together.
Sawed by hand a couple of my logos with a jeweller´s saw and inlayd it on the 12th fret.

Tele headstock after final sanding in the white.

Greek Bouzouki

2011-03-22T10:36:00.001-07:00

Here is one beautiful bouzouki that I thought you might be interested to see. It´s made in Greece by a famed modern bouzouki maker, and owned by a finnish player. Unfortunately our dry winter had opened a crack in the top of this bouzouki...but it´s fixed now!

Nice details! greek bouzouki is much like a lute in it´s construction. I love the bowl shape in the back.

Sg Bass

2011-03-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Famed finnish bass ace Ako Kiiski was @ Finnvox studios, 200 meters from my office and needed a quick set up for this bass. Nice looking bass, with comfortable short scale.

Very Old Antique Guitar made in Finland

2011-03-10T22:41:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while something like this pops out. Ari Peltola is the owner of this lovely parlor guitar. Ever since he got it he´s been tracing it´s roots- but with no results, there is a light stamp like mark inside the guitar, but no one seems to know who this guitarmaker was. But it is a proof that there is a long line of luthiers also here in Finland! yey!

Birch back, the brown color has faded to minimum during decades.

Looks a lot like Levin headstock, so we guessed that could have been the model to copy for this guitarmaker. Maybe he had Levin at home, but said" I could do better" No biggie..

Hey, mister mandolin man..!

2011-03-05T00:39:00.000-08:00

Jaakko Heinimäki, famous and particularly excellent finnish novelist, writer and priest bought himself this Weber mandolin from a recent trip to New York. He is all smiles here, as he should - we all know the Weber quality!

Telecious!

2011-03-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

Finishing touches. Firemist gold tele

And 3-tone sunburst with all maple neck.

A day in the life of a luthier

2011-03-02T13:04:00.001-08:00

So I got up early and headed to Herttoniemi where the famous Liikanen Guitars HQ is. I´ve learned a lot while I was apprenticing and training here a few years back. It´s always nice place to go and I always end up buying something ( they have quite a lot of pre-ban brazilian rosewood left still..) Gentleman in this photo is Mr. Kauko Liikanen.

And brother Keijo Liikanen behind the sales counter.

Uwe Florath trying out a double-top model with freshly strung up strings. Uwe has a degree in classical guitar playing, and you can hear it. nice Uwe!

Couple of Liikanen guitars

After that i went to Decoväri car paint supplies store in Helsinki. Amazing that they still have these old catalogs and finishes to match.. Very nice place, and handy if you need to shoot a original Fender finishes.

I bought firemist gold and some aqua blue metallic.

Back in the workshop. Petteri dropped by. Have a good holiday!

Did some binding routing to baritone build

and tried the firemist on... very nice color!

and that was it for the day! talk to you soon

Fatboy on tour in Finland!

2011-02-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

Around 12 o´clock midday I get a call from Hannu Kiviaho ( gentleman holding my guitar on the picture)
His band , Fatboy was last night in Tampere and the nut in his tele broke during the last song, so he needed a new one fast for the next show here in Helsinki, Korjaamo. I made it from moose chin bone, and the band was right on tracks and on the way to Radio Helsinki interview. It was great to meet you all! Happy gigs.!
Hah, nice! Tack så mycket om er skivor!

Martin 00-16 ´72

2011-02-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

Matti Stenroos bought this gem last summer from Paris and dropped by to show it to me. Very open voice , fast attack, comfortable neck and in near mint condition. I liked it a lot, and it´s for sale. anybody?

Here are Martti and Matti and Martin!

...working hard

2011-02-23T10:03:00.000-08:00

Oi! New teles and strats progressing nicely, just after the first coat of vintage lacquer. Both of these bodies are lightweight , way under 4 pounds. Finnish alder from Fiskars, Kudos Laatupuu!

I like the large pickguards a´la 70´s. Neck still quite white - but not for long, I am using a new vintage tint on lacquer that looks like the real deal and adds so much to these vintage replicas that I make. It´s hard to get a ready made product for tinting the necks to look old, so we made our own mix with Taneli.

Visio hollowbody backside
..and front.

Something new on the way...

2011-02-16T22:22:00.001-08:00

Semihollow visio model with custom holes on top, SUPERCURLY finnish birch top.

Possibly on TV soon... let´s see

Liljeström 12/10 string

2011-02-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Markus Rantanen dropped by my workshop yesterday. about two years ago I made him this 12 string model. Or ten really, co´s that´s the way Markus likes it( no octave strings on bass ) . It´s tuned from C to C , and sounds strong and dramatic.

Quite a paddle.

Vintage Treats

2011-02-12T23:48:00.000-08:00

Jaakko Kääriäinen dropped by for a visit. He had two sixties fenders that needed a fret leveling, so I got a chance to snap a few shots from these oldies. This is ´65 strat in near-original condition, the pick guard and pot knobs are not original. Otherwise it looks the part and sounds fabulously warm.

Nice 3-tone sunburst and cracked lacquer.

I had made a strat with the same era specs, and they sure do look like cousins, don´t they?

The yellow fullerplast looks neat under the lacquer.

And this is 69 tele, the pickguard is weird, it has a black surface that's has come off from years of playing. Quite Picasso. Very lighweight swamp ash body, that sounds killer. Jaakko bought Rami Hakala´s nasal twang weakened tele set pups , and they were superb sounding. This is one of those guitars that inspire me soundwise. I want to make one just like this.

Headstock logo has already changed to this bigger 70´s version.

Taneli did a re-fret to this 1966 jazzmaster, belonging to Timo Kämäräinen. Go check more about the repairs and guitars that Taneli builds here www.howlinguitars.com

Work it!

Bluish logo..? howcome?

Baritone build, part 1

2011-02-05T00:18:00.001-08:00

Nice to be back building acoustics again! I started this baritone build and it is moving on nicely. It will feature a long scale 28.7 inch , that is IMO far superior than the "standard" 27 inch scale. More richness, bark, and strength at least to my ears.

I chose flame maple for back and sides, and fine-grain Sitka spruce for top. Looking for focused sound and fast attack with this combo. The lower tuning and thick strings adds quite a lot of warmth naturally so I want to have a clear tone with that so it doesn´t get muddy.

Zebrawood backstripe on maple- nice!

My headstock design from 2008

Nothing new inside. I´ve used the neckblock paddle and it just works well.

Bracing. No scallops, but tapered braces. There´s a little bit of extra pull on baritone strings so I won´t make it as delicate as in normal scale acoustics.

One of the nicest parts of building is shaving the braces. Try it out with only a sharp chisel and see if you can master it.

Abalone sea shell on the rosette.

Living in a winter wonderland!

2011-01-26T11:06:00.001-08:00

Uh-oh! this was the wiew in the morning when I went out for lunch. There were two guys on the roof throwing snow down, and there´s lots of it!

Sun was shining today, it was so beautiful. Hadn´t seen it for weeks - hopefully the weather will stay sunny a bit longer. And I wouldn´t mind if spring wants to hurry this year.

At the end of the day, we had to make our way out the building. Here is Taneli holding a piece of snowy Helsinki.

Juha Tapio

2011-01-22T00:22:00.000-08:00

And speaking of Martins, here´s one with great history. With this DM model Juha Tapio has written , recorded and performed most of the hits that now enjoy huge air play and success here in Finland.

The travelling shows on the guitar, and number of cracks have been glued up. This time I installed new frets to it. Juha is getting also a new pickup , replacing the old Higlander with K&K pure western pickup.

And to my finnish readers: lukekaahan Ilkka Puhakan "mitä silmät ei nää" - kirja, tarinoita Venäjän vankilatyöstä jota suomalaiset ovat jo pitkän aikaa tehneet. Uskomattomia juttuja, ja kirjan sivuilla seikkailevat myös esim. Juha Tapio ja Nina Åström.

70´s Martin D-35

2011-01-22T00:07:00.001-08:00

Sakari Keipi bought this vintage Martin from Washington and brought it in for a number of repairs. Despite few cracks and loose binding here and there it was in nice shape. very warm and soft but loud voice, good deal Sakari!
Gold decal, mm-mmm...
3-piece back and lighter bracing are one of the key differences between D-28 and D-35. D-35s have been used also for fingerstyle playing due to this lighter bracing , while you can play harder with D-28 and it won´t compress the sound as much.

NEW! Visio RubyRed

2011-01-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

Visio Ruby Red. Lightweight Honduran mahogany body and neck, east Indian rosewood fretboard. Tonepros wraparound bridge: BTW , why don´t they raise the saddles higher on these tonepros bridges??!! the string angle should be bigger. Tell mr. Tonepro if you meet him.

I´ve been using VintAged cellulose lacquer for some time now and it works great. It´s pure stuff without any plasticicers. Juha Ruokangas has developed it with Lakkavalmiste here in Finland. So what that means is that when you use this you will get a hard cellulose finish that cracks like the old stuff did, that is really important regarding the tone of the guitar. I don´t want any gummy lacquer added to my guitars.

Think of an old spruce topped acoustic, the wood has dried for decades and all the sap and everything inside the wood has cristallized. Now it really rings! same thing here , it wouldn´t make any sense for me to use old growth wood and then put some gummy lacquer and wait a deacade for it to harden properly. Viva VintAged lacquer!
I did some relicing to this , on a scale from 1-10 maybe 4, ten being the most beaten up relic.

Macassar ebony headplate.

Grover rotomatic tuners, quite art deco, eh?

Jori Hulkkonen and Jenkatehdas

2011-01-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

It was quarter to 4pm when Jori Hulkkonen called me if I could set up his guitar for a gig that evening.
He was close by and I did not have anything as important at the moment so I said "sure". Always a pleasure to work with Jori as he is a realdeal gentleman and a great guitar player. You can hear him with Jukka Poika, Raappana, Paukkumaissi, plus many others reggae acts. Jori´s other guitar is a hollowbody Evolver Jazz XL, that Taneli made for him couple of years ago. It bears my logo on the headstock as it was done in those years when Taneli didn´t have Howlin Guitars company ready.
But anyways, here´s the ASAT that needed a quick set up before gig. I asked where the gig was , and was suprised to hear about this new idea. Jenkatehdas.fi is a site where you can watch gig from your laptop at home or where ever you are. Here´s the idea

"We offer you Live music from the best Finnish bands, and we do it online! Find a cosy spot on the sofa, connect your laptop to a couple of good speakers and turn the volume to 11. You'll see and hear something that just isn't available at your local corner bar."

Neat!

80´s Fender precision bass

2011-01-19T11:51:00.001-08:00

Kaj Backman dropped by to show his newest buy. Nice precision bass with quite unusual colour.
We installed Lollar precision pickup to it, and I believe it will satisfy for many decades further. I dig the metal pickguard, anybody know where to get those for 70´s tele guitars with widerange humbuckers??

Belt buckle rash.

Making of a floating Archtop bridge

2011-01-19T11:20:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Jere Ijäs, brought this vintage Wards archtop in for number of repairs. Top cracks needed to be glued and Jere wanted me to make a floating bridge out of Brazilian rosewood, highly prized wood among vintage guitars. Here are few photos about making a bridge for archtop type of a guitar. Btw, if you haven´t listened to Jere´s albums, go buy them, they are really good, especially his newest release " Laulut kuin unta".

So, there´s the old bridge , made of indian rosewood, and it doesn´t really seat well on the top. I chose dark brazilian rosewood and sawed the blanks to correct dimensions. Quartersawn works best for bridges always.

This time I would do it correctly and make sure the bridge gets a good contact with the top

Like this. and then I installed the height screws to it, and took some wood off from the ends of the bridge. I wanted to do this pretty much like they used to back in the day, so i didn´t use any sandpaper higher than 150 grit. Much of the vibe is in those little marks in my opinion.

Then the upper part of the bridge gets the holes drilled, and a correct radius on the top.

Then using a chisel first and refining with a needle file I made the correct compensation for each string. I really like this stepped design.

Here they are: new and old. Ready for the strings tomorrow.

Notice that the ends are not rounded but have a certain angle. This is what I mean, vintage vibe is in these details, and it´s really important not to over do this by rounding the corners , though I always feel tempted to do so. =)

Petteri Sariola has nice guitars and cool Suhr Badger!

2011-01-16T07:54:00.001-08:00

Petteri is the Ace of stringed instruments. The years I´ve known him I´ve yet to find and instrument he couldnt play. Here he is working his chops deep down in the basement in his new HQs in the luxury area Helsinki. Nice! Got to hear some new material as well.

He has over twenty instruments, and that one closest to the camera is his main acoustic : Andreas Cuntz Petteri Sariola signature model. Then the brown one is baritone that I´ve made for him and the red is Patrick Eggle electric. Then there´s strats, teles, dobro, cavaquinho, basses, baritone acoustic, SG´s, list goes on...

Badger! Grrrrrowl...

It´s in the details

2011-01-13T12:50:00.001-08:00

80`s precision bass pickup

Sitka spruce

70`s D-35 headstock

Gibson falcon ready

2011-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Stained walnut amp case for gibson falcon.

Jazz Bass

2010-12-12T22:21:00.001-08:00

This is the bass I made for my friend Manku Vainiomäki, the studio wizard, multi-instrumentalist and super dude. Weight 7, 83 lbs, 3, 55 kg = LIGHTWEIGHT GROWLER!

Lollar pups, CTS pots, vintage bridge

Sherwood green metallic color, vintage cellulose lacquer, thin thin thin

Relic á la Liljeström. I´m into relics now - this is fun!

Learned a trick from Juha Lottonen how to darken the bare wood to a vintage looking darker spot. Has something to do with steel and iron =)

The pick guard got also that tinted lacquer on, and now it looks right

Image shot!

Hipshot tuners were the only upgrade to otherwise vintage spec parts, but IMHO the weight of the original tuners is way too much for lightweight bass to stay in balance. Besides Hipshots look original to audience.

That lacquer cracking nicely already

Singlehorn

2010-12-12T22:12:00.001-08:00

Honduran mahogany body, alpine white satin thinskin cellulose finish

Currrrly maple neck, great combo with mahogany bodies, great focus and attack

Easy access to upper frets due to enlarged cutaway and neck shape. Notice also the tilted back contour.

Ebony headplate and reverse headstock, Lollar Imperial humbuckers

Bouzouki

2010-12-12T21:49:00.001-08:00

Indian rosewood back and sides, satin cellulose lacquer

Canadian redwood top

New headstock shape, Holly wood veneer headplate

Brazilian rw bridge, bone saddle

Octave strings

Tele rocks!

2010-12-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

This tele was finished this morning. Totally non traditional regarding tonewoods, but what a voice! Body is lighweight cedar, neck honduran mahogany with thick brazilian rosewood board. Lollar special tele bridge pickup and lollar special strat neck. This proves that there are alternative tonewoods out there that can work. Glad I took risk of trying this out, clearly one of my all time favorites!

Weight of the tele: 5, 7 pounds ( 2.56 kg) not hard on your shoulders, eh
The back is slanted a bit, you can see this if you look closely at the center of the body.
I mixed the color myself, dunno if this is anywhere near some original Fender color or not. Like it?
Matti Fredriksson came by and took this for a test drive to some recordings. check out his studio

www.fredrikssonmusic.com

LOLLAR PICKUPS

2010-12-08T11:53:00.001-08:00

"For more than a decade Jason Lollar has designed and built some of the most sought-after pickups for electric guitar, bass and steel guitar. If you’re on a quest for tone, we can help. We personally build more than fifty different models of pickups for a variety of instruments. Call us today and let us help find the best guitar pickups for you."

I first heard about Jason and his pickups from Ari Imponen, and he strongly recommended me trying them. Ari has been great to talk all things guitar since he has spent many years living and playing in Los Angeles, and knows many people in the industry.

I ordered my first set propably 4-5 years ago and since then Lollar Pickups has been my favourite. Great customer service ( thanks Stephanie, Randy and Greg!) and even greater products. Kudos to Jason.

go visit www.lollarguitars.com

Close ups

2010-12-07T00:07:00.001-08:00

Supernova serial number and gotoh S510 tuners
The Blue Moment as seen in finnish winter landscapes around 3 pm as it gets dark
My original mandolin model, prototype made, first production model on the way
Rustic alder used on sauna

BurnBurst

2010-12-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Some years ago I did this one of a kind finish to one of my customers. He had this idea of body being burnt and I took a heat gun and made it look like a typical sunburst, except that it´s all burnt, no coloring.

Alder wasn´t as easy to burn as spruce which I scraptested first. The moment it got the black on was the moment it was close to caught a fire. Tru-Oil coating on top of the body.
Rory Gallagher, anybody?

Gibson LG

2010-12-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

This gibby was born in the fifties, and guessing from play wear it has seen quite a lot. Been to pubs and big auditoriums, inspired some hundred songs, got to change owners and eventually found itself here in snowy Finland: what a trip!

This one is ladder braced and has that immediate attack and snap. Very dry tone that cuts through in the mix, Needs just a little TLC. Im going to give it!

New SAUNA!!

2010-12-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

HI!

Here is my father- and mother-in-law´s old sauna. It has served well but we ( wife Virve and me) wanted to give an early Christmas present to them. So what is better way to spend a weekend than renovating!!

First we took the old sauna benches away. I bought some alder blanks which have nice rustic outlook from local woodstore. Then saw saw saw, hammer, screwdriver, sweat, splinters, parafin oil and 2 days later, it looks like this: still missing some front panels, will do those the next time we visit them. Room for up to seven men at the same time.

Weber absaroka

2010-11-27T00:57:00.000-08:00

Bruce Weber is a true hero in mandolin world. His company makes real deal american mandolins in many price ranges, and recently also guitars. mr. Weber´s previous Flatiron company ended up being bought by Gibson in the 80`sand Bruce and his staff helping Gibson out for many years . This absaroka is no exception to quality of his instruments.

Brekke bridge. String height can be adjusted easily on the fly and with the string tension on.

Supernova Prototype

2010-11-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

Simple and understated
Walnut top, Lollar Charlie Christian pickup.
Tru-Oil finish gives a beautiful satin shine.
Avantgarde back side. Contours feel great. Brazilian Canoe cedar - oh the beatiful scent. Why nobody does parfums of cedar??

Vunukka

2010-11-26T14:47:00.000-08:00

Meet Vunukka. This is the newest instrument that I build. Body roughly the size of ukulele, with longer scale. Name Vunukka comes from Karelia and it means " grand child".
Tuned like a mandolin but lower and without octave strings, this thing has really unique tone: not sharp at all but full and warm sound. Engelmann spruce top and bolivian rosewood back and sides.
I´ve written already 3 or four songs with it. To me that´s a good sign, whenever an instrument inspires you with new melodies and music. Try getting inspired on a new ibanez artcore and you know what I mean.
Gotoh tuners. Gotoh makes the best bang for buck tuners and the flagship S510 series is the smoothest working tuner on the market ( under 200 dollars that is).

Relic strat á la Liljeström

2010-11-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

My take on 60´s strat. finnish alder body with some moderate flame. curly maple neck , rosewood fretboard. Jason Lollar vintage tweed strat set, clay dots, Ruokangas vintaged cellulose lacquer, 3-tone sunburst and relic´d surfaces. 7,34 lbs, or 3.3o kgs.
Like this.

I love doing these old style relics. Recently I´ve come up how to get those lacquer cracks happening also sideways across the grain.
"Sweat ´til you got sweat no more!"

Epiphone

2010-11-26T05:27:00.000-08:00

I bought this Epiphone Zenith from `51 in pieces. It has been lying on my bench and waiting for total restoring project. Wish I had some time soon! It´s in quite good condition though everything is apart. Only the neck block has been so damaged that it is of no use. Inside label says made in New York 1951 and the grooves on the fretboard show that it has been played a LOT.

Gibson Falcon Tube amp

2010-11-26T05:06:00.001-08:00

Hannu had bought this old Falcon and wanted me to make a custom wood cabinet for it. Who am I to say no, lets do it. First I will take everything off carefully and the old housing will stay as-is. So no damage is done and it can be put back to it´s original form. Then some walnut gets into plainer...But that´s next week. Enjoy the photos!
Not many of these around.
Tremolo and reverb tank.
TUUUUBES. I was told that the original Jensen speaker cone has so strong magnets that it will ruin your wrist watch, so be careful if wearing them.

Fender Duo-sonic ´66

2010-11-26T04:46:00.001-08:00

Couple of weeks ago Markus brought his newly acquired Duo-sonic to me for re-fret. What a neat guitar! Very good condition, only the frets were so low it was time to put on new ones. The pickups really surprised me , so many cools sounds with those little switches over the strings. The lacquer had cracked nicely sideways and I like the red color.
I took the frets of with care as these were put on sideways in Fender factory, so minimum wood chipping is the goal. I dont use any moisture on the frets and the fretboard when pulling them off, just some heat and Voila!
Notice the slightly off-set logo: white lines are showing under the gold.

This neck was made 16 years before i was born. Notice also the vintage style fretboard. Just little over 3millimetres of rosewood on these. With the new frets it plays easily and the sound had also some positive change as often is the case with re-frets.

Supernova Electric

2010-11-25T12:35:00.001-08:00

Here´s a recently finished Supernova Electric guitar. I took influence from Ken Parker´s headstock shapes and made a few twists to it. Matching color as in the body - the Blue Moment.
The body is cedar with carved 5A flamed maple top. Pickups are singlecoils made by Harry Haeussel from Germany, and they feature wooden covers and stepped design. Nice tone and lighweight champ. Greets to owner ot the guitar Lauri Alanko!