The Bird

The Bird is one of my favourite guitars: a great example of a successful collaboration between client and luthier. The player provided the artistic vision, as well as some specific funtional requests. It was up to me to turn it into a reality that looked cohesive and worked properly. It is fully hollow, hand-carved of curly black walnut, and with bent sides like any fully acoustic instrument. The body is little larger than a regular electric, but deeper. The plates are carved fairly thick, but left lively enough to contribute some feedback-induced sustain, as well as imparting a woody quality to clean tones. The unusual tailpiece and bridge design encourages ghostly sympathetic resonances. Two Seymour Duncan Alnico II pickups are sent through five-way rotary selector, similar to a Paul Reed Smith.