The Natural

I have always approached the decorative aspects of lutherie with a simple approach- that nature has provided us craftsmen with an incredible palette of wood colours and textures, so my job is to simply let nature be itself.

The Natural is one of those guitars that came to be in such an organic way that the end result seems almost inevitable. The body is one quartersawn piece of local black walnut, capped with a spectacular set of curly hard maple. This is complimented by a neck sculpted from a single perfect piece of Kabo Rosewood. The neck blank rings like a marimba bar. These monolithic necks are so dense, stiff, and stable that no truss rod is needed. The jumbo stainless steel frets are Plek-processed too, so the action and playability are as absolutely perfect as the laws of physics allow.

It’s equipped with two Lace Alumitone soapbar-sized pickups. Blend and volume are infinitely adjustable via two separate volume controls, each with a push-push switch to turn pickups on or off individually. In this way any variation between clarity, grit, depth, warmth, and bite can be quickly dialled in.

The bridge and tuners represent the state of the art in both cases. The bridge is made of 3-d printed metal, while the tuners are the machined version of my Wrap-Lock concept, with ball-bearing thrust plates for easy operation and long life. The Natural comes complete with a display stand and heavy-duty Nanuk case.