One from 2021 which I forgot to show. Highest grade Swiss spruce and Indian rosewood, Brazilian rosewood bridge, African Blackwood fingerboard, maple binding. A studio recording by the owner, composer Adrian Andrei.
A Torres hommage I built with one of my oldest sets of high grade Madagascar. Lovely lyrical response with deep bass and plump trebles. Blackwood fingerboard, cedro / carbon fiber neck, maple binding, ultra light aluminium Gotoh tuners. 640mm scale, early, unedited recording with d’addario normal tension strings.
I have been fantasizing for a few years about using one of the special extra dark Amazon rosewood sets in my collection so building this guitar has been a real experience. It has also proved to be hard to fill and finish in the traditional way, I needed a few healthy months to get a thick flat shellac film (I really don’t want to deliver those superficial finishes that burn and flake off after 2 weeks of use)
The title is lattice braced but the soundboard is actually in the traditional range of thicknesses while the spruce lattice is discreet in influence. The body of the guitar however is stiff and heavy as I believe this is the right alternative (NB alternative, not replacement) to the traditional light build.
Other details are Brazilian rosewood bridge, armrest and internal elements, Sipo mahogany elevated neck, African blackwood fingerboard with stainless steel frets, Gotoh premium tuners and an unobtrusive yet slightly beneficial soundport.
Below the (many) photos, two beautifully played videos took mid-way during the polishing process.
One of my composite soundboard prototypes which came to completion during the pandemic. Alpine spruce outer, balsa core, cedar inner, Indian rosewood body, Brazilian rosewood bridge, ebony binding and armrest. As always I did not design this for absolute volume/boom but a blend of tonal quality, sustain and projection. I was very pleased with the result: quality, singing trebles, low nasality, natural tone.
A cedar lattice from 2020 with wonderful Indian rosewood for the body, African blackwood head, fingerboard and armrest, padauk bridge, beautifully played by Dragos Ilie.
Celebrating the aquisition of “marianguitars.com” with a post 🙂 This is my number 74 delivered in spring 2021. Hauser engine but with an elevated neck and armrest, Alpine spruce, old Rio bridge, ABW fingerboard, Madagascar rosewood body. Fortunate to have Dragos Ilie in town for a test run.
One lattice from late 2019, spruce from the Dolomites, light padauk bridge, extra hard special Indian rw body. Raw clip before French polish, carbon strings, no effects.
Another one that slipped through, built over 2018 and 2019. This time a fan braced soundboard (Italian spruce) on a modern chassis. Indian body, African blackwood armrest.
And a fresh bare wood, raw soundclip took with somewhat worn test strings:
And I am still very very slow to update here…but trust me, working from home with two little girls in my hair can be quite difficult. I already had a number of customers pulling out and many are losing their patience. But for the record i am alive and doing whatever I can to catch up.
So, this is a German spruce lattice started in last year and finished this spring with Indian body, elevated neck, Madagascar rosewood bridge and armrest, mahogany neck with ebony FB.
And a raw recording (no varnish) with carbon strings:
Hey friends… just in case anyone is wondering, I am still alive. But life has been quite complicated, especially 2017, forcing me to neglect to update here as often as I used to. But to mention positives, a lot of work to do plus a baby (and now a second on the way!)
I’d like to show a little Torres hommage guitar I finished a while ago for myself. The soundboard is 5(!) pieces Carpathian spruce which comes from an old construction beam I split myself in true Torres fashion. Body is extremely rare bois-de-rose rosewood. At a casual look it looks all but black while strong light reveals a wonderful deep eggplant color. Bridge is Madagascar rosewood, fingerboard is bookmatched Brazilian rosewood; simple Brazilian boxwood binding, dark old Khaya mahogany neck with v-joint and carved on both sides of the neck. Pics are complete with workshop dust. Finish is shellac top, nitro back, wax over oil neck.
I am very happy with the sound – lively, effortless and sweet. As a demo guitar it brought in several orders from people seeking traditional over modern.
Alexandru Marian Spanish Guitars 