RYAN THORELL HANDMADE CUSTOM ARCHTOP NYLON STRING ELECTRIC GUITAR.
THIS IS GOING TO HURT A LITTLE BUT I BELIEVE EVERY GUITAR NEEDS TO BE PLAYED AND I'M JUST NOT PLAYING THIS ONE. I HAVE THREE OTHER THORELL GUITARS INCLUDING MY NEWLY ACQUIRED FRANK VIGNOLA MODEL. I have know Ryan for about 5 years now. This is the first guitar he built me in 2004 Serial#0631 this model is called GIANINA (which means God is gracious in Italian). You can visit Ryan's site at www.thorellguitars.com Also hit on his guitar link and you'll see this one and also the Legato model which I also own and is not for sale. Ryan and I designed the Gianina model together and it was a very special experience to work with such a master. I also introduced him to Frank Vignola who is a great friend of mine and now Frank endorses Ryan's guitars. If you never heard Frank Vignola play just google his name, he is the most melodic, rhythmic, down right tasty guitar player I have ever heard and the honor to play with and he makes me laugh.
Once on his site, hit the Artists tab and scoll down to me Bill Inverso and there is a pic and audio clip of me playing this guitar. I recorded the clip very hot without any special effects, I wanted the guitar sound to be as it would dry. This model was a prototype and is the first nylon string archtop guitar Ryan had ever built. It has been widely publisized in Just Jazz Guitar magazine for the last year. The tune I played on the clip is an original Beautiful You and I play this all over the neck to give a nice comparison of the tones throughout the fingerboard.
Specifications:
Solid figured maple on back and sides. The pictures don't do justice to this beautifully figured maple. simply the best. Of course the Cocobola purfling along with ebony and maple really make this guitar a pice of art.
Sitka spruce top, I wanted a wider grain for a mellower sound and more sustain, classicals need this I think.
Both the top and back and heavily arched
Ebony fingerboard, tailpiece, adjustable bridge and the pickguard is ebony trimmed in cocabola. Under the pickguard is a volume knob, no tone knob is really needed on a nylon string, this adjustment can be made on the amp. or board.
Not sure of the pickup, started with a K&K didn't like it way to hot. This pickup is under the bridge so it picks up the vibration of the top, much warmer sound. But, this thing can bite if you dig in. Plugs in at the tailpiece. You can run it dry or use a small preamp included for a hotter sound.
Bound ebony fingerboard with maple and cocobola purfling. Abalone dot markers.
Tuners, I don't know but they are the best, the gear ratio is so fine, you really have to turn them alot to get the string to change pitch, which is ideal on a nylon string instrument. First thing I noticed is that the tuners have to be turned backwards, probably made in Germany, they do have ebony on the tuning handles.
The oval hole is also wrapped in Cocobola. You can take off the pickguard and mount the volume knob in the soundhole, which how it was when I first ordered it but found myself playing more jazz that fingerstyle so the pickguard (another work of art) made playing straight up jazz a little easier, even though Howard Alden didn't recommend it. Howard played her and just loved it, he likes a wide neck.
Dimensions:
Overall length is 41" headpiece to tailpiece. Headpiece is a lamination of ebony, maple cocabola, maple, ebony. This headpiece is extremely stout, you could actually string this up with silk&steel strings without harming the guitar.
Lower bout is 16" wide (across). Upper bout is 11" wide (across).
Body depth or side are 3" all the way around the body. Total body length is 19 3/4" without the endplug.
Neck dimensions: Nut=1 7/8" on the light side. 12fret width is 2 1/4" wide. 17th fret is 2 3/8" wide. 22 active frets with a scalloped fingerboard at the end. A little story on the neck. The neck wood came from a 100 year old pinball machine. Ryan Thorell's grandfather used to build the old wooden pinball machines and Ryan took this wood off of one of the legs, probably replaced the leg with a 2x4 but hey got an awesome hard rock maple laminated (see photo's) neck.
String spacing is 2 3/16" at the saddle. Bridge height is adjustable with brass turnwheels.
The action is very easy to change with the thumbwheels. The ingenious way Ryan did the tailpiece is amazing. Because of the nylon string loop and tie method he came up with a suberb way to do this. The tailpiece is a work of art all it's own.
This guitar has sat in my studio for about 4 years now in a humidified room at 50 % humidity. Never gigged but has a few studio rehearsels. Not one blemish, I did notice s small scuff on the lower bout right side. I think it's in the finish. But thats it this gal is perfect and it's a little aged so sounds awesome. Very loud, don't even need an amp in an acoustic setting.
SOUND: This is always hard and very subjective. It has a definite nylon string sound but alot of times people think I'm playing a steel string. Really depends on how your amp is setup. I will say it has a very woodsy tone, very mellow. If your playing solo jazz chord melody it is very well suited for that. Though you can still rip a nice line and pull those notes out by diggin in a little. It has a very mellow all around tone, again very hard to describe, listen to the audio clip that might help.
But for now I am getting the word out there to you all and am hoping a player will pick her up. If you're a collector we will need to talk first. I think collectors are great and they keep fine instruments for us to admire and play down the road so investors are welcome.
It is hard to sell her because I am a player, I asked Ryan for his permission and he said okay. check out his website you won't be disappointed. If this doesn't sell here to the right person then I'll send it back to Ryan and he will sell it on his site.
You could order a new one from Ryan for around $6200.00 with all the appointments this one has. Or contact me, I do need to know a little about the person before I sell it to them. I would need to talk to them on the phone. If I feel the winning bidder isn't worthy then no sale, don't care if they give me bad feedback. This auction is not about just selling a guitar it's about finding a loving home for a dear friend. I don't mean to sound harsh but you guys and gals out there who own fine instruments probably know how I feel.
BUY IT NOW IS THE ONLY WAY IT'S LISTED. FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME PERSONALLY AT 970-945-0905 AND i CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE, I WISH YOU ALL THE LUCK. US BUYERS ONLY NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. UNLESS YOU'RE A FAMOUS JAZZ ARTIST.
WITH BUY IT NOW I WILL PAY FOR THE SHIPPING AND INSURANCE. if you need more pic's just let me know. IT DOES COME WITH A NEAR NEW EASTMAN FIBERGLASS CASE IN BLACK WITH A RED INTERIOR AND FITS THE GUITAR PERFECTLY , SHOULDER STRAPS FOR CASE INCLUDED.
