Willer Custom Instruments

The Sonic sitka project is the brain child of Denis Merrill of www.darlingguitars.com. It brings together builders from across the nation to build instruments using top tonewood of bear claw figured Sitka Spruce that has been milled from a single log. The premise is to measure the sonic properties of the individual instruments over the lifetime of the instrument to understand how the tone of instruments age.

One question that might be answered by such a study is did “vintage” instruments sound great when they were new? Or did the tone of those instruments age to sound great?

The headstock detail is shown below. The front of the headstock is ebony bound in paua abalone to match the body and the back of the headstock includes a very tradition volute.

The ebony is a striking contrast to the retro-reflectance of the quilted mahogany.

Quilted mahogany was choosen to be paired with the sitka top. Together, they couple for a well balance rich tone. Paua Abalone was added for a splash of color.

Sonic Sitka Grand Concert - Cutaway Specifications
• Top: Bear Claw figured Sitka Spruce (Sonic Sitka Project)
• Back and sides: Quilted Mahogany
• Neck: Mahogany
• Purfling: Paua Abalone with Ebony Binding
• Fingerboard: Macassar Ebony 16″ radius with Ebony Binding
• Bridge: Gabon Ebony
• Nut Width: 1 11/16″
• String Spacing: 2 1/8″
• Scale: 25.4″
• Body Length: 20″
• Lower Bout: 15 1/2″
• Upper Bout: 11 1/4 with Venetian cutaway

The headstock is bound with cocobolo and a delicate maple purfling that separates the ebony from the cocobolo. These details match the mando details in a previous post.

The Grand Concert maple guitar was built to complement the Red Spruce and maple mandolin and mandola.

This grand concert guitar has curly maple backs and sides, red spruce top and is contrasted by cocobolo binding as well as ebony headstock overlay, fingerboard and bridge. I love the way the backstripe from the body continues down the length of the two piece curly maple neck.

This indian rosewood grand concert guitar is simply appointed with abalone rosette side dots and fret board markers. The top and back couple to produce a rich balanced sound.

The insider shot shows the slight radius of the top and more pronounced radius in the back.

The grand concert body style has been extremelly well recieved by fingerstyle and flat pickers alike.  The 4 7/8″ body depth gives this instrument a strong voice that makes it want to sing.

The Bocote (Central American Rosewood) back and sides paired with a beautiful sitka spruce top is bound with curly maple and a simple black/white/black purfling.

The clear pickguard does not detract from the elegant Paua Abalone rosette.