Willer Custom Instruments

Willer Custom Instruments at the Newport Guitar Festival

chuck — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:39:47 +0000

Willer Instruments were on display in April at the Newport Guitar Festival in Hollywood, Florida, a show featuring the work of premier luthiers from around the country and abroad.

Sonic Sitka Project at the Newport Guitar Festival

chuck — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:34:24 +0000

A highlight of the Newport festival was the first official showing of the Dennis Merrill and Friends “Sonic Sitka Project”

Remote test equipment was set up backstage to capture acoustic frequency baselines for each participating instrument, including our custom Willer guitar and mandocello. This information will be collected and archived over the life of the instruments, making Sonic Sitka project participation an asset that will continue to increase their value in the years to come.

Newport Festival Photos – Sonic Sitka Guitar

chuck — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:24:52 +0000

A series of great shots of the Willer Sonic Sitka guitar from a festival photo session:

A Quilted Mahogany Grand Concert guitar with ebony binding is number 14 of 111 in the Sonic Sitka instrument series.

The elegant head stock of this mahogany guitar is bound in ebony with abalone purfling. The“Willer” logo is inlayed in gold mother of pearl.

To Commemorate the Sonic Sitka project, there is a mother of pearl inlay at the fourteen fret. The signature Willer sound hole rosette appears on both of our Sonic Sitka instruments, a classic double ring with abalone inlay.

Elegant appointments make this guitar look as great as it sounds and plays.

Willer Custom Mandocello at Newport Guitar Festival 2010

chuck — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:28:56 +0000

No, this is not an eight string guitar! This mandocello got a lot of attention at the Newport Guitar Festival.

A mandocello is the cello (baritone) instrument of the mandolin family and is tuned in four courses of two. From low to high the courses are tuned to C-G-D-A.

The neck of a mandocello is more slender than that of a standard guitar. The neck on this instrument is 1-5/8 inches at the nut and 2 inches at the 14 fret, with 2 inch string spacing at the saddle.

The signature abalone rosette and clear pick guard work nicely together, enhancing the beauty of the Bearclaw figured Sitka top.

Willer mandocellos are built on our grand concert guitar body style. This body is curly maple bound in cocobolo for a striking contrast. This unique richly toned instrument may be purchased alone, as part of our Mandolin Sisters family, and/or with the matching curly maple guitar.

The headstock of the maple mandocello is an asymmetric design that matches the other members of our mandolin family bound in cocobolo with a single maple purfling . The inlayed “Willer” is shimmering mother of pearl.

Sonic Sitka Mandocello Details

chuck — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:19:38 +0000

This instrument is also part of the sonic sitka project. One aspect of the project that has appealled to many participants is building an instrument for themselves that allows them to explore possibilities. The mandocello is has been a chance to build something out of the ordinary.

The bear claw is well book-matched and the cocobolo binding provides a strong contrast.

The headstock follows the same shape and styling as the mandola and mandolin.

The bass response is deep and commanding. Mandocellos are tuned starting with the C below a low E of a guitar. The bass strings are huge at .075 inch diameter.

Sonic Sitka Mandocello

chuck — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:51:19 +0000

The following is a family of mandolins. The big sister mondocello is shown with her smaller matching sisters.

Here are the mando sisters by themselves.

Sonic Sitka Mandocello Specifications:
• Top: Bear Claw figured Sitka Spruce (Sonic Sitka Project)
• Back and sides: Curly Maple
• Neck: Two Piece Curly Maple
• Purfling: BWBW Purfling with Cocobolo Binding
• Fingerboard: Gabon Ebony 12″ radius with Cocobolo Binding
• Bridge: Gabon Ebony
• Nut Width: 1 5/8″
• String Spacing: 2″
• Scale: 24 3/4″
• Body Length: 20″
• Lower Bout: 15 1/2″
• Upper Bout: 11 1/4 with Venetian Cutaway

Sonic Sitka Grand Concert

chuck — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:19:29 +0000

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

Maple grand concert detail

chuck — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:07:02 +0000

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.

Maple Grand Concert with Mandos

chuck — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:08:41 +0000

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

Maple Grand Concert Guitar

chuck — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:39:46 +0000

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.