A new adventure : Say Hello to my Little Friend...

Cubist terz guitar, a special project for Phil

This little beauty is a perfect example of why one might choose to commission an instrument from an independent luthier. My friend Phil is a great musician who enjoys composing and singing in the key of A. For his second Sanzone guitar, he wanted a short scale 6 string guitar tuned A-to-A, a modern version of the terz guitar. He had been playing a factory made instrument but it was having issues, and generally wasn't inspiring.
So I set out to completely redesign the concept of the terz guitar, in the interest of better balance and tone. A small body was necessary to raise the pitch of the sound chamber. A more dramatic dome on the top to add punch and power. A 12th. fret neck joint balanced the guitar perfectly. That aged red spruce top from the Tippin era would do the trick. A carbon fiber truss rod to save weight. A Brazilian rosewood bridge plate to add richness. I drew a new parlor shape and got to work.
A few days later I was looking at the bent sides on my workbench. With no blocks glued they sat there misaligned, in a beautiful cubist-inspired outline. The treble side shifted down, forming a subtle cutaway, allowed for better access to the upper frets. The more I stared, the more I knew it was meant to be. The angles of the end block and sound hole completed the thought, a broken form frozen in time.