Maple
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Curly maple is one of my favorite tonewoods for resonator guitars, especially in a bluegrass setting. It's bright, punchy, well-balanced with good highs, mids, and lows, and cuts through other instruments in a band situation. My maple has tiger stripe or fiddle-back figure, and several shades of red and brown sunbursts, as well as blonde, accentuate the natural beauty of the wood. I've also done other finishes that have turned out really nice.

 
Solid curly maple body and neck with ivoroid binding.

Price: $3900.00

Koa
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Hawaiian Koa is probably my favorite wood to work with these days. It has a warm and mellow sound similar to mahogany, but with a little more brightness and breathiness. My koa resonator guitars are also very punchy sounding, and because of the extreme figure of the wood, best brought out with an amber finish, these are probably my most visually appealing guitars. I like to use absolutely the best, most beautiful koa I can get ahold of, which accounts for the high price—koa is expensive! But if you'd like less-figured wood, I can probably knock a couple hundred bucks off the price. I've done hand-rubbed oil finishes on my koa resos as well, and I've been really pleased with how they turned out.

 
Solid figured koa body and sides with a Curly Maple neck, tortoise or black binding. Figured koa neck by quote.

Price: $4400.00

Mahogany
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[Quilted 8 Front] [back]

 
African or Honduran mahogany is an exotic wood that's widely used in resonator guitars. Mahogany is a tried and true tonewood: it's strong and dense but still has the breathiness and warm, full tone of some of the softer woods. Figured and quilted mahogany available.

 
Figured Mahogany body, Spruce or Mahogany top with ivoroid binding.

Two piece figured Mahogany neck: Price: $3900.00

Quilted Mahogany: $4100

Walnut
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A sustainable wood, walnut has lots of figure and striking colors ranging from browns to whites with shades of purple, red, and black. Walnut produces an exceptionally warm tone with deep bass and resonant mids and highs, and has excellent projection.

 
Solid figured Walnut body, three piece figured walnut neck, or Curly Maple neck, with ivoroid binding.

Price: $3900.00

Indian or Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce
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Indian rosewood is comparable in density, appearance, and tone to Brazilian rosewood and also has a warm, rich, even sound. Great mids! Rosewood is incredibly responsive, and Indian is far less scarce than Brazilian. Brazilian rosewood is widely considered to be the ultimate guitar tonewood, and will often have beautiful steaks of dark, rich browns and hints of violet with black lines. It's tone is warmer than maple and extremely responsive, with a rich, even sound throughout the tonal spectrum. Brazilian rosewood is extremely rare and expensive and can no longer be imported into the United States, which accounts for its higher price. My guitars come with rosewood back and sides and a solid spruce top.

Solid Rosewood back and sides, solid Spruce top, herringbone purfling, ivoroid binding, and a mahogany neck. Limited Indian Rosewood neck by quote.

Price:
$4000 for Indian Rosewood
$4800 and up for Brazilian Rosewood.

Custom 7 String "Western Swinger"
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[front] [detail 1]

[back] [headstock]

I'm an avid steel guitar player as well, and I'm really excited about my 7- and 8-string resonator guitars. The "Western Swinger" pictured here has elaborate engraving and binding, not to mention master grade koa wood, and that accounts for the hefty price tag. But without the bells and whistles, I'll make any of the above 6-string resonator guitars a 7 or 8 string for an additional $200 over the base price. Also, see the mahogany 8-string pictured above in the mahogany section.

Basic 7 or 8 string modification to above resonator guitars: add $200 to base price.

Guitar similar to the 7 String "Western Swinger" pictured here with the works, including cover plate engraving, rope binding, master grade wood, etc.: $5700.00