Such a great looking and I’m sure sounding acoustic.
I really like the flamed maple binding, with the subtle, black/white/black beneath, creating separation between it and the gorgeous flamed maple sides! Appointments like this go unnoticed.
Come on “The Tour”!
Alnus, you’re observant!
Actually, I didn’t want a Private Stock. What I wanted was a maple version of the Tonare Grand Core model that I had in cocobolo, but the only way I could get it was to go PS. So that’s what I did.
I ordered the binding and the other stuff that was standard on the non-PS version of this model (they later changed the model to PS only). I didn’t spec anything other than the types of woods I wanted, and in fact, I was originally going to go with a natural finish without a color stain. For example, the hollow birds were standard on the Core version, as was the maple binding, etc.
The PS folks weren’t very excited about natural, no-stain for one of their babies, and suggested the Blonde color in the pic (I think it’s called Dirty Blonde?) with a very slight burst around the edges. I was good with that, so off we went!
This is going to sound a little crazy, but I didn’t want a guitar that screamed, “Private Stock” when I pulled it out at a session. The folks I work with aren’t especially impressed with my guitar playing (for good reason - my bandmate toured with Art Garfunkel, for example, and is one of the finest fingerstyle players I’ve ever heard), and I was thinking I’d fly a little under the radar, that maybe folks would glance at it and perhaps think it was a J200 without a pick guard.
Fat chance. The thing does look like a PS, and yes, I’m a little sheepish pulling it out when good players are over. But it sounds so good that I’m glad I got it. It records like a champion, and does exactly what I got it to do (except look ordinary).
My son said that it sounds as big as a piano, and I agree!
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