This one has a fun tale, part of which I'll share here.
I was minding my own business one day when the Moss Man teased that he had a surprise coming. I said "Please don't tell me it's a burl hollowbody". It wasn't, but a couple of days later he sent some wood photos, including this.
I thought it had to be the top of a guitar and felt the orientation should be inverted - so the flattish bit you see near the top would be around the bridge, thereby not hiding any of the character of the guitar. Something like this.
The little face became much more prominent.
This put the obvious character of the wood above the bridge pickup.
I was quite excited by the flow of the grain in the top and bottom through the sides - mostly a happy accident, facilitated by the choice of a nice piece of mahogany for the middle.
The back has its own character and could have made an interesting top, but I like where it is.
Ebony and ivory seemed the obvious choice for the fingerboard.
After Leslie and I finished helping with the design, we carried on about our business. That might have included acquiring a hollow body with a piezo and a nice burl guitar.
Regardless, when the guitar was finished, we went to the shop to see how it turned out. Pretty nice. Maybe the prettiest guitar I had seen until then.
But, I had a hollowbody piezo, so that was covered. I had a nice burl, so that aesthetic was covered. I decided to give it a pass.
We took a walk down the street for a beverage and Leslie expressed the belief that having done such a nice job on the design, why should someone else have it.
So...she said "I'm buying it" and she did.
On the way home I mentioned that is was #13. She didn't think that was a good idea, so she held it for ransom until it could have a luckier position in the music room. I got it when I turned 20,000.
